Jesus Calling Inspired Various Artists
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Washington National Opera’s dedication 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 and staged at the Armed Forces Retirement Home. The evocative music and lyrics are written by WNO artisan Tom Minter and performed by tenor Jésus Hernandez and sopranos Jennifer Waters, Joyce Lundy and Alia Waheed. Hernandez, a Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist, is in particular esteemed to carry out 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 finelooking reception, were welcomed home by generals and thanked for their service by the attending crowds. One of the songs he sings is based on a very beauteous poem from a man to his mother. It is a reflectiveness of his memory of her smile and how she took care of him. His own mother was worried each day he was gone. He feels fortunate to have come back alive and is sad that the Vietnam veterans were not thanked for their sacrifices. By singing to them, he wants to show them how much he appreciates their very honorary 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 altho an uncle suggested his voice was better suitable for classical music like that on a Mario Lanza recording. That mesmerized 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 receive him. It would, so he signed the papers and begun a new adventure. Following boot camp, he was sent to Iraq. Upon returning, he was slated for U.S. Army Special Forces training, but a bicycle accident intervened. The day before an operation was to fix his broken shoulder, he received a pass to listen Plácido Domingo in San Antonio. Going backstage afterward, he ran into him. 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 carry out 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 Bohème.” |
Healing songs for my wounded heart