TALES FROM A TIME OF COVID 19 (15th in a series): Pedro Arroyo – A friend’s thoughts at the end of 2021

Music Notes

Last quiet Sunday of the year, and I can’t help but reflect while having coffee in my balcony. (It’s cold, y’all, but I had to!) Despite the insanity of Covid-19, I have done many things. I have traveled, I have felt, I have loved, I have screamed, I have cried, I have laughed, I have learned, I have sung, I have gained weight, I have lost weight, I have gained it again, I have walked, I have slept, I have… You get the idea. 2021 is bound to be the most uncertain year in our lifetimes, because at least at the beginning of 2020, we had a bit of normalcy; 2021 remains uncertain for everyone. What I do know is no matter what challenges 2021 brings, I will continue to face them with strength and pride. I will sing, I will fight, I will love, I will feel, I will cry, I will laugh… Again, you get the idea. In the meantime, I will continue to physically (not socially) distance, and will wear my mask. Let’s make 2021 the year of kindness, solidarity, and resilience!

Pedro Andre Arroyo Ojeda

Published by Music Notes

Rafael de Acha has enjoyed a distinguished career in the arts as a performer, stage director, producer, and educator. He was born and grew up in Cuba. At the age of 17 he moved to the United States to study Drama at the University of Minnesota, and later Languages at L.A. City College, Music at the Juilliard School of Music, at the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, and at the New England Conservatory of Music, from which he received the Master's degree. He has taught courses on the History of Music at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and at Florida International University, and contributed writings and reviews to Seen and Heard International (www.seenandheard-international.com ) and to this blog. He co-founded the award-winning New Theatre in Coral Gables, Florida, where he produced and staged twenty seasons of classical and contemporary theater, including fifty world premieres of plays that went on to have international and national productions on and off Broadway, including Ana in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz (Pulitzer Prize for Drama 2002 and Tony Nomination 2003.) In 2006 he was presented with a citation from The Dade County Cultural Affairs Council for “trailblazing contributions to the arts in South Florida.”