NEWPORT, R.I. (WPRI) — Next weekend won’t be the first time that Llewellyn Sanchez Werner performs at the Newport Classical Music Festival , but it will be his first solo performance at the annual event.

The music prodigy has played in around 50 countries and various cities across the U.S. since he started piano lessons at the age of 2.

“It was a raw love for the instrument that first attracted me to it. Later on, I realized that it was something that I wanted to spend my life doing,” Sanchez-Werner recalled.

He said he keeps playing to try to bring people together through music.

“I think of like Barenboim with the West East Devon Orchestra, where Israelis and Palestinians are performing on the same stage,” Sanchez-Werner explained. “If we can have people leave the concert hall feeling better or changed from when they entered, then we’ve achieved our mission.”

At the festival, Sanchez-Werner wants to strike a chord with the audience and share a bit of his Mexican-American heritage.

He plans to play the classics like Beethoven and Schumann, but will also incorporate songs from Mexico like the famous bolero “Besame Mucho.”

“I have memories of having mole, tortas and tacos made by my aunts, by my grandma and listening to present-day Fernandez and Pedro Infante. I think that that’s such a part of my upbringing and my identity. To play pieces that allow me to connect with that and share it with others and, if at all possible, give them a taste of that rich culture that comes from Mexico, that makes me very happy,” Sanchez-Werner added.

Sanchez-Werner’s concert will be Saturday, July 20, at 3 p.m. at Emmanuel Church. You can buy tickets here .

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