BATON ROUGE - It's a Christmas tradition — holiday music recitals. Young aspiring musicians perform the sounds of the season for family and friends.

It's a proud moment for Raudol Palacios and his parents, Gloria and Mario, who operate a school in the Capital city teaching adults and children music and arts.

Raudol was just a kid too, younger than age seven and growing up in Venezuela, when music and the cello pulled at his heartstrings. He was inspired by his big sister Yilian, who is 13 years older than him to the day.

"I was born and she was already playing. Since I was born, I could hear the violin playing in the house," Raudol said. "As siblings do, they want to imitate the older sibling so I wanted to play music too. I wanted to be able to do what my sister could — but not exactly the same — so we have different instruments."

Yilian said her journey with music also started with hearing others play.

"At some point, I was so annoying with my mom, saying 'I want to be on stage!' every time she took me to a concert. She took me to a music teacher to see if I have any musical gifts, and this is how my journey started singing and learning the violin. Since then, this is a part of my life," she said.

Yilian Cañizares has soared as a violinist, singer and composer. She moved to Switzerland and is huge in the Latin-Jazz genre. She also hosts master class sessions, using her musical expertise to educate.

"You have music not only as a way to share with people but also as a gift for yourself, for healing, for expressing who you are, your vision of life."
Raudol followed Yilian to Switzerland and was studying music when he received the opportunity of a lifetime, which meant moving to Baton Rouge to study under his icon: Dennis Parker, a prestigious world-renowned cellist who teaches at the LSU School of Music.

"I did my undergrad at LSU. The cello professor is incredible, and I knew about him since I was a kid, so when the opportunity was presented to me it was something I could not pass up," Raudol said.

And that was just the start. Raudol expanded his reach, embracing the Baton Rouge community like family too, after he and his parents opened a non-profit: Palacios House of Arts.

At that moment, Raudol had no idea what a tremendous impact the school would have on the community — including a mural at the Goodwood Library that tells the story of Hurricane Ida. The storm ripped through Louisiana on August 29, 2021, leaving behind death and destruction. A group of his students created this permanent exhibit, which includes a soundtrack.

"It's five panels, acrylic panels with the notes they wrote. You scan the QR code to listen to the music and can see what the panels mean to the music," he said. "The warning of the hurricane, it arrives, then it destroys everything. The community rebuilds. All of that, you can hear."

In November, Raudol brought together students and professionals, side by side, playing music he composed specifically for an event he called "Multicultural Sounds of Louisiana."

He recruited a very special guest, his sister Yilian, to play together on stage for the first time. The siblings said it's been a heart-felt experience.

"I think both us and our parents have been waiting for this moment," Yilian said.

The siblings have so much to celebrate and are planning more collaborations. Yilian hopes to spend some of her December back home in Switzerland, maybe working on her first Christmas album.

Raudol is spending his December working too. Musicians are in very high demand at Christmas.

"Mass in the morning, midnight mass at church. Christmas Day is the busiest time of the year for me."

For these siblings, the Spirit of Christmas is a family affair, using their gifts to help connect the community and inspire the next generation of musicians.