My taste in music has been influenced by many things–my parents, my friends, my cousins, and my environment. Being in a rural community, I didn’t ever really have access to all the new stuff that was coming out as it was coming out. Country music was everywhere so it became a big part of my musical style. There is a 50% split in the people I know between those who like country and those who don’t. My parents listened to music from the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, so I ended up incorporating people like David Bowie and bands like AC/DC into my style. Opera music caught my eye a while back so that transitioned me into symphonic music. I took a liking to Arturo Sandoval and Beethoven because their music seemed calm yet at the same time it can be heavier. “Pagliacci” the Italian opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo caught my attention, along with “Turandot”, another Italian masterpiece by Giacomo Puccini. Opera just lets me connect with something on a deeper level. Opera is about not so much knowing what the words mean but connecting with a story whether it’s in a different language or in your own. Music is one of the great connecters of our generation.