The story of a retired Miami public school teacher and a master Haitian percussionist forms the foundation of a new work. Through music, memory, and intergenerational witnessing, the piece pays tribute to two elder figures who shaped one woman’s life—and left an imprint on the city’s cultural fabric.

Drawing from personal experience, Celeste Landeros, Ph.D., has created what she describes as an immersive piece influenced by opera, carnival traditions, and community storytelling. That convergence of forms and histories is central to “The Last Songs of My Mother and Tonton.”

“The Last Songs of My Mother and Tonton” will be performed Thursday, Aug. 7 through Sunday, Aug. 10, in the Little Haiti Cultural Complex’s theater lobby.

The production centers on 90-year-old Jean Fraser, a retired e

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