CONCERT
Soprano Victoria Botero is one of Kansas City’s most passionate and caring performers.
A concert by Botero is more than just a recital of beautiful songs, it’s a reflection on the human condition. Kansas City Star
In concert and recital work, Victoria enjoys collaborating with an wide range of artists and ensembles. In symphonic music she has made several appearances with the Kansas City Symphony , as well as St. Joseph Symphony, Tulsa, and Washburn Symphonies. Favorite concert appearances include Bernstein's rarely heard cantata Songfest in Saratoga Springs, NY, and a series of concerts featuring Mozart repertoire with performances of the Requiem, Concert Arias, and the Vesperae solennes de confessore. She was delighted to join Sony/BMG artists, The Priests, from Northern Ireland in a program of sacred classical music on their 2018 North American tour.
Victoria is a producer of concert music in her own right. The Cecilia Series was born of a desire to explore the cultural meaning of the song repertory, finding the connective tissue between composers, writers, and performers of many eras and traditions. Critically acclaimed for exploring the intersection of music and the interests of women and people of color, Victoria’s research and programming has been supported by the Lighton International Artist Exchange Program, The Sosland Foundation, Arts KC, Charlotte Street Foundation, The 1900 Building, and the generosity of individual donors.
Cecilia Series Programs to date:
La Serenissima - The lives and loves of 17th c. Venetian composers Barbara Strozzi and Benedetto Ferrari.
Morena - The traditional music and intertwined history of Sephardic, Arabic, and Armenian women who sang to survive.
The Music of Susan Kander - A retrospective of this significant living American composer, including the world premiere of “Eavesdropping”, a song cycle commissioned especially for Victoria based on the poetry of Michelle Boisseau.
The Cult of the Soprano - Explores the exquisite and compelling music written exclusively for women from the 16th -19th century, tracing the journey the female voice took from the sensual to the lethal.
Navidad~Natal - An intimate program of Christmas storytelling and songs by an acclaimed ensemble rooted in Latin America.
Dissident: Songs for Anna Akhmatova - A Ukrainian-born poet and champion of freedom who inspired exquisite music from Sergei Prokofiev, John Tavener, and Iris DeMent.
Victoria has concertized extensively in the Spanish Baroque repertoire with ensembles such as Early Music Missouri, Sunflower Baroque, Bach Aria Soloists, and Ensemble Ibérica. She recorded Un ramo de voz, with art, folk and popular songs from around the world for voice and classical guitar. In film and television, Victoria was part of Homecoming: An Evening with Virgil T filmed for PBS featuring the music of Virgil Thompson. She can also be heard on the soundtrack of the short film Devotion, featuring the groundbreaking work of ceramicist Linda Lighton.
PRESS
The Cecilia Series
“Botero is self-producing, creating her own material and introducing unexplored and educational content to audiences. Two primary motivations are to highlight the unappreciated women and people of color in music history, and to pay homage to the contributions of immigrants and little-known international artists.”
“Soprano Victoria Botero is one of Kansas City’s most passionate and caring performers. A concert by Botero is more than just a recital of beautiful songs, it’s a reflection on the human condition”
“The finale was a monstrous scene, in scope, vocal requirements, and program. Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor is a tragedy on many levels, culminating with “The Mad Scene”... Botero emerged from the back of the hall, blood covering her white dress and arms. This was a fitting end to the show. Nothing could possibly follow Victoria Botero’s amazing performance.”
“Victoria Botero took the theatrics up several notches with “L’Astratto” by Barbara Strozzi. Botero shifted her mood quickly ...embodied the character fully, discarding music when it didn’t fit, showing exasperation with bad poetry, and even conducting Trilla Ray Carter and Nicholas Good in an exaggerated manner. It was marvelous, and showed why Botero has garnered her own cult following in Kansas City.”
In Concert
“This remarkable Colombian-American and Kansas Citian can sing just about anything, from opera to Broadway, folk to flamenco. ”
“Coloratura is a technique in opera connected most closely with sopranos. It involves flashy high notes, trills, runs and elaborate ornamentation and is thrilling to opera audiences. It’s virtuosic. Which perfectly describes Victoria Botero.”
“Botero sang sensitively and expressively in no fewer than six languages … Keenly sensitive to every nuance of expression, Botero had the audience in her hands…The Botero-Bledsoe version [of Bachianas brasileiras No. 5] is virtually the equal of any performance this audience member has heard in concert or on recordings by internationally famous artists.”
“Botero and Bledsoe are a match made in heaven. Bledsoe is a local treasure who can play everything from flamenco to Johann Sebastian Bach, and Botero’s lustrous voice charms audiences whether she is singing baroque sacred music, opera or Latin American art songs.”
“Beau Bledsoe and Victoria Botero bring a winning combination of European art song, tango and fiery Latin American forms. Botero is a soprano who has performed with many opera companies, but she also has a natural feel for the music of Latin America. When she and Beau find a groove, things sizzle.”
Gala, LOOK Musical Theatre (Tulsa)
“Soprano Victoria Botero and members of the Tulsa Symphony and Light Opera Oklahoma orchestras performed a musical tribute from The Mikado that spoke of a woman’s beauty. The memorial received a lengthy standing ovation from everyone in the room.”
Christmas in Song, Quality Hill Playhouse
“The voice of operatic soprano Victoria Botero lifted the entire show. Botero gets only three true solos — “Christmas Cometh Caroling,” “Gesu Bambino” and “The Peace Carol” — but her superior vocal abilities lifted the ensemble numbers to new heights. As a patron to my right said after the curtain call, “She’s a soprano’s soprano.””
“As usual, Barnhart’s piano accompanies one opera-trained dazzler (Victoria Botero, this time). Often, the opera singer comes out determined to blast faces to putty, but Botero prizes beauty over booming. As she soloed on “The Peace Carol,” a mellow awe settled over the crowd.”
“But the real revelation is Botero. Her beautiful, crystal clear soprano is perfectly suited for of the plaintive “Gesu Bambino” by Fredrick H. Martens and Pietro Yon.”
Kilmore Carols
“The Spanish influence could be heard in the beautiful harmonization between the baroque cello and fiddle played below soprano’s Victoria Botero’s captivating voice. Ye Sons of Men with Me Rejoice brought a drone in the baroque cello with fiddler Betse Ellis singing in a folksy alto Arkansas twang. Her voice was juxtaposed against the pure operatic tone of Botero’s soprano voice. ”
I've Got A Crush On You, Quality Hill Playhouse
“Victoria Botero’s rich soprano blends seamlessly into the ensemble, but presents her songs in much the way they were originally heard in Broadway theaters before amplification. The warmth of her sound comes from her operatic training, how she supports the sound through posture, breath control, and how the sound is made to resonate through the facial mask. It is a treat to hear this pure opera singer back down a bit to sing the popular songbook.”
“Returning to Quality Hill for this show, Victoria Botero performed several solos to amaze the audience with her beautiful, melodic soprano voice.”
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