| IF YOU GO |
| “Songs for the Unsung” |
| Where: Armed Forces Retirement Home, 3700 N. Capitol St. NW, Washington (Entrance: Upshur Street and Rock Creek Church Road NW). |
| When: 2 p.m. Thursday |
| Info: Free, open to the public |
Washington National Opera’s commitment to touch all facets of the community is shared by Double Nickels Theatre Company in “Songs for the Unsung,” a concert inspired by personal memories of American veterans from World War II to Vietnam. It will be presented at the Armed Forces Retirement Home on Thursday and is open to the public. The evocative music and lyrics are written by WNO artist Tom Minter and performed by tenor J?sus Hernandez and sopranos Jennifer Waters, Joyce Lundy and Alia Waheed.
Hernandez, a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, is especially honored to perform before the veterans because he has served with the U.S. Army in both Iraq and at Fort Hood, Texas. Upon returning from Iraq, he and his company received a beautiful reception, were welcomed home by generals and thanked for their service by the attending crowds.
“One of the songs I am singing is based on a very beautiful poem from a man to his mother,” he said. “It’s a reflection of his memory of her smile and how she took care of him. My own mother was worried every day I was gone. I was lucky to come back alive and I feel sad that the Vietnam veterans were not thanked for their sacrifices. By singing to them, I want to show them how much I appreciate their very honorable service.”
Hernandez fell into a singing career, in his words, “by a series of mysterious events.” Born in Juarez, Mexico, he grew up wanting to be a crooner like Frank Sinatra, even though an uncle thought his voice was better suited for classical music like that on a Mario Lanza recording. That interested him, but after moving to nearby El Paso and graduating from high school, he worked in a slaughter house for two years. Despite the good money, he wanted something better. While wandering through a local mall, he happened upon a recruiting office and asked if the Army would accept him. It would, so he signed the papers and began a new adventure.
Following boot camp, he was sent to Iraq. Upon his return, he was slated for U.S. Army Special Forces training, but a bicycle accident intervened. The day before an operation was to repair his broken shoulder, he received a pass to hear Pl?cido Domingo in San Antonio. He went backstage afterward and was introduced to the star. Replying to Domingo’s question of what he wanted to do after the Army, Hernandez told him he was a tenor and enjoyed singing zarzuela music. With that, Domingo invited him to his dressing room for an impromptu audition and was so impressed by what he heard that he invited Hernandez to join the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program in Washington. Instead of remaining in the Army, he followed his dream.
Since then, Hernandez has been thrilled to sing with Domingo himself and perform for many, including the judges of the U.S. Supreme Court and Condoleezza Rice. His roles with WNO and the Young Artists were Jeppo Liverotto in “Lucrezia Borgia,” Gastone in “La Traviata” and the Gravedigger in “Hamlet.” Now that he has graduated from the program, he will move to Italy to study and make his European debut as Rofolfo in “La Boh?me.”
“I hope the veterans at the Armed Forces Retirement Home will take a moment to think of their own memories,” he said. “We carry memories of the service we never will forget. Even though life goes on, we cannot forget the camaraderie, the moments when we felt very alone, and the times when everyone laughed and cried together.”
