INTAKE Concert at St. Rose of Lima Church Sunday March 11

[Lynn Smith]

The Parish Hall of St. Rose of Lima Church was filled with families this Sunday, eagerly anticipating the concert presented by INTAKE to celebrate and honor women - and mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers and their families all enjoyed a moving program.  Angelica Durrell, Founder and Artistic Director, welcomed the audience and explained that INTAKE's mission is to connect locate communities in the diaspora to classical music through the use of culturally native instruments.  "Instrumentally Taking on the Classics" also runs a Native Instrument Academy every Saturday in Stamford, and their 45 students learn about music and the classics through native instruments, many of which were displayed in the concert hall.

The program featured works by women composers, and the ensemble of musicians and singers displayed artistry using the charango, ronroco, the Peruvian cajon, along with the piano, bass and cello. The composer Laura Kaminsky was on hand to present her four movement work "Transformations" which was played by the Colorado String Quartet, four women musicians who have been a ground breaking ensemble for nearly thirty years.  This quartet has won back to back wins at the Banff International String Quartet competition.

The audience was then transported through various cultures with works such as "Gracias A la Vida, Besame Mucho, Sombras, La Flor de la Canela.  We ended our musical journey in the Caribbean with the lively display of musicality by the St. Lukes Church Steel Band Ensemble, which brought the audience full circle with its rendition of "Calypso Rose".

Start Community Bank was delighted to be one of the sponsors of the concert, standing in good company with The City of New Haven Community Arts Program, La Voz Hispana, Fr. James Manship of St. Rose of Lima Church, Yale New Haven Hospital, Falcon Advertising, and The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven.

To learn more about INTAKE, visit www.intakemusic.org