Orinda musicians share instruments with Cuban kids
Submitted by Leslie Darwin
Terry Miller with the Children of Clave Del Sol, a guitar orchestra in Havana.
Orinda residents Terry Miller and Leslie Darwin O'Brien recently returned from Cuba where they performed at The Havana Jazz Festival.
Miller is an internationally acclaimed bass player and producer. O'Brien is a singer who performs in San Francisco and is known for her kid caroling at various Lamorinda music camps. This is the third time for Miller to visit Cuba this year. He is the founder of Terry's Kids, a nonprofit foundation whose mission is "a better world through music."
"This trip we were able to take guitar strings to Clave del Sol, a children's guitar orchestra in one of the poorer sections of Havana," Miller explains. The strings were presented to the kids by Julio Reyes, a well-known classical guitarist and conductor at Holy Names University in Oakland. Reyes and O'Brien serve on the board of Terry's Kids.
"I am so moved by what Terry does. It is incredible to see the kids in Cuba doing music with the players from the USA. It truly is a language without words," O'Brien says.
Miller also took nine suitcases of instruments, costumes and clothes to La Colmenita, a children's theatre troupe in Havana.
O'Brien explains, "The trips are magical. Terry is well-connected in the American music industry, so he hires top-notch musicians to accompany art patrons on the trips: There's music at every meal, mostly with American and Cuban musicians playing together."
If you want to learn more about Terry's Kids, visit tmkids.org.
From lert, Terry Miller, founder of Terry's Kids, with Leslie Darwin O'Brien and Julio Reyes, Terry's Kids board members. Photos provided Photos provided
Miller is an internationally acclaimed bass player and producer. O'Brien is a singer who performs in San Francisco and is known for her kid caroling at various Lamorinda music camps. This is the third time for Miller to visit Cuba this year. He is the founder of Terry's Kids, a nonprofit foundation whose mission is "a better world through music."
Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA