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The InterReligious Task Force on Central America (IRTF)  brings together people from various faith and secular communities to act in solidarity with oppressed peoples in southern Mexico, Central America, and Colombia through consciousness-raising and direct consumer and political advocacy to build long-term structural change.

 IRTF was formed as a nonviolent response to the horrific violence of December 2, 1980 when two members of the Cleveland Mission Team in El Salvador were murdered: Jean Donovan and Sister Dorothy Kazel. People of faith and conscience formed IRTF so that we here in Ohio would live out their legacy—standing in solidarity with oppressed peoples as they struggle for peace, dignity and justice.  More about IRTF: www.irtfcleveland.org

ANISSA CLAY DE ZELAYA

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Anissa Clay De Zelaya is a Senior Vocal Performance Major at Baldwin Wallace University, studying with Dr. JR Fralick. She recently performed the role of Contessa in Le Nozze di Figaro with Baldwin Wallace Opera in March of 2022. She performed Zelda ‘18 in The Ghosts of Gatsby, a partnership with Baldwin Wallace and Cleveland Opera Theater as a part of the National Opera Association (NOA) conference in January 2020.  Anissa is a Soprano in the BW Singers Choir of Baldwin Wallace, directed by Marc Weagraff. She was an apprentice with Pittsburgh Festival Opera during the Summer of 2020, performing Contessa.  She graduated from Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School as a Voice Major. Mrs. Clay Zelaya has performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra as a member of the PSO Student Chorale and as a member of the Junior Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh. Anissa was a high school apprentice with the Pittsburgh Opera, where she has performed in two mini-lecture recitals. Anissa is an award-winning author of the novel The God Conception, which she wrote in 2015. She received a proclamation from Allegheny County for her novel and her service to her community.   Anissa recently launched The Swole Soprano, personal training for singers: www.theswolesoprano.com

Anissa will attend George Mason University for Graduate Study.

MUSICAL OFFERING

Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios           Joaquin Rodrigo (no poet)

  1. De los Álamos vengo, Madre

  2. Con que la lavare?

  3. Vos me matasteis

  4. De donde venis, amore?


 

Joaquin Rodrigo was born in Valencia, Spain in 1901. He became blind at the age three due to diphtheria in his hometown. Rodrigo studied in Paris in the 1920s, learning his unique Spanish-style of composition. He emulated the music of the 16th-18th centuries in his own works, while also adding his own modern flare. In his set, Cuatro Madrigales Amatorios (Four Madrigals of Love), Rodrigo captures the essence of what life is like to live, whether it be in 1560 when the poems were written, in 1947 when the songs were first set for soprano and piano, or in the present. Each song represents love, loss, flirtations, or death. In “De los Álamos vengo, Madre,” the singer is excited to tell her mother about the wonderful time she had in Seville with the poplars and her new lady-friend. In “Con que la lavare?” the singer is lamenting the trials and tribulations she must face, along with all of the other women around her. This song emulates the struggles of the peoples of Honduras and El Salvador and the state of their lives. In “Vos me matasteis,” the singer states plainly that the privileged girl, or the United States of America in my interpretation, has killed her in their cruelty and disregard. She sees the river but never makes it over and dies on her way to a better future. In “De donde venis, amore?” the singer knows where her lover has been (cheating on her) and wants to make him beg. Each of these songs are gems on their own and put together create a beautiful tapestry of the lives of the people on Central America.

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