12 students from Bowdoin College, a private liberal arts college, located in Brunswick, Maine, USA put on a mini orchestra for Belize City students this morning, hoping to inspire their minds to pursue music.
They were led by pianist and composer George Lopez who was also born and raised in Belize. Jomarie Lanza was there and here's how it went.
A Pianist with Belizean Roots, George Lopez along with his partner Gulimina Mahamuti performed at the Bliss last year in January. But now they are back with more musical friends, 12 students from the University of Bowdoin College in Maine, USA. They've facilitated a handful of short performances for students here at the Bliss this morning. They are calling it an interactive orchestra concert, and the Director of the Institute of Creative Arts Kim Vasquez told us why she was in support of the idea when they first came to her.
Kim Vasquez, Director, ICA
"It's a combination of music and environmental outreach so they have been splitting their time doing that and they definitely discussed wanting to come and do something here at the Bliss. I call this type of programme we have been doing kind of like music class at the bliss where we want you to bring the students here during the day and have a music class here and exchange, get them to do interactive things with visiting musicians so this just fits perfectly in line with that and like I said we are just really pleased to be working with George, he is going to be spending the rest of the week doing Master classes with Pallotti school of music and also we really have to thank Stephanie Coyi and the Palette school of music because they are really apart of this effort here this time around."
"We have over 300 students here this morning. We are so blown away by the response and we really thank the Belize district education centre who helped us in that appeal both primary and secondary are here. We did say that it would be particularly helpful to those schools that have music programs but that was not necessary because these students here that are performing they are not music majors they are majoring in Biology and in other fields but they are here to talk about their love and to share music and that's what it is really all about."
There was a bit of everything, from strings to wind instruments and even some cultural dancing, Lopez told us that they wanted to make sure they showcased each talent.
George Lopez, Artist in Residence, Bowdoin College
"This time we came with 12 students, 2 of whom have organised and created this beautiful trip for all the students and for Gulimina and I. We have enjoyed time in the mountains, in the water and now in Belize City to come and have both a cultural exchange and a learning experience for all of us with Belize."
"Well we really wanted to highlight all the different talents because there is really no boundaries to creativity or music or art so everyone participated in the style of music you know the love that they have whether it be singing, fiddling on the violin, we had a wonderful cello duet as you might hear in the presentation later and even we had someone who plays French horn and learns the trumpet in one day incredible so we really put our hearts into it in order to give the students here in Belize an idea of what you can do with music without necessarily making it a career."
Lopez and his team also held a Master class and workshops this afternoon with students from the Pallotti School of Music. They are set to return to the US on Sunday.