Kantu Inka hosts concert, educational series at Empire Elementary School Saturday
On Saturday, the Carson City Symphony Association presented a free concert featuring Music of the Andes at Empire Elementary School. The concert features Kantu Inka - Carlos and Julie Lozada Ocampo - who have been presenting Peruvian Andean music in the U.S. since 2003.
Kantu Inka’s performance included an introduction to Andean wind, string, and percussion instruments, music, dance, geography, and clothing.
They were joined by about a dozen students of all ages playing zampoñas (Peruvian panpipes) and string instruments for a special rendition of “El Condor Pasa,” a well-known piece written in 1913 by Peruvian composer Daniel Alomía Robles.
String parts were arranged for this project by Carson City Symphony musician, Bill Melendres.
This performance was the culmination of four workshops at which Kantu Inka shared their passion for Andean music with members of Carson City Symphony’s Youth Strings and Not Quite Ready for Carnegie Hall adult string ensemble. Each participant learned to play and care for a 17-pipe bamboo zampoña, hand-made in Peru.
This free performance was funded in part by a grant from the Nevada Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.