My Story
Growing up I would go home and hear boleros, tangos, salsa, and speak spanish. Then I would go to school and hear rock, speak english and follow other customs. At home, regularly, my mother would come home from work, turn on the candles of our wooden living room, play latin music and share a gin and tonic with my uncle George, my siblings and I. The warmth, the florid scent, and the dark wood was almost a memento of our family living in the Caribbean. The volume of the music had to match the expressive conversation. Often the conversation would work in ensemble with the musicality of the Spanish language, like going to the opera. The rhythms excited our instincts and when we were through with words we danced the traditional Dominican steps. We would tell stories and recount our days. We would crescendo to the story's climax and cadence with a laugh.
the language of beauty, the language of music
Just as Latin music maintained the connection with our family in the Dominican Republic, opera became a way for me to connect other parts of the world. One day ‘O sole mio’ played at a cookout with friends and family. I noticed despite no-one understanding Italian, everyone started to sing along. Smiles radiated on everyone's faces as they joined in the anthem. We all understood despite not knowing the words. It was the language of beauty, the language of music.
Music Bonded Our Household
Music bonded our household. Boleros united us with our family overseas. Rhythm became the passion that sustained the beating of my heart. Melody became my language. I learned I could use the language to connect people, to cultivate magical moments and to create memories we would never forget.
‘Eat, Sleep Music’
I set out on a path to study at the prestigious Eastman School of Music under the tenor Robert Swensen who had studied with Luciano Pavarotti for a period. At my first audition I was rejected.
However, walking on the campus, meeting the faculty and hearing the music emanating from the practice rooms affirmed my resolution to return. After a year of training I returned and was admitted, ultimately studying with Robert Swensen. I spent those years in the refinery of diction coaching, voice lessons, music theory classes, music history lectures and German, Italian and French language courses. I was completely submerged in a school whose slogan was ‘Eat Sleep Music’ ultimately to emerge trained and equipped to take principal roles such as Alvaro in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, Curly McLain in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma and cover Melisso in Händel’s Alcina as well the Baritone solo of Ralph Vaughan William’s ‘A Sea Symphony.’
