Richard Antoine White spent his first four years scrambling for food and shelter on the streets of Baltimore. Today he is a successful musician, professor of tuba at UNM, inspirational speaker, and author of the new memoir, I’m Possible: The Story of Survival, a Tuba, and the Small Miracle of a Big Dream. He partly credits the power of his imagination both to surviving his childhood and to his approach to music: “I had to imagine a full tummy. I had to imagine a warm blanket,” he told Intermezzo host Leora Zeitlin in this Zoom interview. “And so I think my imagination helps me to be the artist that I am. I use my creativity to play those same notes that Bach used, those same notes that Beethoven used, and it’s pretty phenomenal what we can come up with.”
White will be in Las Cruces on April 30 for a screening of Hi, I’m Richard Antoine White, a documentary about his life, at the Fountain Theatre. The event is a fundraiser for the Mesilla Valley Film Society. White peppers his conversation with observations that are meant to help others realize their “superpowers” and inspire us to pay forward.
Listen to the interview to hear more about the people who helped him along the way, the fulfillment of his dream to make a rap record with his brother, and what he calls the “three c’s”: chance, choice, change. “Everyone wants a chance to make the right choices to see the kind of change that’s for the betterment of all.”
The April 30 event with Richard Antoine White starts at 7 p.m., with a screening of “Hi, I’m Richard Antoine White,” followed by his presentation, a tuba performance, and a book-signing. Only 100 tickets will be sold, and are available at: https://www.mesillavalleyfilm.org/.