Elation Center for the Arts

 by Paul Roberts

Elation Center for the Arts presents The Chicago Marimba Ensemble in concert, 7 PM, August 8th at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse. Advance tickets for $10 are available at Higher Grounds Coffee Company and online at elationarts.org. Tickets at the door are $15. Children 18 and under, free.   

The Chicago Marimba Ensemble creates a musical fiesta with Mexican and Caribbean folk melodies and classical music. The ensemble is comprised of fourteen Mexican-American youth, ages 13-23, from Chicago’s Back of the Yards community, a neighborhood challenged by overwhelming poverty. This rare performance is part of the group’s cross-country tour.

Father Bruce Wellems, pastor of Holy Cross/Immaculate Heart of Mary Church, created the Chicago Marimba Ensemble. “I was in Guatemala in a small village on lake,” Wellems recalls. “This was a village that was very poor, full of malaria, oppressed, no doctor, no electricity with about 75 families. The priest came to say Mass only once a year. We got there by canoe; that’s how remote this was.”

“They had just brought the campesinos down from a farm to hear the Mass. It was at night and the priest was saying Mass in a small chapel when the army came. It scared the heck out of me. The priest was used to it, but I was just visiting and I had never seen sixteen year-olds with automatic weapons. I was afraid we were going to all get killed.”

“When the army left, at about eleven o’clock at night, these kids brought out the marimbas. They started playing and it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. They played until about two in the morning, the moon came out and it was an extremely powerful moment in my life. I thought, ‘oh, thank God!’”

“So, when I came to Chicago I determined in my heart that I was going to get a marimba and get the kids to play it at Mass. I saw it work in Guatemala and I felt it could work in Chicago.”

That was in 1984. Now, Wellems has thirty-five children actively involved in marimba groups, playing not only for church services, but also averaging a hundred concert performing gigs a year. The marimba phenomenon has led to other cultural programs for youth in his church, including various musical ensembles and theatrical stage productions. 

In Chicago’s Back of the Yards community - where streets are carved up by gangs, and violence is prevalent - inspiring young people through the arts takes on huge significance. An extraordinary exemplar of social service, Willems is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of children. Some of them not only go on to college and professional careers, but also return to the parish to help guide the younger ones in the fine art of marimba playing.

Hearing Willems tell his story is both poignant and inspirational. Hearing the joyous music of young people, who have become professional musicians under his guidance, is to experience the sounds of hope. Come hear The Chicago Marimba Ensemble and meet Father Bruce Wellems, 7 PM, August 8th at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse. For more information, call 731-3117. Please bring a dessert to share if you wish. Volunteers are welcome.

Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse is located at 230 Port Avenue in the Vista subdivision of Pagosa Lakes. Take 160 to Vista Blvd. Turn north on Vista and left on Port. The clubhouse is at the end of Port in the PLPOA complex.

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ANCIENT CULTURES

Music, stories and dances from ancient Greece, Mongolia, Europe, India and Africa are featured in a program, entitled “Ancient Cultures,” performed by an elaborately costumed cast of one hundred and twenty sixth-grade social studies students from Pagosa Springs Intermediate School.

Mountain Winds

Through a diverse spectrum of imaginative music, eight of Pagosa’s top woodwind players demonstrate their instruments’ power to convey emotion and beauty. They are Valley Lowrance (bassoon), Joy Redmon (flute), Bob Nordmann (alto saxophone), Carla Roberts (ethnic flutes), Kimberly Judd (alto saxophone), Tim Bristow (clarinet), Al Olson (tenor saxophone) and Bruce Andersen (soprano saxophone).

Our January 2007 Event

"The Woodwork Percussion Ensemble "

Elation Center for the Arts presented a unique concert featuring the wonderful sounds of marimbas and xylophones by The Woodwork Percussion Ensemble,

Woodwork is the brainchild of Dr. John Pennington, Professor of Music at Fort Lewis College and Artistic Director of the Animas Music Festival. Pennington performs in the ensemble with five music performance majors at the college: Kevin Martin, Michael Pratt, Sean Statser, Chance Harrison and Grayson Andrews.

Along with the ensemble’s incredible collection of marimbas and xylophones, it also performs on glockenspiel, vibraphone, croatales and a wooden box called a cajon, playing a wide range of music including classical, jazz and ragtime from the late 1920s and '30s, and music from various other cultural traditions.

Pennington is an orchestral percussionist who performs all over the world. Locally, he performs with Music in the Mountains, the San Juan Symphony and The Woodwork Percussion Ensemble. Woodwork is the fulfillment of his dream to perform and record with his most advanced students.
The ensemble has performed dozens of concerts in schools, festivals and concerts.

ECA offers life enrichment programs focused on preserving our cultural heritage. Proceeds from this concert help support these programs. ECA’s community concerts have been upgraded with professional sound, stage and lighting. For more information, log on to elationarts.org or call 731-3117.