Trinidad & Tobago Newsday
They could hardly “hablan espanol” but 13 young panists captured the hearts of audiences at the Iguazu In Concert, International Festival of Children and Youth Orchestras and Choirs held recently in Iguazu, Argentina.
Exocubs, the youth arm of the Republic Bank Exodus steel ensemble, were invited to participate in the festival which took place at the end of May and featured the music of 700 students from more than 20 countries around the world.
During the festival, students participated in workshops taught by teachers from the Argentine Teatro Colón Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. Each musical group had to prepare 20-30 minutes of music for presentations that took place between May 21 to May 26 and also participate in the Grand Finale concert at the Sheraton Iguazu Resort, Argentina.
Exocubs musical director, Desmond Waithe said the group of 13-16 year olds took approximately three months to learn the repertoire of ten songs which included an Argentinian classical piece; “Don’t Cry for me Argentina;” and the Titanic theme song, which was one of the pieces performed by all groups at the finale.
Replies
This is awesome!!! I am so proud to say that I was a member of Exocubs in the early years. Congratulations to Desmond Waithe, an excellent educator and musician, who was an inspiration for me and continues to impact many young people to date.
Am so proud of Exocubs, keep the T&T flag flying.
Making T&T Pan Culture prouder.