The Songs That Raised Me is a one-hour musical storytelling program presented by the Rochester Oratorio Society (ROS) for its Arts Connexions season opener featuring “The Walking Tenor” Jesús Daniel Hernández joined by local narrator Stephanie Paredes reciting her original poetry written to accompany each section.
Paredes is an Afro-Dominican leader, storyteller, artist, community builder, and co-founder and Board President of the Rochester Latino Theatre Company.
Interspersed with Paredes’ original poetry, the program traces Hernández’s journey, opening with Mexican songs shaping his earliest memories, moving into songs of heritage, land, and ancestry, an exploration of love, distance, and time followed by memories and experiences of leaving home and serving in the Army. The final section follows his path into the classical world, closing with a reflection on a life shaped by family, service, loss, courage and song.
The concert will open with a proclamation by Mercedes Vazquez Simmons — District 22 legislator for Monroe County and legislature vice president — recognizing Hernández’s service.
