We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Gerardo José Ortega a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Gerardo José, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I was a child in New Orleans, Louisiana, in love with jazz and broadway music. My stepmother’s father and I would have amazing conversations about the voice and the stories told on stage from some of our favorite shows. I would tell him all about the musicals I loved and he would tell me all about the operas and zarzuelas he cherished attending from Cuba. One special day, he took me to the opera at NOOA in the Mahalia Jackson Theatre. They had prepared a production of La Traviata. It was my first time experiencing singing like that live with all the costumes, sets, and most importantly for me, the supertitles above the proscenium with the translations. I had always admired the singing in its’ native tongue but to finally understand the stories as they were told changed my life forever. I’ll never forget reading “brought to life by love, I’ve forgotten all that is past.” Moved by that poetry, the trajectory of my life changed and I began working towards a career in the arts. The path wound and turned in so many directions since and I’m so pleased to be who I am today professionally.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Gerardo José Ortega and I’m a classical singer based in Miami, FL. I’ve made a career performing as a Tenor in operas, concerts, and musicals, as a Voice Teacher for the next generation of singers, a Music Director for First Church Miami and Guest Conductor for several organizations in the choral repertory, Director for community theatre, and two time award winning Composer in contemporary and classical styles. I began my professional journey as a creative very early, setting out to learn the craft of singing and performing wherever I could, but along the way I had the privilege of picking up skill sets and serving the arts in my community in so many ways. I learned to conduct and work with choirs, I’ve learned to effectively teach up and coming singers how to find and build their voices to successes including going to colleges on prestigious awards or even making the finals on many televised competitions, I’ve started a concert series in Downtown Miami that makes a safe space for singers to experiment and perform in a supportive environment while simultaneously raising a small amount of funds for organizations like the Wounded Warrior Project, UM Chrohns’ and Colitis Foundation, Susan B. Komen, the Alzheimer’s Association, and local relief efforts in helping the unhoused. On this incredible journey I’ve had over the years, I’ve learned two really important things- first, I am a disciple of the arts, I can and must do whatever I can to bring them to people and teach them to the aspiring because, second, music can heal.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Simple, support local artists. Yes, catch the shows for Broadway Across America, get your fix at the finest theaters if that’s your thing, but attend that local concert! Is someone you know releasing a single on streaming platforms? -Pre-save the content, like it, playlist it! Take a class taught by an artists on something you never thought you’d ever like, you literally never know the impact it could have on you and how much of a blessing it could be to the person teaching it. Tip your local drag queens, support organizations locally like Orchestra Miami, The Downtowner Concert Series, and Miami Poetry Club, places that celebrate creating safe spaces to create, and even if you can’t make it, buying a ticket to an event and gifting it to a friend goes a really long way! The arts are essential to relieving the human condition and helping each other find the most beauty in life, it’s something we can all benefit from and afford to be a bigger part of.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
All my creative life I’ve composed poetry and music of a contemporary and classical style. Faced with getting larger caliber work less often, it became clear that I needed to explore other avenues of professional creative work. Afraid of judgement or reproach, I hid all my original work from the classical music community. After many years, and amassing lots of poetry and musical sketches, I’ve decided to start embracing myself as the full artist I am- I’m so much more than just a classical singer! Whether I draw, compose pop songs or classical art song, sing, or write poetry, I’ve learned the overarching identity has always been a storyteller. Finally embracing myself as the full artist that I am publicly and professionally, I’ve begun releasing the music I’ve composed under the nom de plume Romantique available on all streaming platforms and am setting out to release my first book of poetry within the year. I am now a published, proud, two-time winner of the Miami Individual Artists Award.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gerardojose.com
- Instagram: @tenortantrum
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gerarditoeltenorcito/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@gerardojose3
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6JQ0WpXF9Vk4BUU4wX6fxy?si=ZUFV04UiRDyrq-cnqeMGfQ
Image Credits
Kristin Pulido, Michael Todd