Always Hitting a High Note

There is no substitute for excellence, according to mezzo-soprano Carla Canales. An opera singer who has served as a U.S. State Department Arts Envoy since 2005, she is grateful she had teachers who held her to impeccable standards.

"There were many times as a student when I thought that 'I can't. I can't,' but my teachers held me to a high bar. They erased that word from my vocabulary. Now it's my obligation to hold all my students to that standard. There is no can't," says Canales who is a Professor of Practice and Senior Fellow at Fletcher.

Her course explores everything from cultural diplomacy's history to its emerging use in social media and case studies of nations like South Korea that have used K-pop, Oscar winning films, and cuisine in a conscious policy to promote its reputation, economy, and political influence.

Acclaimed for her portrayal of Carmen, Canales has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and top international venues that include the Guangzhou Opera. Her voice, raves Opera Magazine, "grabs the heartstrings with its dramatic force and musicality."

Canales' work as a cultural ambassador has taken her to 15 nations including China, Honduras, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, and Peru. Most recently, she led a five-month virtual program with Indonesia conducting entrepreneurial training and workshops.

A key tool of statecraft, cultural diplomacy takes place when nations use 'soft power' to achieve preferred outcomes by reaching entire societies through the arts and sports. Diplomats invited Beethoven to compose symphonies for the Congress of Vienna. FDR sent Spanish-speaking composer Aaron Copeland to Latin America to combat Nazi influence, and the U.S. and China exchanged ping-pong teams to break the ice in the early 1970s.

Canales had her own breakthrough moment in 2005 during her first arts program in Campeche, Mexico. By chance, she met children playing soccer in the street. She began to sing to them. Enchanted, they attended her workshops, and she helped them form a choir. A year later they performed with divo Andrea Bocelli and soon thereafter won the Coming Up Taller award at the White House.

"Giving a Presidential honor to an underserved Mexican community sent a strong political message. It helped in part to ease existing and escalating tensions related to immigration issues," says Canales who Foreign Policy Magazine selected as one of its 100 Leading Global Thinkers in 2015. She speaks fluent Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Mandarin at a basic level and founded The Canales Project, a non-profit that created the Hear Her Song initiative which celebrates female leaders around the world.

As an opera singer, she is captivated by what her unamplified voice can achieve. Today she looks at women like Greta Thunberg and Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai and marvels at their powerful voices. She encourages her students to find their voices and uniqueness as human beings. "I want them to use their voices to make a difference in the world," she says.

Entrepreneurship and artistry go hand-in-hand, according to her, and she teaches her classes the vital importance of creating metrics and goals in the field of cultural diplomacy. "This strategy is incredibly important because with verifiable deliverables cultural diplomacy is taken more seriously," she says. "Otherwise it's seen as not as important as political or military power."

Being a diplomat may have been her destiny. Born to a Bulgarian refugee father and an immigrant Mexican mother who settled in Michigan, as a child, she played the role of ambassador translating for them. Besides learning early on how to communicate effectively, she discovered music can play a powerful role in that. "Opera is the marriage of my two passions—music and words," she says.

Canales adores playing the strong-willed gypsy Carmen. "She dies with her convictions and beliefs. She repeatedly uses the word liberté (freedom), something I identify very much with as a woman," says Canales who has explored understanding the freedoms American women have with their counterparts in China and South America.

Representing the U.S. thrills her more than a standing ovation. "The work I've done with the State Department is more meaningful to me than all the Carmens I've sung," says Canales who notes that the U.S. government has never asked her to parrot official policy—"Our freedom of expression is fundamentally American and heightens our nation's soft power."

"You're here for a reason," Canales tells students. "We at the Fletcher School believe in you, and we're all dedicated to helping you reach that high bar."