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Horns To Havana Teams-Up With Music For Lifelong Achievement

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The Sheldon Concert Hall
FEBRUARY / MARCH 2011 INSTRUMENT COLLECTION FOR STUDENTS IN CUBA

Horns to Havana: Bringing Jazz instruments—and the spirit of jazz—to students in Cuba

NEW YORK, NY—Horns to Havana a non-profit organization in New York City announced a very special partnership with Music for Lifelong Achievement (MFLA) based at the Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, Missouri. Throughout February and March 2011, MFLA will team up with Horns to Havana to collect used musical instruments to be delivered to students in Cuba in the Fall of 2011. Instrument donations will be accepted at any Sheldon Concert Hall performance during the months of February and March, as well as at The Sheldon's administrative offices during normal business hours, Monday—Friday, 9 a.m.׫ p.m.

Music for Lifelong Achievement is the first organization in the country to partner with Horns to Havana on this project. “The Sheldon and our Music for Lifelong Achievement program here in St. Louis are proud to partner with Horns to Havana to provide instruments for disadvantaged young musicians in Havana, Cuba," says Sheldon Executive Director Paul Reuter. “Music is important to the lives of young people everywhere and we're especially happy to foster connections between our cultures and the people in both countries."

Members of Horns to Havana, on a recent trip to Cuba, observed gifted students without instruments, violins and guitars with broken strings, saxophones without pads and trumpets without valves. In Havana, in even the best schools, there are not nearly enough working instruments for the young people who want to learn to play.

Horns to Havana, in partnership with Music for Lifelong Achievement, will now work to provide a full set of jazz band instruments to each of four schools: Manuel Saumell Conservatory, Amadeo Roldan Conservatory, Guillermo Tomas Bouffaratigue Music Conservatory and Esccuela Nacional de Arte, all based in Cuba.

“American Jazz and the music of Cuba have been interwoven ever since the dawn of the twentieth century. Both have roots that lead back to Europe and Africa; each has always influenced the other. By helping to fulfill the dreams of aspiring young Cuban musicians, we hope to strengthen those ties," says Horns to Havana co-chair, Diane Raines Ward. “Jazz digs into our common past, removes politics from the discussion and brings us together in a joyful, human dialogue."

The goal of Music For Lifelong Achievement is to “Keep the Music Playing" in the lives of young people throughout the St. Louis area and beyond. MFLA seeks donations of used and new musical instruments, then donates the instruments to school and community music programs serving disadvantaged students. Music for Lifelong Achievement also raises funds for instrument repair and musical accessories.

Horns to Havana is a group of musicians and supporters who have joined forces to facilitate a cultural exchange between American jazz musicians and the talented music students of Cuba. Working under the umbrella of The Center for Cuban Studies in New York—a 501(c)3 organization—our committee plans to raise enough money to fly a full planeload of instruments out of Miami and to send musicians and luthiers (craftsmen and women who mend broken instruments) to Cuba.

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