The Reentry Initiative hosts benefit concert to celebrate fifth anniversary

“Music is a therapy. It is a communication far more powerful than words, far more immediate, far more efficient,” according to Yehudi Menuhin, an American-born violinist and conductor.  Taking advantage of the therapeutic power of music, The Reentry Initiative, or TRI, is hosting a benefit concert to celebrate five years of work empowering incarcerated women as they transition back into their communities.

The concert is slated for August 19, where the Chasqui Quartet will perform at Longmont’s United Church of Christ. The event will be held in-person as well as live streamed for those more comfortable watching from home.

The Chasqui Quartet is composed of Sarah Cranor on violin, Han Dewan on viola, Amy Huzjak on cello and Alejandro Gómez Guillén conducting and playing violin. Guillén holds DMA and MM degrees from the University of Colorado-Boulder in violin performance and conducting. 

“I think that live music is a perfect agent for healing and a vessel for people to be able to put whatever they’re feeling in the moment,” Guillén said. “Maybe only through experiencing or feeling the music, they are able to process and internalize it.”

The string quartet is currently traveling in Colorado on a two week tour, and the benefit concert for TRI is the last of their performances in the state.

“It will be a beautiful and unique performance,” said TRI Board Member Pamela Malzbender. “They have a program that will tell the story of incarceration and coming out the other side.”

According to Malzbender, the quartet works with organizations to understand their goals and curates the performance to highlight the message. The performance will begin with heavy, somber pieces and then transition to more triumphant and uplifting music, echoing TRI’s motto of “From surviving to thriving.”

“So much of this program is all these pieces coming together from many places to create something new,” Huzjak said. “So many people’s lives are built out of different experiences, and whatever led them to where they are now, that creates something new. This program represents that.”

Doors will open at the United Church of Christ, located at 1500 Ninth Avenue, at 6:30 p.m., and the performance will begin sharply at 7 p.m. Due to ongoing concerns with COVID, TRI has requested that in-person attendees for the benefit concert wear a mask. Those that wish to attend the performance virtually will be emailed a link to watch on August 19. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online here.