CU Winds to reach out to young musicians in Costa Rica
By Daniel Aloi

Children at a small rural music school in Costa Rica will receive like-new instruments and one-on-one lessons when the Cornell University Wind Ensemble (CU Winds) tours there in January.

Cornell student musicians have been collecting used instruments for the school and preparing music especially for the tour, including an arrangement of the Costa Rican national anthem.

Forty-four of the ensemble's undergraduate wind and percussion players will return from winter break early on Jan. 9 to practice for three days before traveling to Costa Rica, Jan. 12-20. The nine-day concert and outreach tour is a collaboration between Cornell's music department and Costa Rica's North American Cultural Center, along with other organizations and individuals, and is supported in part by the Cornell Council for the Arts.

Freshman Colette Kopan, a euphonium player, says she wasn't aware of the Costa Rica trip before she joined the ensemble this fall. "It's a nice bonus," she says.

The ensemble is bringing more than 50 donated instruments -- including brass, woodwinds, percussion, two violins and a cello -- to the Escuela de Musica in the small Pacific Coast town of Matapalo. The school's pupils, ranging in age from 7 to 20, have been sharing instruments, limiting the possibilities for true ensemble performance. After three days in Matapalo -- filled with music lessons, a combined concert, a beach outing and a community picnic -- the Cornell ensemble travels to San Jose, the country's capital, for a series of concerts. The Matapalo students also will follow the ensemble to San Jose.

"They are so excited we're coming. It's just been one of those ideas that from the first moment the universe just made happen," says Cynthia Johnston Turner, director of the wind ensembles. "I've been humbled and heartened. The original vision was to get 30 instruments and now we have over 50."

The students have done most of the collecting. "Some of them have gone out on their own and collected 20 or more instruments," Johnson Turner says. Some of the instruments are being refurbished free of charge by Hickey's Music in Ithaca, she says.

"We're looking forward to giving private lessons to the kids in Matapalo, because none of them speak English -- but music is a language in itself, right?" says baritone saxophonist David Lifson, who is earning his master's degree in computer science.

Students are learning key Spanish phrases over the break, and as a bonding and cultural exercise, "We are planning to go salsa dancing at the Common Ground," Johnson Turner says. "I think it's going to help us play the music."

CU Winds will preview the tour this weekend with a concert featuring guest composer and violinist Eddie Mora Bermúdez. The concert, Dec. 10 at 8:15 p.m. in Barnes Hall, will feature the premiere of Bermúdez' "Concierto Cornell," a university-commissioned saxophone concerto set to traditional Costa Rican rhythms. A reception will follow the concert. Earlier that day, Bermúdez will play a recital of Costa Rican composers' music at 2 p.m. in Barnes. Both programs are free and open to the public.

Johnson Turner was introduced to Bermúdez last January when she was in Costa Rica looking for composers to write a commissioned piece, in particular someone who could help "expand the definition of wind ensemble music," she says. When she heard Bermúdez' music, her reaction was "'Wow, he's the guy.' Who knew wind ensemble music could be so sexy?"

The piece he wrote is in three movements: "Marcha," a kind of Latin jazz funeral march, "Dansa" and "Tango."

"Eddie's music is very colorful; the first movement is like an impressionist painting," Johnson Turner says. "He's not a maverick, [but] he's a great craftsman. He's working at a very high artistic level. It's not avant-garde, but I think the audience will love this music."

Johnson Turner says the ultimate goal is to have the program endowed for future humanitarian and cultural exchange opportunities for Cornell in Costa Rica. She noted that she doesn't see this tour as outreach but rather "relationship-building. We are going to get out of this as much as we're bringing to them. I'm really interested in having the Cornell students see how little these people have but how proud [they are]."