Barry University Faculty Member Celeste Landeros Presents The Last Songs of My Mother and Tonton

The Last Songs of My Mother and Tonton is a deeply personal, immersive performance created by Celeste Landeros, Ph.D., a faculty member at Barry University. It will be presented at 4:00 pm on January 29, 2026, at Barry University’s Gato Gallery, blending music, memory, and storytelling to honor two elders who shaped Landeros’s life and Miami’s cultural landscape.

The piece centers on 90-year-old Jean Fraser, Landeros’s mother and a retired Miami-Dade public school teacher, and Catelus “Tonton” Laguerre, an 82-year-old master Haitian percussionist and cultural icon. In their final months, both lived under the same roof, cared for by Landeros and her family. What unfolds onstage is not simply a performance, but a ritual of remembrance rooted in caregiving, cultural exchange, and love.

Video Thumbnail

Sign in to use the pins