Meet the White Hands Choir!
The White Hands Choir, 2022. (Left to right, back to front) María Inmaculada Velásquez Echeverría, Jesús López Timaure, Dodanim Castillo, Gabriel Linarez, José Gabriel Abarca Abarca, Alfonso José López Timaure, Alejandro Rivero Giménez, César Alejandro Rodríguez, Luis Chinchilla, Dayana Onofrietti Gómez, María Estefanía Prieto Quero, Yessica Montes de Oca, Jennifer González, Yeison Nohe Escobar Almao.
El Sistema Venezuela’s White Hands Choir (Coro de Manos Blancas) is a musical ensemble in which young people come together to form a chorus of two parts — Vocal and Venezuelan Sign Language (LSV) — that merge to give rise to a new approach to musical expression.
Twelve of their Deaf artists from Barquisimeto have been selected to perform April 14-16, 2022, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA, where different cultures and forms of expression merge in a new production of Fidelio, Beethoven’s only opera. This exciting project, created for both hearing and Deaf audiences, will be staged in collaboration between the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Deaf West Theatre, the White Hands Choir (Coro de Manos Blancas), Los Angeles Master Chorale, and a remarkable cast of opera singers.
The White Hands Choir and Deaf West Theatre in rehearsal for Fidelio, March 2022.
Every day, we are learning and inspired by the White Hands Choir and the actors of Deaf West. From singing and playing, to body language as a form of expression, Fidelio has given us the opportunity to create new paradigms to connect with music from a whole new perspective.
