He tells us about his experience in this production, why he chose MSM, and his hopes and dreams for the future.Â
Ricardo: Being part of this amazing project of the Junior Opera Theatre Ensemble has been a one in a lifetime experience. Under the experienced and full of sensitivity guidance of professor Catherine Malfitano, we began a journey exploring the poetry and the musicality of Langston Hughes. This was not a common journey; creating arts, performing arts, experiencing and living the artistic expressions we were looking for in our lives not as individuals but as a group, was not an easy task. We work on this project during one of the most complex and complicated times in human history, the pandemic. But because of the commitment of being artists regardless any situation and the hard work, we made it, we embraced the amazing content of Langston Hughes artwork, we made it part of our essence as humans and we gave our voices in service of the arts. We cried, we learnt, we laughed , we were full of joy for the accomplishment of an incredible and complex task, but the most important thing is that we grew up artistically, as humans, and as a group, embraced and embracing the universal and undeniable language of music.
Ricardo: This school year for me was a journey of understanding, adapting, and growing up as a musician and as a human being. The Manhattan School of Music and its commitment of keeping making arts and music during the pandemic gave me the opportunity to keep moving forward in the pursuit of my musical dreams, and offered me an emotional space of artistic safety, emotional integrity, and hope. And it is in the hope in arts and the belief that we are able to make music regardless any situation that I found the inspiration to embrace my learning process, through my voice, my mind, and the artistic soul that we all have and keep all of us moving toward the future with enthusiasm, respect to others, and tolerance.
Ricard Rodriguez (BM '22), performing in Sophomore Opera Scenes 2019
Ricardo: Being part of the MSM community is an incredible honor to me. It represents being part of one of the strongest communities of musicians, an unbreakable chain of artists that decided to pursuit a career full of challenges but at the same time, full of meaning. This meaningful decision in the complex moment we are living as society, means even more; we are building up eventually an artistic community that understands that the power of the ‘We” is always more important than the “I”, helping the next generations with their own process to forge a stronger community, and little by little, shape society into a better one, using the beautiful and meaningful language of music as a tool to improve what we are as humans.
Ricardo: I’m very excited of working now on a very special project upcoming this Spring, also with the Junior Opera Theatre Ensemble. I don’t want to spoil anything yet but stay tuned for a work that is going to represent for the audience a journey through the most beautiful pieces of French music, exploring the most amazing spectrum of emotions that can be found in music. Working again as a group also represents an emotional journey from the individual to the group, a place that allows us to realize all the things we have in common, to find the similitudes and not to focus on our differences. Once again, guided by professor Malfitano, this exploration of the artistic self ends up being a path of the understanding the self as part of the group on the pursuit of giving the best in the artistic expressions and in life.
“But because of the commitment of being artists regardless any situation and the hard work, we made it, we embraced the amazing content of Langston Hughes artwork, we made it part of our essence as humans and we gave our voices in service of the arts.” Ricardo Rodriguez BM '22, Classical Voice
“But because of the commitment of being artists regardless any situation and the hard work, we made it, we embraced the amazing content of Langston Hughes artwork, we made it part of our essence as humans and we gave our voices in service of the arts.”
Ricardo Rodriguez
BM '22, Classical Voice
Ricardo:Â The knowledge of the teachers. We have the bests of the bests in every single class, which represents an incredible source of knowledge, experience, and artistic development. With the guidance of this amazing faculty of professionals, I feel that my artistic self is in the best hands possible, and my emotional self as well. Being able to learn from this incredible human beings allows me to recognize how grateful I feel, and the only way to express this gratitude is to give the best of me to learn, to grow, and to reach those stars of the accomplishment of the dreams.
Ricardo: I really want to perform, to leave behind the pandemic and to travel around the world singing, sharing, and learning, from others, with others and for others. And with those dreams, to assume the responsibility of keeping the artistic vision of a world with no frontiers and borders, to offer the audience a place of artistic joy and emotional healing.
Catherine Malfitano, Artistic Concept and Direction Chun-Wei Kang, Music Direction and Pianist Simon Yu, Director of Photography and Video Editor
APR 18 | 8 PM EDT
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