El domingo 17 de marzo se presentará en el teatro de Strathmore en Bethesda la filarmónica de Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras (MCYO), compuesta por jóvenes de secundaria y dirigida por Kristopher Sanz y producida por Rolando Sanz. En Tu Familia Zol conversamos con el productor de Destino, Rolando Sanz y también con el compositor colombiano Jorge Mejía.
“For the first five years of my life, we might have well been in Havana. We ate exclusively Cuban food. We exclusively spoke Spanish…my Cuban culture has been central to my life,” said Rolando Sanz, Executive Producer of I Am Anne Hutchinson/ I Am Harvey Milk. A first generation Cuban American having grown up with two Spanish speaking parents, Sanz and his brothers always had a lot to say—in both languages.
When Andrew Lippa was commissioned by the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus to write I AM HARVEY MILK for its 35th anniversary in 2013, the hour-long work about the assassinated gay rights activist was called an oratorio--and while it was a success from the start, people involved already thought it was ready to move on to something bigger. That "something," created by Lippa, was the pairing of MILK with the story of another firebrand, 17th-century midwife Anne Hutchinson. Blended together into a single, cohesive work, ANNE/HARVEY links two chapters in American history that highlight the ideals of freedom and justice, their perils and rewards, even though they are separated by hundreds of years. The event's executive producer is Rolando Sanz, Producing Artistic Director of Young Artists of America at Strathmore (NB: also an opera singer, stage performer and teacher), and a Rockville, MD native. We spoke to Sanz about ANNE/HARVEY and how it came together.
"A two-night engagement on April 23-24 at Strathmore's Music Center, Andrew Lippa's I Am Anne Hutchinson / I Am Harvey Milk is a unique "concept opera" that details the lives and legacies of history's reigning freedom fighters: politician and publicly recognized member of the LGTBQ community Harvey Milk and outspoken 17th century Puritan midwife Anne Hutchinson.
And while Lippa was able to bring these two tragic folk heroes to the stage, it's Strathmore's own Rolando Sanz, who is the show's executive producer, who has brought it to the global political hub. Before this production takes the stage at the end of April, we were able to get Mr. Rolando Sanz on the phone for a conversation about just what Strathmore is doing."
"You can find him onstage at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House understudying Roderigo in Otello, at Lisner Auditorium playing Don Gaspar in La Favorite for the Washington Concert Opera, or singing the National Anthem to open the playoffs for the Baltimore Orioles. Rolando Sanz is at home on concert stages across the country, but his heart is in Montgomery County."