Intergenerational Orchestra to Benefit Uganda School
 Local musician and music teacher James Bergin founded the Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra last year. |
A December snowstorm pushed that event over to this Wednesday night.
Williamstown’s Community Intergenerational Action Orchestra will perform on Wednesday at 7:30 at St. John's Episcopal Church to benefit Grace Villa, a home for orphaned and endangered girls in Kampala, Uganda.
"Ashok Rai, who has a son in the orchestra, attended a talk that the director of Grace Villa gave at Williams," CIAO parent Molly Polk recalled this week. "He was inspired by the work they were doing at Grace Villa. And knowing that CIAO previously had fundraising benefits, like for the music school in Haiti or for families of North Adams Regional Hospital, he brought [Grace Villa] to Jimmy's attention."
James Bergin, the director CIAO, conceived it as filling two missions: providing a place for older and younger musicians to practice and perform together and allowing those musicians to use their talents to benefit others.
Grace Villa, as attendees at the September talk learned, is a worthy cause.
The school, founded in 2010, provides "a loving and nurturing environment, a good education, health and psychological care, clothes, nutrition … and fun," according to its Facebook page. Grace Villa founder and director Ruth K. Ndyabahika talked about the school in a talk arranged by Williams professor Kiaran Honderich.
Since the children served by Grace Villa are the same age as many of the CIAO musicians, it was a good fit, Polk said.
"In addition to the money that is raised, one of the things the group became excited about is meeting virtually some of the girls from Grace Villa," she said. "They prepared some short video clips that they have emailed to Jimmy and me and Ashok that we showed to the CIAO musicians. One included the girls doing a dance and playing some percussion instruments and thanking CIAO for doing the concert.
"The hope is to send them back a video clip of the CIAO music. And at some point, we'd like to set up a Skype so we can do a little music and the girls can ask questions about each other's cultures, so their connection becomes more relevant and real rather than just raising money."
Admission to the concert is free, but donations will be accepted at the door.
CIAO musicians, who range from elementary school to adult, will perform their usual assortment, ranging from Bach and Vivaldi to "Sweet Georgia Brown" to the music of contemporary composer Amy Reich.
Looking at Tuesday morning’s snow, Polk laughed at the irony that a concert already rescheduled once could come up against inclement weather once again.
"If it is snowed out, we’ll find another time to do it," she said. "The kids are really excited about doing this."
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