Sometimes, when you bring people together from different cultures, they may not be able to talk to one another, but they can communicate through music,” says Manuel Molina.
As a composer, Molina has always treated music as a universal language. Over the years, the Peruvian has experimented with making arrangements for himself and others, constantly thinking about using the notes and melodies as a way to bridge the gap from one culture to another. For Molina, music has become a cross-cultural journey.
“When I first came to the United States from Peru five years ago, it was for different reasons,” Molina recounts. “I used to have a band and initially we were just working and playing so that we could make money. We needed a means that allowed us to do what we really loved to do, which was eventually touring all over the world, writing music and playing it for so many different countries.”
As Molina traveled around the globe, he became enthused and passionate about the people he was meeting and the various genres he was being exposed to.
“I got this idea to bring together musicians from all different countries, all different cultures and all different styles,” Molina says. “In the end, everybody gets together, and the music will be from all of these places and create a really beautiful sound. It’s a symbol of unity — the way music was always supposed to be.”
Over the past two years, Molina began reaching out to his contacts in various countries and encouraging them to make this “musical journey.” He stressed that together they could form a musical community that audiences would respond to.
“I’m now bringing in people from Peru, from Colombia, from France and many different parts of the world, all so that we can all travel and make a beautiful, musical trip and educate the world,” Molina says. “Creating anything, like music, gives you more power wherever you are, wherever you come from. People want to see musicians performing at a high level with heart and passion.”
Molina and his group are now coming together to present A Night Around the World on Oct. 18 at the Broomfield Auditorium. The concert will feature world-renowned singers, musicians and dancers from a handful of countries.
“I decided to bring big acts together and make this show a collaboration between truly master musicians,” Molina says. “People like [Chinese cellist] Tina Guo, who was featured in Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson tribute show. She traveled all over the world with that show and performs at concerts in different countries every week.”
Other notable artists include names like Peruvian singer Lula Valdivia, who has performed various musical genres all over the world, Mexican vocalist Luna Itzel, who is praised as having one of the most beautiful voices of her country, and American violist Karen Briggs, who is considered one of this century’s most promising violinists and who has been featured on multi-platinum albums. The artists will also be backed by an orchestra made up of players from across the globe. All the musicians and performers featured in A Night Around the World are prominent in the arts community, and despite normally charging expensive rates for their appearances, they all agreed to come together for this show free of cost.
“I knew that everyone was too expensive, but I really need big names like theirs for this to work,” Molina says. “Once I explained this project and showed them the music I had arranged for it, they all got really into it, and I feel so lucky that they want to be a part of it.”
With so many varied artists, Molina says he wanted to create something that everyone could relate to. The pieces for A Night Around the World consist of a wide range of musical styles, sometimes lending to jazz and other times featuring a strong percussion section and different genres associated with it.
“What this will sound like is a conversation between countries,” Molina says. “I want people to remember that music is a language, and it can sound very different depending on the musicians and the country they are from. I want the audience to remember where everyone is coming from, and think that yes, it’s nice to go to see music performed in concerts, but also differentiate it from what they might hear on a street corner in another part of the world.”
With his affinity for traveling and performing for audiences in different countries, Molina likes to consider himself the “Latin Bob Hope.” He agrees that entertaining is definitely a major component of his musical career, but he says that for him, and every other musician and artist he encounters, it’s more about the journey.
“Everybody who performs with me and everybody we touch with our music feels a little bit of the journey,” Molina says. “This is not something that would have ever happened to me had I not decided to produce this. My goal is to continue using music to unite countries around the world and keep showing this [project] internationally.”
After A Night Around the World, Molina and his ensemble plan to record their work and send it to PBS with the hope of inspiring people to learn music as a way of communicating, as well as an open invitation to take a musical journey.
ON THE BILL: A Night Around the World, 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, Broomfield Auditorium, 3 Community Park Road, Broomfield, 720-435-6642.
