Today we’d like to introduce you to Raguel Gabriel.
Hi Raguel, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am a classically trained singer and actor. And though I guess I very much did not realize it at first-a producer. The last title came out of a need to forge my own path and space to express myself the way I really wanted. With no one to tell me ‘no’ or, ‘you don’t fit the usual requirements to do what you’re doing’. I am sure a lot of creatives understand where I am coming from. I am a rebel when it comes to things I know my heart wants me to do. Even if it takes years. I will work and work in silence until I meet that goal. And the strength and determination just comes. I always sang but did not always act. It was singing that led to acting and when that bug hit, it really hit. It was acting that took me to New York City and it seems it is singing that kept me there and I am doing a lot of it, the way I want to. Yet it is still very organic and with a lot of faith involved. Step by step, day by day I don’t know where exactly I’ll be taken. As we speak I am days away from travelling to Trinidad to perform at a self produced classical recital called Night and Dreams 2. It is also probably my most ambitious project yet. I am not one to ever really look back and it is usually other people that make me do it. In encouraged reflection there is a lot to give thanks for as to how I am where I am today. It gave me goosebumps that I am about to perform on the same stage where I sang in my first opera, as a young classical student singer. And now to return 14 years later as the person, man and artist I am today, it is incredibly moving. I give thanks that I never compromised or ignored the voice of my heart.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has definitely not been smooth. But do we really want it to be smooth? If smooth means just sitting and waiting for things to happen, then you can keep that. I’d rather grow. It’s the challenges and hard times that made me into who I am today. I did not choose to stop but kept moving, becoming stronger after each storm. And the storms will always come, so I try to be constant. I’m in one right now. But being an artist has saved me-of course there is more to that. As an artist, the struggles include first of all being just that. This world is constantly seemingly forcing you to fall in line. Be like everybody else. Follow so called trends. Give in to the noise. Have a ‘safe’ job, things like that. It is important for me to have standards, boundaries and morals that guide my decisions. Then there is Finance. Family. Love. Life does its things to you. Heartache. NYC does its things to you. America does its things to you. And the challenge is to somehow stay open hearted and receptive through it all. When you are as sensitive as I am, it can be tough at times. I feel everything I feel intensely. Times one hundred. And I give 100 percent or not at all in everything I do. But the blessing of seeing the world through the eyes of a creative, a combo of what I gained through training and life experiences, is priceless. You become a fighter. And so I keep fighting. You’ve got to, for anything worth while in this life.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Night and Dreams 2 is very special because I am taking it to Trinidad. There I will be showcasing an unseen version of me as tenor and actor combined, after having not been on stage there for around 8 years. When we did what I can now call Night and Dreams 1, it was a very poignant and interesting time for me. A lot of what I was thinking of and pondering on lined up with the music, which happens a lot with me. My frequent collaborator, pianist and coach Jeffrey Middleton will be flying down with me. It was him that suggested the first music back then when he was picking up on my moods and certain complaints I had about life during our sessions. The Manhattan recital went so well and I was very proud of that one and I never forgot saying to myself that the songs in that program were the ones I wanted to share most with Trinidad. In particular, was the deeply spiritual and powerful, Gustav Mahler’s Ruckert Lieder which included a song that became my comfort and is now my personal theme song. They really transport you. And then certain pieces from a composer called Ernest Chausson from whom I am yet to hear a song I do not like. I am in love with his moody, darker style. For this recital we have added some new ones so that there is a slightly different mood than the first outing. But the theme remains the same, originally inspired by the text from Schubert’s Nacht und Traume which speaks about mankind longing for night to come so as to dream and escape the realities of day to day life. I’ll be singing in French, German and of course English. One thing I am proud of is this ability to sing in such a pure way. Unamplified the way classical music was intended to be. Direct, stripped and using your entire body. It requires presence and absolute truth. Before any bells and whistles. I can open my mouth and fill an entire hall, and move an audience. That’s something that was my goal when I was first inspired and moved to tears many years ago by a classical voice. That moment started it all, and here I am still going!
Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
The wonderful thing about living in New York City is that the arts are always alive-and it does not matter what area you desire to be in. You can always find something, an opportunity or if you are like me-ways to do things your way. People looking for people. The energy is constant and really and truly the arts keep things alive. It is such a vital part of the fabric of this city that it will always get better. So in a way it may not matter if things change or trends go a certain way. This city is its own thing and will define all of them.
Pricing:
- Night and Dreams 2: $30US/200TT per guest
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.raguelgabriel.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ragueltgabriel/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/raguel.gabriel/
- Other: https://www.raguelgabriel.com/event-details/night-and-dreams-2-recital-1
Image Credits
All photography by Andres Hernandez NYC
