05/30/2026
Border Crossings is a concert that celebrates immigrants and the cultures and languages they bear. Bethany is one of our sopranos who chose to share her story of immigration and how music has been a through line for her.
“I came to the United States from the Philippines in 1999, my family carrying just a little more than our important documents and a promise of something better. We settled in a small apartment in downtown Los Angeles, holding onto that hope.
Music was our life. My father was a balladeer, and my mother wrote the lyrics he brought to life. When we arrived here, that music carried us forward, with my father continuing as a musical evangelist for a church.
A year later, he was diagnosed with cancer. By 2001, he was gone. My mother worked two jobs to raise me and my brother, holding fast to the dream that brought us here: a future through education.
In high school, I wanted to be an artist. But college meant choosing what was possible, not just what I loved. My mother couldn’t afford to send me to art school, and she urged me toward something more secure.
I became a nurse. It wasn’t the dream I started with—but it became something I grew to love, a way of being present for others in their most vulnerable moments.
Music waited quietly in the background. And now, I am finding my way back—not choosing between who I was and who I became, but realizing they were always part of the same melody.”
Come celebrate the ties that bind in spite of the walls that may divide. We hope to see you this weekend!
🗺️Border Crossings
🗓️Saturday, May 30, 7:00 p.m.
🗓️Sunday, May 31, 3:00 p.m
📍St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church
🎟️http://bit.ly/OCWC-Border-Crossings-SM