"I wanted to take an opportunity of the Hispanic Heritage Month to bring some of the music to this community, the music that I grew up listening to," said Nadia Aguilar.
Aguilar is a member of Opera Connecticut, a group that has been around since 1991 and offers affordable, live opera performances. She is also a full-time music professor at Manchester Community College.
On Wednesday, she performed at Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington.
"It's an exciting new program for us," said Lavall Thompson.
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Thompson is on board of the Hill-Stead Museum, and she says this is the first time they've hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month event like this.
"I love the idea of bringing together audiences that are passionate about an art form and might not know too much of the songs that come from the Spanish language," said Thompson.
The performance began at 6 p.m. Aguilar sang songs that originated in Mexico, Argentina, and Spain. Organizers say it's music that's similar to opera.
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"Normally, opera is performed in Italian or German, or other languages, the Spanish took that tradition and made it their own," said Aguilar. "We're doing a lot of classical music, classical songs in Spanish from those countries."
But she wasn't performing alone. She was with other singers and musicians from Opera Connecticut to highlight Hispanic culture and teach her community about this unique art form.
"I strongly believe that this should not be the only Hispanic Heritage Month event. Like, we should have more representation, more concerts like this," Aguilar said.
