Luis Bernardo Castro Sánchez, shown Thursday at Greene Family Commons, arrived in Chautauqua a few days after catastrophic earthquakes hit his home country of Venezuela.
CODY ENGLANDER
Staff Writer
Luis Bernardo Castro Sanchez, a Venezuelan cellist in the Music School Festival Orchestra, is helping Venezuela’s earthquake relief from abroad following the two catastrophic earthquakes that took place June 24.
“It was hard,” he reflected. “Once I understood what was really happening in Venezuela, you know, my mind got pretty messed up with everything. After knowing that my family was okay, I started seeing the size of the damage, and I was getting pretty depressed.”
At 8 p.m. tonight in the Amphitheater, the MSFO will perform “A Tale of Fate” from Book of Visions by Einojuhani Rautavaara, “Violin Concerto” by Jean Sibelius and Suite No. 2 from Romeo and Juliet by Sergei Prokofiev. Sanchez will also perform his own open recital at 2 p.m. Tuesday in Fletcher Music Hall. To Sanchez, music is an escape from a country facing political and environmental turmoil.
“My favorites [to perform] are Beethoven’s Third and Fifth Symphony. Tchaikovsky’s fifth symphony is a very important symphony, especially in Venezuela,” Sanchez said. “… It touches very deeply here in my heart. All the music we do here is great; it’s my favorite thing in the world. [Performing the songs] takes me somewhere that I like.”
Sanchez has been playing cello since he was about 8 years old, a part of his life that’s followed him ever since. His childhood neighbor inspired him first to play the violin, but he wasn’t drawn to the instrument. When his neighbor began playing cello, he followed, and he has been playing for 23 years.
“I was pretty inspired by her,” Sanchez said. “I mean, all these music education and opportunities happen because we have El Sistema, which is the national music orchestra program of education. This is kind of an after-school program where orchestra training is taught for free.”
Sanchez grew up in Caracas, Venezuela, and came to the United States for the first time five years ago to pursue his master’s degree from Louisiana State University. His girlfriend, a flutist, encouraged him to apply to the MSFO program at Chautauqua Institution. A few days after he arrived, the earthquake struck. Being far away was a challenge, as he watched videos and heard stories of the disaster from thousands of miles from his home. Then, he started to think of being far from home as an advantage through an ability to provide help.
“I’m trying right now to formalize what I’m doing,” Sanchez said. “I am talking with a friend. She’s also from Venezuela, and she has a non-profit organization. So we’re trying to put this together in order for me to send more resources to them. So I will see which way or how we can do (this) to help for the next stage of this crisis. Maybe we can provide any kind of service for free to the people who are the victim of all this.”
Sanchez noted Chautauqua as an escape from the earthquake, but he has struggled with not being in Venezuela while effects of the disaster continue to be tracked. One of the things that has kept him going is seeing the impact other Venezuelans are able to have.
“I can say I have never seen such community organization up to now,” Sanchez said. “I saw people just do amazing things to mobilize in order to help [the people of] La Guaira.”
Having a community behind change is important, and from the arts scene to just walking down the streets, Sanchez has seen it in Chautauqua.
“[Chautauqua] is kind of taking me back to what I was used to in my country in a good way. So it’s a combination of the social meetings, also sharing with peers, doing something and at the same time that doing music is [creating] a good, a perfect match,” Sanchez said. “… Thank God, because it’s helping me a lot to keep my mind busy and in a better place.”
During the early stages, he was in contact with an unofficial rescue crew comprising community members. The group was able to rescue people from rubble and found a group of people alive in a basement. The group directed professional rescuers to the people in the basement, who eventually performed a safe rescue. Sanchez said he admired the initiative people took to mobilize following the disaster and find various ways to support Venezuelans affected.
“That makes me happy and proud of the good of my people,” he said.
Sanchez believes that communities with the heart of Chautauqua can bring people together, not just in Venezuela, but all across the world.
“I’m very happy to see such a community again. Community is (the) most important. I’m pretty happy to see such a close community in every way, and (it) looks like everyone knows each other [in Chautauqua],” Sanchez said. “I haven’t seen any of that happening in [America] ever, so it’s a good surprise, too.”
