Music Education Nonprofit To Hold Hispanic Heritage Month Concerts In Stamford, Greenwich

STAMFORD, CT — INTEMPO, the Stamford-based nonprofit music education organization, will present its fourth annual Hispanic Heritage Month concert series, "Under the Same Moon," on Oct. 3 in Stamford and Oct. 10 in Greenwich.

The concerts will feature INTEMPO’s artist-in-residence, Ashley Yoon, and the Chamber Players, an ensemble of the organization’s most advanced students.

The program will include works from Latin America and Spain, including the Venezuelan classics "Moliendo Café" and "La Partida," José White's "La Bella Cubana," Manuel Ponce’s "Estrellita" and Astor Piazzolla’s "Yo Soy María" from his opera "María de Buenos Aires." It will also highlight Andean traditions through music from Ecuador and Bolivia, along with works by composers from Chile and Spain.

Yoon, 22, is INTEMPO’s inaugural artist-in-residence. She graduated from The Juilliard School, where she studied with Joseph Lin, and is pursuing a master’s degree at the Yale School of Music, studying with Soovin Kim.

Her recent accomplishments include a concerto appearance with the DeKalb Symphony Orchestra, a solo performance at Carnegie Hall and concertmaster roles with ensembles at Yale and Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. She has participated as a fellow in the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Taos School of Music and Bowdoin International Music Festival, and teaches through Yale’s Music in Schools Initiative.

Yoon will perform on the 1883 "INTEMPO" Giuseppe & Antonio Sgarbi violin.

"This is the fourth season that we have presented these concerts, and I’m proud that this year we are presenting a record number of our students," said INTEMPO CEO Lou Chen in a news release. "Audiences should not miss the opportunity to hear Ashley perform alongside our students, uplifting and inspiring them in real time!"

The program spans folk, popular and classical traditions, exploring themes of cultural identity, love, longing and connection through music of the Hispanic world.

The Oct. 3 concert will begin at 3 p.m. at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 2810 Long Ridge Road in Stamford.

The Oct. 10 concert will begin at 3 p.m. at First Congregational Church of Greenwich, 108 Sound Beach Ave. in Old Greenwich.

General admission is $15, and admission is free for children. Tickets are available at intempo.org. All proceeds will support INTEMPO’s mission to provide high-quality, culturally relevant music education to under-resourced children.

Founded in 2011 on the belief that all children deserve access to high-quality music education regardless of their background or family income, INTEMPO serves more than 600 children annually through after-school, summer and partnership programs.

Most of its students come from lower-income households, including many immigrant families, who have faced financial, cultural and language barriers to music education.

The organization’s mission is to help young people thrive through multicultural and classical music instruction, life skills development and community building, regardless of their life circumstances.

INTEMPO’s work has received national recognition and major support from Carnegie Hall, the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts. It is also the only music education organization in Connecticut to have received the Lewis Prize for Music Accelerator Award.