World-renowned soprano and artist Raquel Rubí, a St. Johns County resident, will feature her music and artwork at a downtown St. Augustine gallery beginning Saturday, July 22, with a gallery opening.
Rubí will perform and show her work from 4 to 6:30 p.m. at ArtBox, 137 King St. Her art will be on display through the fall.
A soft opening of the show took place on May 5 as a part of First Friday ArtWalk. Additional showings of Rubí’s art are being planned for the St. Augustine and Jacksonville areas and will be announced soon.
Additionally, Rubí opened a new studio at 110 Cumberland Park Drive, No. 105, in Northwest St. Johns off County Road 210 on Friday, July 7. Art classes began there on July 8.
“We have enjoyed living in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine area,” said Rubí, who moved from Miami two years ago along with husband Anton, a physician, and two daughters. “It is calmer and more space to explore than Miami. It was the environment we were looking for — a different style of life.”
“I have probably been painting more here than singing,” she added. “Painting has been one of my dreams since I was a teenager. I was always super immersed in the musical field and there wasn’t room to develop my painting in the way that I wanted to. This time in my life has been special, creating and painting along with my singing. There’s been a real convergence between the two arts.”
Rubí performed on May 10 in St. Augustine’s Romanza Festivale of Music & the Arts. “Romanza Cubana” presented the Cuban soprano’s music in a journey through the most relevant genres of classical vocal Cuban music, from the Cuban art song, passing through the zarzuela romanzas and ending with the most popular songs of the “Trova Traditional Cubana” and fusions of the new generation of composers.
The music was accompanied by Rubí’s artwork, titled “Stage Works,” a journey through the most important roles and moments of the singer’s career brought to the canvas, including a self-portrait, “La Cubana,” and nine stage vignettes in oil paint.
The proceeds of a silent auction benefited the nonprofit RubiMusic and support more musical projects in the community.
The musical program included songs by Lecuona, Rodrigo Prats and Sindo Garay. Rubí led the concert, with the participation of the Venezuelan concert pianist Adolfo Vidal, the Puerto Rican percussionist Tito Ortiz and the tenor Esteban Camo as a guest artist at The Waterworks, 184 San Marco Ave., as a centerpiece of the month-long Romanza Festivale, a celebration of St. Augustine’s arts, culture and heritage.
Rubí, a native of Havana, completed studies in piano and composition with composer Harold Gramatges at Havana’s Instituto Superior de Arte and studied voice with Maria Eugenia Barrios.
Her solo career started in Havana in 2001 and two years later her acting career launched when she was cast in the internationally awarded film “Scent of Oak” by Rigoberto Lopez, winning her the “Caricato 2003” award for Best Actress in a supporting role. Rubí earned her master’s degree in vocal performance from Florida International University in 2009 and a doctorate in musical arts from the University of Miami in 2016.
She has performed opera, operetta and zarzuela with Frost Opera Theater, Miami Lyric Opera and Sociedad Pro-Arte Gratell. Her original composition, “Hosanna” premiered in Carlos Barba’s film, “Humberto,” an official selection at the La Costa Film Festival in 2015. She is also the founder and director of the nonprofit organization RubiMusic, dedicated to providing performance opportunities for children and young talent and to promote classical music to communities of Florida through local productions.
Rubí left Cuba in 2005 for Miami to continue her musical studies.
“I was looking for freedom and found paradise, culture, education and music,” Rubí said. “I feel grateful because so many people have been supportive.”
