Classical and Latin American music are flourishing in North Wales, PA, where professional chamber musicians share their music and culture with students from near and far. WRTI’s Susan Lewis has more on the Community Arts Network called ArCoNet – which this week is hosting its annual Dali Quartet International Music Festival.
ArCoNet presents its 8th Annual Spring Orchestra Concert on Sunday June 12th. Its annual festival takes place later this summer. More information
Radio script:
Susan Lewis: It all started with passion for chamber music.
Adriana Linares: To me, chamber music embraces almost all the elements I want as a musician that I want to acquire or unite...I get to express my own voice within a group.
SL: In 2003, Venezuelan born-and-raised violist Adriana Linares cofounded the Dali Quartet (now an active performing and recording group) – and a small chamber music camp, which has blossomed into a network of programs, including a music festival with international students.
Members of the Dali Quartet, who come from Venezuela and Puerto Rico, teach at ArCoNet, along with other faculty, many of whom also have a Latin American background.
AL: We share a little of what we grew up with...the music is the way we do it.
SL: The repertoire includes Western classical music as well as music by Latin American composers, such as Juan Bautista Plaza, who combines classical form with Latin sensibility in his Creole Fugue.
AL: It’s based on a theme, like a fugue. The whole thing is inspired by joropo, which is a Venezuelan 6-8 dance - a fast, waltzy style dance. Our goal is to create citizens who have a passion for something; we do it through music.
SL: ArCoNet has private lessons in piano, cello, violin, viola and guitar; chamber music ensembles, a youth orchestra, musical retreats for college students, community outreach programs, and its summer festival with international students.
