Friday, March 30, 2012

Summit Strings Cuba Concert


Summit Strings began in 2008 when our most senior local violin and viola students began playing ensemble music together on a regular basis. It has evolved as students moved away, moved on, graduated or what-have-you. For a couple of years we had a tight group of five, and they anchored the first half of a community concert last year. There are only three of them now. All three sing in Corazón too, which is kind of neat, and the older two will be participating in the big choir trip to Cuba next month. Sophie isn't eligible based on her age, but we hope she'll be able to do cool trips in future years.

They decided that a full-length concert would be a good way to raise money for the trip to Cuba. Sophie, good sport that she is, was fine with doing all the work required to support the others. I did some arranging and gleaning and transposing, vetting repertoire (a lot of it new, though some recycled from previous years) with their input. And then we spent the winter rehearsing. There was a nadir in motivation in November, but they rallied and as it got closer to performance time there was some real energy and excitement there. It was a big program with lots of varied repertoire. Not all of it was challenging, but some of it definitely was, and the sheer volume of music they had to get to know made for some pretty long, hard-working rehearsals.

Noah and Danika put together a poster-board presentation about the choir, about Cuba, and about the trip the group will be doing. We cooked a bunch of Cuban-inspired appetizers for intermission, designed and printed tickets, wrote and submitted ads and press releases, created posters and plastered the community. And we came up with background information to introduce the music.

It was a packed house, and the fund-raising proceeds were beyond what we expected. The community was so generous and supportive. It was a wonderful performance with lots of good feeling surrounding it.


2 comments:

  1. Anonymous6:30 pm

    Really really really really nice...impeccable ensemble.

    Deborah

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous6:48 am

    Hi Miranda
    We just got back from Cuba and we all loved it. We struck up a conversation with two young musicians who played cello and violin in the Santa Clara Symphony. They also travelled to resorts and played there for convertible peso tips. They told us that they have a very hard time getting strings. So, if you are bringing anything to give away I would suggest strings (they even want used strings) and rosin. I have just sent one used set in the mail to see it they get there. If they do, then we are going to start a fundraiser in order to buy more. Where are your children going in Cuba?
    Karen Thoresen (Eli and Mika's mom)

    ReplyDelete

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