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(Part
2)
by Robb Cundick
Read
Part 1 here:
In Part 1 I related the story of Lulu Christensen McDaniels,
who sang a solo in General Conference in October of 1932 – nearly
72 years ago. Lulu was blessed with a remarkable voice; one that
her teacher felt was so special that he didn’t want to do anything
to change it and so he limited his instruction to breathing techniques.
Lulu was very humble about her musical gift and always looked for
ways to use it in serving God and bringing happiness to others.
Another
Extraordinary Gift
|
This
picture of Liriel in the Assembly Hall is my favorite. It
was taken by one of her friends, Joyce Weeks. The happiness
she has received from her commitment to the Gospel radiates
from her face almost as brightly as the light from the window. |
On Sunday, April 4th, 2004, another young woman
with an extraordinary gift will step before the Church to sing in
General Conference. At age 22, Liriel Domiciano has been singing
since she was a young girl. She has always loved to sing. Though
slight of frame, she has been blessed with a voice of amazing power;
and yet surprisingly, she has received very little formalized instruction.
Liriel grew up in a poor suburb of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Music lessons
were not within her family’s means, but at an early age she was
exposed to good music. She imitated what she heard and began to
sing classical arias when she was just five.
Like Lulu, Liriel came to prominence through a stroke of good
fortune that was decidedly providential. She joined the Church
when she was fourteen (more about that later). Everyone loved her
voice and a fellow Church member suggested she try out for Brazil’s
“Raul Gil Amateur Show” (something akin to “American Idol”). She
was an immediate success and eventually teamed with a young tenor
from the show named Renaldo Viana.
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Liriel
and her escort/interpreter Jeanette Oakes. Liriel told me
that Sister Oakes has been an angel to her ever since they
first met at a news conference in Sao Paulo. |
Liriel and Renaldo quickly became a sensation in Brazil. Their
first CD sold over a million copies in just a few weeks. Liriel
(professionally she uses only her first name) was not allowed to
mention her Church membership on television but she always wore
her Young Women’s medallion as an acknowledgment of her faith and
her commitment to the Lord. She has become such a household name
in Brazil that a company has expressed interest in creating a “Liriel”
doll.
Last week I had the pleasure of interviewing Liriel. We sat
face to face in the lobby of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.
She is learning English very quickly, but has only been at it since
November and so she was more comfortable speaking through an interpreter,
Jeanette Oakes, who is also her escort for her trip north.
Exciting
Invitations
The story of Liriel’s debut in America starts just seven months
ago. Peggy Fletcher Stack of the Salt Lake Tribune was in
Brazil to do a follow-up story to an article she had written about
the experiences of an LDS missionary. At a news conference, Jeanette
Oakes introduced her to Liriel, and Peggy decided to write a piece
about her for the Tribune.
The three of them met at a restaurant for an interview. “They
asked me a question.” Liriel told me, “The question was – it was
an amazing question to me – ‘Would you like, some day, to sing with
the Mormon Tabernacle Choir?’ At this point I said to them, ‘That’s
the dream of my life!’ And the moment that I said that, it was
something that came out of my heart. I didn’t go after that opportunity.
It was just a hope. I wouldn’t have made any effort whatsoever.
That wouldn’t have been proper. It was just a hope that I had.”
The Church’s Brazilian Office of Public Affairs picked up on
that and decided to contact Mormon Tabernacle Choir director Craig
Jessop. I asked Craig about how things happened on this end and
he told me that a man from Brazil called him to ask if he had heard
of this marvelous young singer and the great miracle she was bringing
about for the Church in Brazil. Craig asked to hear some of Liriel’s
recordings. Upon listening, he was very impressed. “Something
about this touched me,“ he said, and he extended an invitation for
her to come to Salt Lake City and join the Choir on Music and
the Spoken Word.
Liriel was ecstatic when she received the invitation, but there
was something even more exciting to come. In February, she
was featured in a cultural program that was held in Sao Paulo’s
Pacaembu Stadium to celebrate the rededication
of the Sao Paulo Temple. President Hinckley was there and was so
impressed with her performance that a week later he took the unusual
step of inviting her to sing in General Conference.
A
Dream Come True
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Liriel
Domiciano was absolutely magnificent when she sang with the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir on Music and the Spoken Word. Look
closely and you will see that she is wearing her Young Women's
medallion. |
Liriel arrived in America in mid-March. Her performance
on Music and the Spoken Word took place on the 21st.
When she was introduced to the Choir she not only made a graceful
bow to each section of singers, but also combined it with a charming
flourish of her hand and a captivating smile that immediately endeared
her to us all. She was clearly delighted to be with us. She performed
magnificently, demonstrating great versatility in performing both
sacred and popular works, including “The Marvelous Work,” by Haydn,
“Pie Jesu” (in tandem with another talented young LDS singer, Cari
Sue Green) from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem, and the beloved “Somewhere
Over the Rainbow.”
Our interview was two days later, so I asked how she felt about
singing with the Choir. “I felt realized,” she said, “I felt that
a dream had happened. I was very, very, very happy because I was
singing with angels. They sing in such a perfect way. Even today,
I keep re-studying their sound, their manners, and their ways.
I marvel how they are so perfect. And I continue to pray to my
Father in Heaven that he can help and teach me to sing with the
Spirit like the Choir, so that perhaps I, too, could help His children
“
Goodness! As a member of the Choir I felt almost uncomfortable
in the bright light of such praise. Just ask Craig Jessop or Mack
Wilberg how perfect the Choir is the next time they’re in the middle
of dissecting one of our many flaws. But I know that Liriel’s reaction
to the Choir goes far deeper than the technical aspects of singing;
there is more to it than that which is heard. It is what is felt
when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sings that is most significant.
“The thing that is special about the Choir,” I told her, “is that
our Heavenly Father’s love is in our hearts when we sing. And we
feel that with you, too. I am sure you will influence and inspire
many hearts.”
A
Desire for Direction
In talking with Liriel I sensed that, as with Lulu, music is
not the only thing that makes her story remarkable. And so I asked
her about her youth and how she came to join the Church.
Liriel comes from a family of six, including her father, Genivaldo,
her mother, Valderez, her older sister Patricia (26), and younger
sisters Priscila (21), and Danielle (12). When the girls were small,
Genivaldo’s friends told him, “These little girls are going to be
a real problem for you some day.” But he needn’t have worried because
Liriel and her sisters were well behaved and obedient; they didn’t
give their parents problems.
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Liriel
and Utahn Cari Sue Green sang the beautiful, "Pie Jesu"
by Andrew Lloyd Webber. |
As she was growing up, Liriel did not like what she saw going
on around her. Though she and her friends were Catholic, their
religion didn’t seem to provide the direction that Liriel wanted.
“When you’re Catholic,” she told me, “everything is allowed. You
can drink, you can smoke; you can do whatever you want with yourself,
openly.” She found herself asking, “Is this right?” “Sometimes
I saw fathers who were married but had girlfriends; [fathers] that
drank and smoked,” she said, “I didn’t see how that lifestyle fit
with God’s plan.”
For a time she seriously considered becoming a nun. She went
to catechism and attended a “perseverance program” with some of
her friends who planned to become nuns. “I felt that I didn’t want
the things I saw the world brought to people and that if I chose
to be a nun, I would be protected from those things and have a life
that I thought was a better life,” she said.
Liriel shared this ambition with her mother. “[If I become
a nun] my desire will be to serve my Heavenly Father my entire life,”
she told her, “because in this way I will be able to help Him in
His work.” But her mother did not like the idea. She said, “No.
This isn’t right for you. What the correct thing for you is to
some day get married and have a family.” Still, Liriel was not
content, “how should it be that I can do everything right the way
I want to do?” she wondered. And so she decided to pray to her
Heavenly Father: “I told my Father that I wanted a law and I wanted
rules and I wanted a way – a direction to have a life the way I
had envisioned.” [Is this a great story for “Standards Night,”
or what?]
Her friends couldn’t understand this attitude. “[They] said
to me that the way I thought was wrong. They said if I continued
in this way, when I got older I’d lose everything that I ought to
take advantage of while I was young. [They told me] to not be so
closed; and to be open to the lifestyle that they had chosen. But
at the same time they told me these things, when I was with them
I didn’t feel good; their lifestyle was not for me because I didn’t
feel good when I was with them.”
An
Answer to Prayer
When Liriel was fourteen, something happened that brought an
answer to her prayers. Her sister returned to Sao Paulo after having
lived with an aunt and uncle in another city. She had joined the
Church while away and was now a member of seven months. She invited
the family to the Sunday meetings and they soon agreed to take the
missionary lessons.
Liriel was excited. “When the missionaries spoke and taught
us the classes about the commandments [and] about the Word of Wisdom,”
she said, “I felt so happy. I thought, ‘This is exactly what I’m
looking for. This is the lifestyle that I always dreamt about.’
…And so, when I was baptized I had absolutely no doubt that I was
doing the right thing.”
Valderez also told Liriel about a dream she had had prior to
their investigation of the Church in which she had seen the Salt
Lake Temple. All the family, with the exception of her father,
decided to enter the waters of baptism.
I asked Liriel how Genivaldo feels about their decision. She
said, “When we joined the Church, he was able to see the changes
that we made and that we were happy; and that we’re not going to
create problems. He agrees that we have a foundation and that the
Church is our foundation; and that was the direction we all wanted
to take. My father is a person who has always been very observant
of the things I’ve done in my life. He has always been watching
and he has acquired a lot of respect for the lifestyle that I have
chosen. Whenever someone tries to say something negative about
the Church, he doesn’t allow that.”
I was struck by Liriel’s confidence and her firm sense of direction
as she talked about her life’s journey. She spoke with great passion
and there was sincerity in her eyes. Her ready smile and her genuineness
were touching to me. Like Lulu McDaniels, she seems determined
to maintain her sense of humility and gratitude for the gifts with
which she has been blessed.
New
Opportunities
Though Liriel did finally have an opportunity to take voice
lessons after she became a celebrity, it was still only sporadically
– again, due to financial considerations. Despite the spectacular
sales of her recordings she has not become wealthy – most of the
money went to her producers. But fortunately that arrangement has
run its course and the situation will hopefully be rectified the
next time Liriel negotiates a contract.
|
Liriel
is congratulated by Mormon Tabernacle Choir director
Craig Jessop. |
While she is staying in Salt Lake City, arrangements have been
made for her to study with one of Utah’s premier voice teachers,
Betty Jean Chipman. Sister Oakes told me that at one of the lessons,
Sister Chipman listened to a recording of Liriel singing, “Tico-Tico,”
a Brazilian popular song made famous by the actress Carmen Miranda.
Betty Jean was so impressed that she said, “I’m glad I didn’t hear
that before I began teaching you. It’s so good, I would have been
terrified!”
And so, as He did with Lulu Christensen those many years ago,
our Heavenly Father has once again blessed a special young lady
with a gift that will lift and inspire many of His children. As
you listen to Liriel sing, “I Know that My Redeemer Lives” on Sunday,
I am sure you will feel – as do I – that she underestimates herself;
she does indeed already sing with the same spirit as the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir.
When our interview ended I said, “It will be exciting for us
[the Choir] to follow your career and see where you go. We hope
that you can join us again some day – in fact, many times! Thank
you so much. And may our Heavenly Father bless you. You will be
in all of our prayers!” As I turned to leave, she arose and asked
if she could give me a hug. After her tender embrace I walked out
of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building feeling a sudden (and, for
me, unusual) swell of tears in my eyes. It was a moment of crystal
clarity about the truthfulness of the gospel and the impact it can
have upon a life. Liriel knows exactly where she is going. What
a contrast between her life and the lives of so many other young
people in our day.
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Liriel
felt intimidated when she first saw the empty Conference Center.
Wait until she sees this!!
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As I think about Lulu and Liriel, I am grateful for purity,
for dedication, for steadfastness and for any number of other qualities
one could name when describing these two extraordinary women. They
have sought – and continue to seek – to bless the lives of others
with the remarkable talents with which our Heavenly Father has blessed
them. May His blessings be with them!
Thanks once again to Deb Gehris, who took the pictures of Liriel
with the Choir, and to Joyce Weeks, who provided the one taken in
the Assembly Hall.
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