Music Haven Fêtes Hispanic Heritage Month In Perfect Harmony

Miriam Magalis Cruz stepped forward, studying her sheet music as strains of “Cielito Lindo” floated over the Atwater Senior Center. She leaned in, and the violin rose on cue, the notes bouncing over seats and tables, transporting the audience to Mexico. Beside her, teacher Gregory Tomkins didn’t miss a beat, the strings bending to his will. The two swayed to the melody, eyes glued to a single music stand. As they reached the end of the piece, the audience erupted in applause. 

On a recent Saturday, members of Music Haven and the Haven String Quartet brought that sound to a rain-soaked Atwater Street, as Music Haven held its now-annual Hispanic Heritage Month concert at the Atwater Senior Center in Fair Haven. Featuring the work of Paquito D’ Rivera, Luis Gustavo Prado, Quirino Mendoza y Cortés,  and Israel “Cachao” Gomez, the event filled the space with sounds from Cuba, Puerto Rico, Spain, and Mexico, in a wide-ranging celebration of Hispanic and Latine culture and heritage in New Haven.

 It was organized by Milda Torres McClain, executive director of Music Haven, in collaboration with ARTE, Inc. Co-Founder and arts champion Dave Greco. In addition to ARTE’s Hispanic Heritage Month programming, the organization hosts its weekly Saturday Academy out of the senior center, with a focus on culture that seems especially suited to Music Haven. Both noted the importance of Fair Haven, which much of the city’s Latino population calls home.  

“I'm just so happy to celebrate and be proud of my heritage,” said Torres McClain, who moved to New Haven from Puerto Rico when she was young, and grew up in the city’s Hill neighborhood. “There's different cultures and ethnicities in Music Haven. And it's beautiful to see when we come together we can create, think outside the box, respect each other's cultures, and understand each other better. It's been great because we have people from all over the world. And it's fascinating.”

Saturday, that celebration of culture transported the audience halfway across the globe, celebrating multiple diasporas through music. As members of the Haven String Quartet took their seats, they took attendees straight to Cuba with Paquito D’Rivera’s thrilling “Wapango,” a 2015 composition that pays homage to Cuba’s Afro-Caribbean roots. 

Yaira Matyakubova.

The Haven String Quartet includes Yaira Matyakubova and Gregory Tomkins on violin, Philip Boulanger on cello, and Riana Heath on viola. All four are instructors and resident musicians at Music Haven; Matyakubova is also the organization’s artistic director.  

As strings rose through the room, the notes swirled around each other, initially hot and furious as they hit the air in sharp, staccato bursts. Violin sang beneath them, and they walked the fury back, entering a singsong harmony as more of the strings picked up the melody. Viola cried out, and violin answered it, weaving through the space with a grace that seemed to have appeared within seconds. For attendees who were still waking up, it shook them from the drowsiness of a gray Saturday morning.  

“Part of our mission is to bring music to the community, and we're so happy to start off the year with Hispanic Heritage Month celebrating music of Hispanic composers,” Matyakubova said. “This is always so uplifting and energetic and so full of light and sun and life.”

And throughout, that light came through, banishing the rain outside for a sense of celebration in the building. In Israel “Cachao” Gomez’s “Club Social de Marianao,” arranged by New Haven’s own Jeff Fuller, listeners were able to sink into an easy rhythm, letting the music swirl and build around them.

When musicians transitioned to “Suite de Danza en Forma de Variaciones,” which Madrid-based composer Luis Gustavo Prado wrote specifically for Music Haven Students in 2020, listeners could hear them move through centuries of history with each movement (the work includes six distinct movements, the “Ranchera,” “Tango a la antigua,” “Habanera,” smoldering “Volver al Tango,” “Danza Puertorriqueña” and “Zapateo.”)  

The quartet also knew how to wake up a room. As musicians played “La Bamba,” well-loved and popularized by musicians from Ritchie Valens to Las Cafeteras, it felt like the only option was to get up and dance. Even from their seats, quartet members sank into the Son Jarocho rhythms of the song, listeners bobbing their heads and tapping their feet. 

In Music Haven tradition, teachers also took Saturday’s concert as a chance to honor students, who hail not just from New Haven, but also Puerto Rico, Latin America, and across the globe. A senior at Wilbur Cross High School who was crowned Miss Puerto Rico of Greater New Haven earlier this year, Cruz joined Tomkins for a rendition of “Cielito Lindo” that had the house swaying along. 

Only after playing did she admit that she’d been nervous. Tomkins, who has taught her for 11 years, shrugged it off. He has been working with her since Music Haven was a tiny organization operating out of a former garage on Whalley Avenue.   

“I’m so glad we had Miriam here today playing, because she was one of my first students when I first started Music Haven,” Tomkins said, beaming through a peach-colored mask. “And now she's about to graduate, which is amazing to see.”

For Cruz, who arrived rocking her Miss Puerto Rico sash, it was also a great moment. “Not in a million years I thought I would ever be Miss Puerto Rico and now I am,” she said. “This is kind of like my way of being involved in my community and still showing them like yeah, I have this title but I'm still united with you guys as well.”

Her mother, Zeidy Cruz, was less shy in giving her daughter and Music Haven both their props. Nine years ago, her son was the first child with autism accepted into the program. She saw how both teachers and her daughter dedicated themselves to learning how to serve him. He graduated last year; Cruz will follow in the spring of 2024. 

“These people are amazing. They are professional, caring. They always look into the family if they need something,” Zeidy Cruz said. “They go beyond what other people usually do. So, they always run the extra mile. So that's why I will recommend Music Haven all my life.”

Throughout the performance, Cruz also had a small but mighty cheering section. Dan Wajnowski, assistant principal at Wilbur Cross, came with his young son Jasper after receiving an alert about the event. He said he was both excited to see Cruz performing and grateful to have a chance to expose his son to arts and culture in the city. Jasper is still figuring out his way with music, he said. 

“We're figuring out if he loves music, but he loves concerts,” said Wajnowski. “We’re just grateful to be here and get out and appreciate this a lil bit. That was wonderful.”

ARTE Co-Founder Daniel Diaz, coordinator of parent engagement with the New Haven Public Schools, added that he loved the way the performance exposed community members to Latine music from both pop and classical perspectives. Those forms, he said, aren’t always highlighted when people talk about music across the Latino and Hispanic and diasporas. 

“I thought it was amazing, and to see the families, I mean, this is all about families,” he said. “This is about in the middle of Fair Haven you have an organization, right, like you Music Haven that comes in and is performing to families in Fair Haven. Exposure of our children to music. I think it's important in the education process.”