Culture & Community | Dixwell | Music | Arts & Culture | Music Haven | Arts & Anti-racism | Dixwell Community Q House
Top: Ayana Salahuddin soaking in her final performance party. Bottom: Yovahni Cruz leads younger students in "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Lucy Gellman Photos.
Ayana Salahuddin stood quietly behind her music stand, watching a row of pint-sized violinists try to stay in a straight line. A tiny musician moved, and she caught a glimpse of her younger self, waiting nervously in the wings. They raised their instruments, and she could remember that first step onto the stage, the sense that she was on the precipice of something new and enormous.
She took a breath. As she lifted her bow to join them, 13 years of lessons fell away. It was just her and the violin and the stage, sound blooming from every direction.
That story of growth—and so many like it—came to Music Haven's annual summer performance party last week, as hundreds of family members filled the Dixwell Community Q House for an end-of-year concert and celebration. As the organization fêted another year on the books, it switched up the party's format, bringing all 92 string students onstage for every number.
"This is the first time we are ever doing a performance party quite like this," said cellist Phillip Boulanger, a resident teaching artist and longtime member of the Haven String Quartet. Every year, "it was always my favorite part" when students would play together at the end of the show, he added. So this year, teachers decided to bring that spirit to the whole concert.
The mellifluous move showed the sheer impact of the program, which has now graduated close to two dozen students, grown its budget and staff size, and expanded its educational reach to refugees and parents. As older students eased onto the gym-turned-stage—backs straight, eyes swiveled forward, bows and instruments balanced gingerly in their hands—younger ones made their way to the front of the space, wide-eyed and hesitant.
They fidgeted in place, waiting for their moment in the spotlight. A few scanned the crowd for parents and burst into tentative, goofy smiles. As teachers Boulanger and Yaira Matyakubova introduced "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," their eyes followed teaching assistant Yovahni Cruz, who has played with the group for several years. In a language entirely of gesture, he brought his own violin to his shoulder, lifting his bow in the air.
The transformation was immediate. Within seconds, the first bars of the lullaby drifted across the space, making the basketball hoops and bleachers feel like they belonged in a concert hall. The notes were spare, deliberate. They carried the melody, less tentative as Cruz gently urged students on. As he played, eyes soft and wide, he seemed to smile at all of them at once.
For years of performance parties, this might have been where the piece ended, as first-time Suzuki students repeated the bars, then lifted their bows triumphantly to signal they had finished. Instead, waves of sound took over. From a fleet of violins at the left, a bright harmony entered the fray. Just as quickly, cellos slipped in, their voices low and silky smooth.
In a row of chairs close to the front, a tiny cellist looked up at Boulanger, her fingers pausing on the neck of the instrument. She turned to her peers, studying them, and returned to playing.
It was "Twinkle Twinkle" as the audience had never heard it before. As it filled the gymnasium, the piece felt thick and full, as if a listener could reach out and touch it. The final notes were still hanging in the air when applause erupted, some parents whistling as others cheered, roared with appreciation and whipped out their phones to record.
That fullness became the through line of the evening, lending new sonic layers to well-worn pieces like "Dragon Hunter" and "Batman Meets Bowman," which have long been part of the repertoire. It was there in "Andijon Polka," a traditional Uzbek folk dance that Matyakubova, artistic director for the organization, brought to Music Haven students for the first time last year.
As she wrapped her legs around a drum, heels pressed into the floor, Matyakubova looked around for just a moment, priming the musicians for what was to come. At the far left of the ensemble, a handful of parent musicians smiled back. Then they were off, Matyakubova's palms flying on the drum. Percussion rolled through the rows of musicians and they responded in time, sending six short bursts of sound into the air.
For Matyakubova, it's a sound of home: she came to the U.S. from Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan, at 16. When she plays the piece, she gets to channel a part of herself that is effusive and gregarious, less precise and exacting than her presence on the violin. Not quite halfway through, she raised her left arm suddenly, her fist punching the air, and students responded with a spirited Ay! At another point, she let the drum take over, bouncing with each beat. When she stood to take a bow, she had over 100 people up there with her.
So too as students closed on "La Bamba," splitting into a layered, buoyant arrangement that made it hard not to dance in place (and indeed, some parents did as they lifted their phones and proudly recorded). As Boulanger lifted his hands to conduct, senior cellos kicked things off, their sound certain and measured and almost throaty. Nearby, a swath of violins got the hint and jumped in, their voices high and bright. More violins and violas followed, and it felt as though they were serenading each other.
Boulanger turned to the youngest cellos, pulled out his own instrument, and mapped out the finger work without missing a beat.
Para bailar La Bamba! a listener could almost hear as musicians plucked at their strings, and the sound was suddenly like raindrops or footfalls in the space. Por ti seré, por ti seré, por ti seré. The sound crested, a carpet of violin carrying everything. In their seats, attendees bobbed their heads, rolled their shoulders and bounced babies. By the time they finished, the applause was thunderous.
The choice to play together isn't happenstance, Boulanger said during the concert. For a year, Music Haven has held "all musician Fridays" at its Erector Square space, gathering students and staff to play together before they go into the weekend. Each week, older and younger students share music stands with each other, in what has become a form of mentorship.
Over an academic year, the pairings have created new relationships between some more advanced students, who are in high school, and students who are just starting out.
Last week, teachers took time to celebrate that life cycle. Midway through the evening, teachers and staff called up Miriam Magalis Cruz, Ayana Salahuddin, Prince Davenport and Max Jackson, who will all graduate from high school this month. Many have been with the organization for over a decade—meaning that they have seen it through three executive directors and a pandemic. Cumulatively, they have played for close to half a century.
Top: Miriam Magalis Cruz, Ayana Salahuddin, Prince Davenport and Max Jackson. Bottom: Executive Director Milda Torres McClain as part of the parent class.
"Music Haven has helped me figure out my identity," said Cruz, a senior at Wilbur Cross High School who trains as an EMT when she’s not playing music. "I've used music as an outlet in my life."
An aspiring firefighter, Cruz was just six when her Music Haven journey started at John C. Daniels School of International Communication. At the time, she was struggling with ADHD, and Music Haven Founder Tina Lee Hadari was just starting the program. “My mom was like, you need a hobby,” and it turned out that violin lessons were exactly what she needed to focus her energy.
In the years since, it has helped her excel in school and relieve stress at home, while also growing her cultural footprint as Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven. When she's feeling overwhelmed, "I just like that I can go to my room and play my violin," she said. The instrument has also been a musical "gateway"—Cruz now plays piano, guitar and ukulele.
As she heads to paramedic training this summer, she plans to continue playing, she said. Already, she's dipped her toe into performance at Musical Intervention downtown, and also has her eye on classes at Gateway Community College with her longtime Music Haven teacher, violinist Gregory Tompkins.
Around her, the other three seniors echoed that gratitude for the time they'd spent in Music Haven. Salahuddin, who will be attending Yale University in the fall, called the party a full-circle moment. Close to 13 years ago, she played her first concert at Wexler Grant School with Matyakubova by her side.
The piece, she remembered with a smile, was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." It was a far cry from the Vivaldi she and her sister would be playing smoothly by high school. When she stepped out onto the stage for the first time, the whole world melted away, and she just focused on the music.
"I didn't know what shy was, but it kind of broke me out of my shell," she remembered. "Today, I'm feeling a mix of emotions. I just felt really joyous ... I was trying to soak in the moment."
"I was very introverted, and in music I found that second voice," chimed in Davenport, who has played the violin for seven years and the viola for three. After moving to New Haven from the South in 2015, he started his studies with former member Colin Benn, then learned under Matyakubova and violist Annalisa Boerner, the latter of whom left last year. At some point, "Music Haven became a second home," he said.
He's grown as a mentor during that time, he added. During the first years of the Covid-19 pandemic, he worked as Music Haven's student support coordinator, helping the organization transition from remote back to in-person work. This year, he's been able to step up as a TA for Matyakubova's "Music Bridge" class, teaching lessons to young refugees. As he heads to Kenyon College this year, he plans to continue playing the viola.
Jackson, a cellist who joined Music Haven at 9, agreed that the organization has changed how he thinks about not just music, but also education. When he picked up the cello, Jackson was already playing the clarinet in the school band, but had never been around so many students who wanted to be studying and making music. "It was much more community based," he said.
As Jackson deepened his studies, Boulanger gave him a chance to mentor younger students, in whom he could see some version of his kid self. Matyakubova, meanwhile, coached him in a smaller ensemble group that made him fall in love with chamber music. This fall, he plans to study high school education at Bard College, so he can become a teacher himself.
They are not the only ones who will be moving on this summer and fall. Teachers Riana Health and Gregory Tompkins, who have been with the organization one and 11 years respectively, also plan to depart this month.
Executive Director Milda Torres McClain and Gregory Tompkins. "I love all of the performance parties—they'
Tompkins, who joined Music Haven under Hadari's leadership, called the decision bittersweet. During his tenure, he's gotten to watch students grow up, helped them brave a global pandemic, and seen three different women lead the organization.
While he is leaving Music Haven, he will remain in New Haven, where he plans to teach at Gateway Community College and continue playing with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra.
"I think the thing that drew me to Music Haven is the thing that has kept me here," he said, adding that he has loved being able to both teach and perform through the organization. "It's really rare to find a job that is everything you want to do under one roof. It's just a really special thing. The way Music Haven thinks about being a different arts organization ... that's such a joy."