TRES VIDAS, 3 LIVES

You might find this difficult to believe but I spent the evening with 3 wonderful women... 

Latin American legends in their own right;

the modernist painter
 Frida Kahlo who dressed in the 

traditional attire of her homeland Mexico and surrounded herself in its colors. She shared her love and mutual respect for art with muralist Diego Rivera and they also lived in Gringolandia, N.Y.  where her talent was recognized. Suffering from a horrendous bus accident at 19 she suffered through 32 operations and endured pain her entire life and her art reflected the 2 Fridas...

the Salvadoran peasant activist, Rufina Amaya, who witnessed the violent acts of her country's military soldiers as they killed her family and raped her village's women and burned her homeland. Although injured she managed to survive in the jungle in order to be able to tell her story. Despite El Salvador and our governments's denials, eventually, forensics and reporters proved her story...  

and Argentine poet 

Alfonsina Storni, an outspoken feminist, who had the poems of a much older soul, pregnant at 19 by a married man, bore a son. Plagued by breast cancer she took her own life after an unsuccessful mastectomy by walking into the sea...          

This Chamber Music Theatre of Tres Vidas (Three Lives) had the talented Dominican actress Rosa Rodriquez portraying all 3 women accompanied by the Core Ensemble of cellist Ju Young-Lee  and pianist Chien-I Yang. Chilean poet Margorie Agosin wrote the lyrical script. 

Viterbo University's Recital Hall's size was the right fit for the intimacy of Chamber Music as its audience of students, professors and community members sat mesmerized through the almost 2 hour performance filled with monologues and the soulful voice of Ms. Rodriguez of both folkloric and popular Mexican, Salvadoran and Argentinian  songs in addition to compositions written specifically for Tres Vidas by Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Golijov, Orlando Garcia, Pablo Ortiz and Michael DeMurga. 

For those that missed Tres Vidas, after performances on the east coast, it will return to Wisconsin this month to Milwaukee. It is certainly worth the trip across the state. Although Ms Rodriguez has been with this troupe only one month, her performance is stellar. Unfortunately youtube didn't have any videos with her performance nor the musicians exquisite playing... Thanks to both Viterbo and UW-L for sponsoring this wonderful evening of theatre and Chamber Music for free in honor of Hispanic Heritage month.

Cellist Ju Young-Lee

The musicians and actor were kind enough to pose with some of the professors and Franciscan sisters after the performance.

Actor Rosa Rodriguez center next to pianist Chien I Yang