CiH partners primarily with the Youth Orchestra and Choir Program of Mexico City and with Romayne Wheeler, the Pianist of the Sierra Tarahumara. In 2021, we visited Mr. Wheeler to donate musical supplies to Rarámuri violinists and medical supplies to the clinic he built. The US Consulate in Ciudad Juárez funded the project, in which we partnered with the Péepem Art Association and received a donation of strings, rosin, and horsehair from Abstrings. Please check out our documentary (above) about our work with Romayne and the Rarámuri violinists, which continues to the present day.
With the youth orchestras, we conducted workshops, rehearsals, and master classes annually from 2007-2009, renewing our relationship in 2017 in a project shown in this video, and again in 2021, with a variety of collaborations designed to create value during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The popular Facebook page “Él es el violinista más interesante del mundo” (He is the most interesting violinist in the world) conducted this interview about the 2017 project. Here are the speeches praising the project’s impact from the final concert at Futurama in Mexico City on February 4, 2017. The project included a brief visit to Guadalajara, where this video features interviews with Mexicans on the topic of what they feel Americans should know about Mexico.
In Morelia in 2007, we performed at CMMAS, and one of our musicians, Karl Pestka, worked there in 2008 to create an electronic composition reflecting the indigenous P’urhepecha heritage. In 2007 at CREFAL in Pátzcuaro, we created compositions with orphans (from the Casa Hogar) and senior citizens (from Nuestros Años Felices). In 2009 in Comachuen, we met with local musicians, taught clarinet and trumpet lessons at the new conservatory, learned traditional music from a P’urhepecha ensemble, and marched in the procession of the Ascension of Mary.
Musicians we have sent from the US to Mexico include Andrew Roitstein, Catherine Eisele, Ben Grow, Steve Solook, Geeta Abad, Jennifer Curtis, William Harvey, Clara Lyon, Margaret Dyer, Amelia Hollander Ames, Wendeline Everett, Nick Gallas, and Ryan Walsh.
CiH founder William Harvey moved to Mexico in March 2017 to serve as concertmaster of OSSLA in Sinaloa. In January 2018, he moved to Mexico City to serve as concertmaster of the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional. During his 6 years in Mexico, he has continued to promote the ideals of Cultures in Harmony in activities such as conducting a youth orchestra founded by the Music Festival of Morelia.
