Sixty musicians perform, attendance sales benefit South County Habitat for Humanity

10/24/08 - Last night, six-year-old Ryan Shea from the Stony Lane Elementary School in North Kingstown, R.I. beamed up at a stage full of musicians. Ryan's grandmother, Barbara Condon, brought him to see his mother, Allison Shea, perform at the Working in Harmony for Home and Hearth concert last night in the Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Center.

In the early 1990s Noreen Inglesi, Tina Bernard and two other musicians - a cellist and a violinist, formed the group.

Shea's favorite part of coming to see his mother play the piano is "the watching part."

The non-profit organization is a joint effort between Notable Works - a corporation that works to increase the public's knowledge on environmental and social issues by artistic means - and the South County Habitat for Humanity.

"Many of the pieces touch on our associations with the idea of 'home' - warmth and security, family and friends, love and companionship, connectedness," said Rob Raroux, a composer featured during last night's concert, who is quoted in the evening's brochure.

Deedra Durocher, the guest speaker, gave special thanks to each of the 60 musicians playing, who had dedicated hours of hard work. Durocher, is a current board member for South County Habitat for Humanity and the beneficiary for the Home and Hearth project.

Habitat for Humanity sells homes to homeowners at a more affordable price. The group is currently working toward selling its 43rd house by the end of this year.

"We have a $15,000 minimum overhead that we want to give to Habitat for Humanity," Bina Gehres, the artist in residence, said. "We're very pleased with the way we've been able to work with URI. We've had four very successful fundraisers to get the word out about sub-standard housing."

Last night's show brought in approximately $1,350 in ticket sales.

The event was brought to URI because "there's a lot of talent" at the university, Gehres said. The organizer of the program, a public school music teacher, Noreen Igesis, is a URI alumna.

"There's no place we'd rather take our project than URI" Gehres said. She added the concert was aimed toward middle-age populations living in South County, more specifically, North Kingstown, Westerly, and Charlestown.

The Raging Grannies, a group of six women who sing about social justice, passed lyrics to their songs out to audience members.

The upbeat songs seemed to sweep thorugh the audience instantaneously. People ranging from small children to elderly members of the audience joined in the excitement, singing, smiling, and enjoying themselves. One elderly audience member didn't stand up to celebrate the music, but bobbed her head in time with the music while dancing in her seat.

Next up was the Alpha Children's Choir of Blackstone Valley, accompanied by pianist and vocalist Greg Cooney. Thirteen children dressed in white-collared button up shirts and black dress slacks smiled out to the crowd as they sang full-heartedly. Their songs advocated using everything in moderation to help save the environment.

Mike Cabral, the humorous master of ceremonies filled in gaps between the songs and the time it took for the musicians to get ready, with remarks.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard the ancient Chinese piece called 'Tu-Ning,'" he said as the instrumentalists filled the room with sounds of their tunings.

Gene Pollart, the Musical Director and Conductor of the American Band walked out on stage with an air of confidence and immediately began conducting the musicians with a force that mirrored the strength of the music emanating from the instruments.

Not only has Pollart conducted the URI band for the past 33 years, but he has also conducted in general for the last 40 years.

"My favorite part of the day is conducting the URI Wind Ensemble. That's my baby," he said. He was recruited in a national search to conduct the American Band after the previous conductor abruptly died of a heart attack.

Soloist Joyce Harrington, an alto saxophonist, gave a flawless performance in Duke Ellington's rendition of "Come Sunday." Cabral introduced it as having "lush scoring and beautiful harmonies."

By the time the band played "the Stars and Stripes Forever," the audience was on its feet cheering and clapping furiously.

Students Samantha Decuollo and Christa Salvatore had mutual appreciation for the concert.

"I saw the advertisement and after attending concerts while studying abroad in Italy I was inspired and wanted to see more concerts when I got back," Decuollo said. A biology and secondary education major with a music minor in piano, Decuollo said she was looking forward to watching Joe Parillo perform on the piano.

Salvatore was first introduced to music as a child. "My parents used to take me [to concerts], way back when," she said. "We had a friend who conducted for a local orchestral band called Metro Pops in Phoenix, Arizona."

After the concert, there was a CD release club, where audience members could purchase a CD of some of the music performed earlier that night.