Benefit Concert

Lourdes has introduced us to two singers who just recently have immigrated to the United States who are in need of income. Our church seems to have a ministry of this sort.

It is not easy to get established in a country where jobs are hard to come by and even more difficult to find when you have restrictions and need working papers and all that. She asks if they can hold a concert and take up an offering. We have done that before for others. We are happy to do that again.

Besides, they are excellent singers. I love to listen to them sing. What a wonder that they don't really read music. They learn everything by rote. Plus of course, English is a huge challenge. Easier for them to sing in Italian or Latin than in English. I worry about their ability to learn all my recital music.

I sit back in the pew and listen to their music as they sing song after song, mostly opera arias and folk music from Peru and Cuba. It is a delightful concert. Again and again I am taken to the heights as the tenor executes warm and full high held notes that amaze and scintillate the aural palate. I am taken in by the soprano's flirtatious eyes and expressions of teasing when the texts call for such.

And what a treat to hear Lourdes play music from Cuban composers. I love the rhythms, the jauntiness, the frolic and happiness embedded in the scores that she brings to life. It is a good concert. I hope we give them as much joy as they have given us. Ole!