New International Friends Thanks to Music!

Warm greetings to everyone visiting my blog! Today I feel incredibly excited for a number of reasons, as this has been one of the best weeks of my life and the only thing I truly missed was writing for Hive, since, yes, I went a whole week without publishing any content. It was a much-needed break, but during these seven days, I celebrated my wedding anniversary and performed in two concerts. Likewise, I’m stopping by today to write about what I believe was the most unforgettable experience of the week: sharing time and forging new friendships with artists who traveled from the interior of Venezuela and literally from all five continents of the world, to create high-caliber music right here in my own city.

As you can gather from my previous posts, the month of May was packed with activities, all held within the framework of our 20th Anniversary celebrations as a choral ensemble. Following our gala concert, we hosted our Parsifal Opera Week; immediately thereafter—starting Monday, the 25th—we welcomed choral conductors from various parts of the world for our 1st International Choral Conducting Course. Led by our own director, the course featured us as "guinea pigs" for these visiting artists—who came to learn, yet ultimately ended up teaching us. In total, there were 14 guests, five of whom hailed from right here in Venezuela—specifically from the states of Aragua, Falcón, Lara, Mérida, and Táchira. From elsewhere in the Americas, we welcomed a conductor from Nicaragua and another from Saint Lucia; meanwhile, our guest from Oceania—specifically Papua New Guinea—is a nun who is actually Ecuadorian by birth, despite carrying out her ministry on the other side of the world... P.S.: She is an absolute sweetheart! ❤️

As I write this weekly summary, I’ve just realized that I didn’t take a single photo alongside our guest choral director from Nicaragua; even so, I can tell you that he was just as brilliant and fascinating a person as the rest of the participants in this course. From Europe, we had a guest from Spain, and from Asia, a guest from India—both of whom shared the very best of their cultures. The continent with the most representatives this week was Africa, with visiting artists hailing from Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, and Tunisia. Several of them communicated in French or in their native tongues—something I found both incredibly interesting and, at times, a bit challenging, given that my English is limited and now I’m facing even more linguistic "spice" right here in my own workplace! 😅 Yet, I have always loved the fact that every single day brings a new and fascinating experience in this artistic and musical line of work. The less I could communicate with someone through language, the more I connected with them on an energetic level. ❤️ All week long, I acted like a reporter, seeking out the best photographs for the choir and for these new friends who were so far from their homelands.

The choral repertoire was a delight, and I feel it is essential to mention it here, as it speaks volumes about the caliber of these artists who successfully completed their first international course. I will list the pieces for you in the order in which they appeared during the concert we held on Saturday, May 30th, at the National Center for Social Action through Music in Caracas. We began with "Adiemus" from Songs of Sanctuary by British composer Karl Jenkins, conducted by Rania Amrani, a guest from Algeria. The second choral work was O Magnum Mysterium by the American composer Kevin Memley, conducted by our guest from the state of Lara, the young Elicar Pérez. Next came "Dirait-On" from Les Chansons des Roses by the American Morten Lauridsen—a piece that had us singing in French once again—conducted by our guest from Cameroon, Juelien Claret Bouli Mvondo. We then sang a piece featuring a distinctly darker vocal timbre that enriched the repertoire; conducted by our guest from Tunisia, we performed "Sure of the Shining Night" from Nocturnes—also by Morten Lauridsen.

Ballade To The Moon by the Australian composer Daniel Elder was performed under the direction of our guest from the state of Falcón, Laige Higuera, who was accompanied on the piano by Gabriel Guevara—one of our baritone-pianists (for yes, we do have several baritone-pianists in the choir). Next, we sang Jubilate Deo by the American composer Peter Anglea—a piece that came to us during our rehearsal period for the Vatican—which was conducted by the Spaniard Agnese Carruba; it was arguably the most energetic piece of the entire concert. There were two pieces performed exclusively by treble voices: Ave Maris Stella by the Spanish composer Eva Ugalde—conducted by our guest from Ecuador (currently residing in Papua New Guinea), Sister María del Purísimo Corazón Savinien López—followed immediately by Córtame Una Rosa Blanca by the American composer Dante Andreo, conducted by Manuel Cienfuego Martínez, a guest from Nicaragua. The full choir then reunited to perform together what was my personal favorite piece of the week: Tota Pulchra Es by the Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo, conducted by the Venezuelan José Ángel Ortiz from the state of Táchira.

With the young Béranger Yakassou—our guest from Benin—we had the distinct pleasure of once again performing Cantique de Jean Racine by the French composer Gabriel Fauré; a piece we performed at nearly all our concerts in Spain two years ago, and which, each time, evoked for me cherished and sublime memories. Immediately thereafter, we performed the Salve Regina for double choir by the Spaniard Josep Vila, under the direction of Mérida native Yoel Andrés Castillo, followed by the evocative work Lux Aurumque by the American Eric Whitacre, which was conducted by our guest from India, the artist Netra Mani. For the second time this year, we performed O Love by the American composer Elaine Hagenberg—conducted by our guest from the island of Saint Lucia, Robert René—which is the very piece you can enjoy in the video I have shared with you above on 3Speak.

To conclude the concert, we performed Cast Thy Burden Upon The Lord by the Filipino composer Alejandro de Consolación II. This piece was conducted by Genaro Quintana—a fellow tenor in the Simón Bolívar National Choir and a native of Aragua—and was, in my opinion, the most vocally demanding work of the program. Naturally, after presenting certificates of participation to all the guest musicians, our conductor, Maestra Lourdes Sánchez, led us in a performance of The Rose by Ola Gjeilo. With this final piece, we brought to a close a week filled with rich experiences, shared moments, and enduring musical lessons that nourish us on our professional journey as young singers. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read about and support this new musical adventure; I hope you enjoyed this recap, and I look forward to sharing with you all again in a future post. Warm regards to everyone! 🙏