Opera fans in San Luis Obispo who have followed coloratura soprano Alba Franco-Cancél will be pleased to know that she is returning to the area this month to perform in Hansel and Gretel.
Franco-Cancél will sing the role of Dew Fairy in the Opera SLO production of Englebert Humperdink’s classic children’s opera. She has delighted local audiences ever since she and her guitarist husband, Steven Franco, moved to Atascadero 10 years ago when he became a music therapist at the California Department of State Hospitals facility there.
With a freshly minted doctorate in vocal performance, Franco-Cancél began to establish her career in the SLO County music scene. She brought her resumé to every small music academy, Cuesta College, and Cal Poly.
She auditioned for roles in Opera SLO and for the position of music director for Unitarian Universalists San Luis Obispo. It didn’t take long for local music lovers to recognize her talent.
Brian Alhadeff, Opera SLO’s general and artistic director, invited her to cover the role of Musetta in its 2017 production of La bohème. He then brought her into the organization as the company’s first Artist in Residence, employing her world-class talents to enhance Opera SLO’s presence by performing for special events such as wine tastings, galas and county schools.
Unitarian Universalists also hired Franco-Cancél at about the same time, and it wasn’t long after that she began teaching vocal performance at Cuesta.
Franco-Cancél told me what she enjoys most about SLO County is its strong sense of community with respect to the arts.”
Continuing her artistry with Opera SLO, she performed the roles of Frasquita in last season’s production of Carmen and the prima role of The Queen of the Night in the 2018 staging of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
Other local performances have included soloist appearances with the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale.
As her reputation grew in SLO, Franco-Cancél was engaged by many other performing organizations in the U.S. and other parts of the world, including Opera Neo in San Diego, Livermore Valley Opera, Palm Beach Opera, Teatro Petruzzelli in Italy, and Arequipa Symphony in Peru.
In 2021, the musical couple returned to their native Puerto Rico in order for her to accept a position as assistant professor at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico, and in 2024 she was named director of vocal studies. Her husband also was hired by the Conservatory to launch a curriculum in music therapy.
Franco-Cancél told me what she enjoys most about SLO County is its strong sense of community with respect to the arts. “You know, there’s like a beautiful sensitivity that is very hard to find,” she says. “Like everyone goes to the shows, and everyone is eager to just attend cultural things like concerts, music, art. And that’s not true to many places. It’s something very special.”
In her many performance-related U.S. travels, Franco-Cancél discovered that other areas similar in size to San Luis Obispo would have only one or two centers dedicated to the arts. Audiences in these locations seemed to be more stratified—one audience for classical music, another for pop concerts, or dance, or theatre, etc., with little crossover.
And rarely would these communities host a resident opera company. SLO County, on the other hand, hosts the only professional (i.e. not part of a collegiate program) opera company within a 100-mile radius of its county seat.
Franco-Cancél is looking forward to playing the Dew Fairy in ‘Hansel and Gretel,’ a role she calls beautiful, haunting and creative.”
Franco-Cancél also noticed that community support here is much more diverse than she’s experienced elsewhere, often seeing the same people who support the opera support Festival Mozaic, Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, San Luis Obispo Repertory Theater and many more.
When asked about what she enjoys about Opera SLO, she emphasizes Alhadeff’s creativity. “Brian is very creative in terms of what he brings to the table,” she says. “He loves everything grand, big, with many things going on at the same time.”
Franco-Cancél is looking forward to playing the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel, a role she calls beautiful, haunting and creative. “It’s fun,” she says. “It’s magical. And it could be very entertaining [for] any kind of audience.”
Performances of Hansel and Gretel are scheduled in the afternoons of October 18 and 19 at the Performing Arts Center SLO.