Samuel Mariño: From Prejudice To Pride

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This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French)

Maricón! Parchita!! Mamita!!! (an alluvium of homophobic and demeaning insults)—these were the sort of taunts Samuel Mariño endured daily in school while growing up in Venezuela. His unusually high voice made him a target of constant ridicule.

As a 14-year-old, desperate to fit in, Mariño visited the ENT, tried vocal therapy, and even considered surgery to lower his larynx. Each failed attempt to change his voice felt like another rejection of who he was.

At the end of his rope, a laryngologist asked him a question that shattered his despair: “Why don’t you sing soprano?”

The suggestion sparked a joyful curiosity in him. Already an accomplished piano student in the El Sistema program, Samuel was well acquainted with classical music and went straight home to listen to Cecilia Bartoli. Her vocalises flowed smoothly through the room, each note opening his mind to a river of possibilities.

He wondered, heart pounding: Can I really sing like that?

Determined to explore this newfound possibility, Mariño joined a baroque choir, singing the soaring soprano lines with ease alongside the Camerata Barroca ensemble in Caracas. With them, he worked under the direction of Gustavo Dudamel, Helmuth Rilling, and Theodore Kuchar. He looks back to those days with nostalgia: “Singing with choirs in Venezuela is one of my fondest memories. There were so many kids singing the soprano line with me—even if they were probably younger, it made me feel good because, in many ways, I was always the odd one out, just wanting to fit in. Even now, my wish has never been to stand out—instead, what I’ve always wanted is to belong.”

Samuel Mariño in a blue blazer and white tank top leaning against a grey wall.

Samuel Mariño. Photo: Olivier Allard

In 2013, with his parents’ support, Mariño took a continental leap to France to study at the Conservatoire de Paris. At the beginning, it was a challenge. He had such a unique voice, his teachers weren’t sure how to polish his talent. Looking for solutions, he contacted soprano Barbara Bonney and convinced her to mentor him—a relationship that still continues today. “I still take lessons with Barbara,” he says. “I’m still only 30 years old and have to keep evolving with my voice. Also, my music tastes have changed; even if it’s an aria I have sung before, now I might have formed a new opinion on how to sing it. I’m always looking for something new in the music.”

Mariño’s efforts quickly started paying off. In 2017, he won the Interpretation Award at the Opéra de Marseille International Singing Competition and the Neue Stimmen Audience prize.

Nowadays, Mariño’s career is rising at a meteoric pace marked by achievements across opera and recitals. His debut solo album Care Pupille, released in 2020, featured rare works by Handel, Gluck, and Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. After collaborating on recordings with Château de Versailles Spectacles, he signed with Decca Classics in 2022, releasing Sopranista, which earned nominations for the Opus Klassik awards in the Young Talent of the Year and Singing (Opera) categories.

In addition to recording, Mariño is also sought-after onstage. He made his Australian debut in 2022, followed by a whirlwind of firsts in 2023, performing in South Korea, at Teatro Colón in Argentina, with Canada’s Tafelmusik, and with Camerata Pacifica in the United States. His operatic roles span baroque and beyond, from Alessandro in Handel’s Berenice to Iris in Semele at Glyndebourne, and even experimental productions like Mysteries of Desire. He has graced stages at prestigious festivals, including the Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival and Austria’s Styriarte. He has captivated audiences in iconic venues like London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and the Galerie des Glaces at Versailles.

We caught up on Zoom while sipping a little “cafesito.” Mariño was returning to Paris from giving a recital with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra. Accompanying him was his loyal canine companion, Leah, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who also acts as his silent confidant. “She speaks French,” he said jokingly.

“Looking back at the bullying, it kind of prepared me psychologically for a performing career.” Due to social media, criticism can be constant, with people from all over the world commenting. “I feel sometimes people are just waiting for one to make a mistake so they can criticize; in a way, I’ve gotten used to it. I actually think it’s human nature to criticize others; they have the right to do it. I wish we could be kinder to each other, but if I’m really honest, I do it sometimes myself, too,” says Mariño.

Samuel Mariño in a red outfit singing alongside instrumentalists from Tafelmusik

Samuel Mariño with Tafelmusik. Photo: Dahlia Katz

A Musical Hookup

This spring, Mariño will be returning to Canada to perform once again with Toronto’s Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, following their first sold-out collaboration of last year.

The concert is set up like an opera, split into four acts. Act 1 kicks off with Joseph Bologne’s overture and violin concerto from L’amant anonyme. Act 2 brings Mozart’s lively overture and arias from Il re pastore, plus Martines’s overture and a dramatic aria from Salieri’s Semiramide. Act 3 features Salieri’s Armida sinfonia and selections from Gluck’s Antigono. Finally, Act 4 wraps up with Marie-Antoinette de Bavière’s powerful overture and aria from Talestri, Gluck’s iconic “Che farò senza Euridice” from Orfeo ed Euridice, and an intense scene from Haydn’s Armida.

Mariño is especially excited to perform repertoire by Joseph Bologne, the 18th-century Black composer from Guadeloupe. Fully-engaged in today’s pop scene, the young Venezuelan couldn’t help but mention that Beyoncé—one of his musical idols—“se copia de todo” (copies everything), even sampling parts of Bologne’s violin concerto in her song “Daughter,” the 11^th track on her album Cowboy Carter. Bologne was an African slave and French noblemen. He even played for Marie Antoinette and became one of the most influential composers of his era despite the racism he faced.

The male soprano is thrilled to team up with Tafelmusik again. Staying true to his original way of expressing himself, he described recitals with an orchestra as a “resuelve” (a musical hookup, or, “un genre de plan Q musical ou quoi,” as he puts it in his fluent Parisian French). “You might get one or two rehearsals if you’re lucky, so you gotta dive in and be transparent—just throw yourself out there like you’re getting naked in front of the orchestra,” says Mariño. “You sing and ask, ‘Do you like how I do this? What about that? What do we do here?’ It ends up being something super organic and beautiful. After the performance, you shake hands with your colleagues and quickly say goodbye before rushing to catch the next plane, not even knowing if you’ll ever perform together again.” He explains that with Tafelmusik, though, things clicked from the first moment. “We had instant chemistry and before we knew it, we were planning a second date. Last time was a baroque program; this time, we’re presenting a bit more of a classical concert.”

Samuel Mariño sitting in a chair with his dog, Leah

Samuel Mariño. Photo: Diana Gomez

Opera vs Recital

For Mariño, the choice has always been clear. Early in his career, he was immersed in opera, with up to five productions a year, each demanding up to six weeks of intense rehearsal. It was a great experience, but it was also gruelling, leaving him feeling like a puppet. “In opera, everyone is always telling you what to do,” Mariño says. He felt pulled in every direction, with little room for artistic expression.

Conversely, recitals gave Mariño more space to express himself freely. “I’m very grateful to have a career now mainly as a recitalist. I still do operas, but now I choose them, not just for the money—what a terrible idea that would be,” he says jokingly. “I’m like a wild horse with strong artistic opinions. If I don’t believe in something from my heart, it’s very hard to convince me otherwise.”

In fact, Mariño’s concerts stand on a blurry frontier between traditional and contemporary interpretation. The Venezuelan sopranist takes musical risks and incorporates his own sense of fashion: high heels, capes, flashy jewelry, crowns, wardrobe changes in the intermission. “I love fashion and I do spend a lot of time creating what I call a ‘whole package’ for my show, but make no mistake, as many hours as I spend planning what I will wear, I spend 10 times as much studying the music and singing, which in my view should be the main elements.

“Eventually, I would like to incorporate some of the Beyoncé moves in my recitals. Unfortunately, due to the degree of virtuosity in most pieces, that might not be possible, hahaha.” Joking aside, he says that his eight years of ballet have greatly influenced his singing. “There are some singers that, you see them singing and it looks like they are labouring. In fact, I have a mezzo-soprano colleague who once told me that she makes an effort to make her singing look difficult in order to add a sort of dangerous excitement to her performances. For me, the focus instead has been to be expressive with my singing but always keeping a light and effortless appearance, just like in ballet.”

Samuel Mariño. Photo: Olivier Allard

Mariño also confided that, although his originality has helped him carve a place in the industry, he has also felt resistance from more traditionalist detractors. “Arts have always been a way of expressing what is happening in the world; Mozart, Puccini, Verdi, they all did it throughout their works,” he says. “Music is the expression of human beings that live within the context of a society. I believe there is a wave of people that want to interpret classical music in new ways, but there is also a lot of resistance. Personally, I’m not looking to tell anyone what to like or what to do. I actually enjoy following traditions, but that doesn’t impede me from also trying new things, even if it pushes the boundaries of said traditions. I believe we just have to keep our hearts open to the richness of colours in human expression. We gain the most by respecting and embracing our differences.”

Mariño doesn’t see himself as proof of change in the classical-music world, but his story hints at something shifting, a quiet revolution where diversity is finally beginning to find its voice. Ultimately, for the soprano, singing isn’t about fame, but joy.

“If I didn’t sing, I’d just find something that makes people happy. It’s all about communicating and making people happy. I think I’d probably become a cook. I also love cleaning, anything that would make someone happy,” Mariño says with a shrug. His voice is just part of him, familiar, almost unremarkable in his own ears, yet called “unique” by others.

Mariño pauses, then smiles, remembering his mother’s words at the airport before he left Venezuela: “Nunca te olvides de donde vienes.” (Never forget where you come from.) “I try to stay true to myself, humble, grounded, not letting any success get to my head. I know this won’t last forever, that it could all disappear in the twinkling of an eye.”