Fourteen-year-old Scarlett Ardon started playing alto-saxophone in middle school. When she started Cooperative Arts and Humanities Magnet High School in New Haven, she found herself being held to a whole new standard as a musician.
“I started here at Co-op very scared,” Ardon said. “Getting held up to a higher standard tells me that wow, people think of me, that I'm good. Like, people have hope in me.”
Through new opportunities and connections, Ardon said she’s had fun meeting the challenge. She now faces one of her biggest performances yet as part of the youth ensemble for the 15th annual Ramon Santiago Salsa Meets Jazz Festival.
Connecting with her Hispanic heritage through music is an element Ardon said she appreciates about this performance, being of Honduran and Guatemalan descent.
“I am a mariachi singer and salsa singer as well. I've been learning congos recently too,” Ardon said. “Getting the opportunity to play in the Salsa Meets Jazz Festival is something that I think will benefit me.”
The festival is taking place on Sunday, July 26 from 1 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Bushnell Park in Hartford. Ardon said she hopes festival-goers get something from the performance.
“I hope that they recognize the hard work that we put in. Hopefully when they leave, I hope that kind of sticks with them too,” Ardon said, “and they're like, wow, this new generation has something going on.”
Next Generation meets Venerated Elders
The festival will kick off with its ‘Next Generation meets Venerated Elders’ opener, according to Matt Chasen, the director of the festival. He is also a band director at Co-op Magnet High School.
“I'm a firm believer in passing the torch from one generation to the next,” Chasen said, “which is why we have the youth component in the festival.”
The youth component is a staple of the event as part of the legacy with Ramon Santiago, whom Chasen refers to as Ray.
“That really was Ray's dream,” Chasen said, “to really be able to give the next crop of young musicians an opportunity to perform on that kind of a stage.”
Last year, however, Chasen said they had to drop the youth component due to a dip in their funding. They also wanted to bring on Zaccai Curtis, he said, after he had won a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Album earlier that year.
“It was a tough choice, because the whole youth connection is something that Ray Santiago was very committed to,” Chasen said.
Chasen said music provides a means of expression and growth for students like 15-year-old Maria Luna.
“When I play the flute,” Luna said, “it makes all of the thoughts in my head go away.”
This kind of performance is also a first for Luna.
“I'm a bit nervous that I might mess up,” Luna said, “but I don't think so because I've been practicing.”
Bringing the youth component back this year is fantastic, Chasen said, “because I think that was a hole that we all kind of felt, a void from not being able to have that last year.”
Hope for a ‘capable generation’
Lorenzo Javier Maldonado Suero will be one of the eight students on stage. He’ll be joining Ardon as an alto-saxophonist, and he said he’s looking forward to the rush of performing live.
“I really like that feeling of being on the stage and hearing people giving an applause right after you finish a song,” Maldonado Suero said. “I don't think there's another feeling that could ever be on the same level.”
Maldonado Suero said music was always playing in his Dominican and Puerto Rican household. It’s something he said helps him emotionally. Now, he wants to channel that through his performance.
“All sorts of Hispanic music really hits deep for any Latino person,” he said. “Music is a tool for everyone that we can use to spread positivity through the people.”
It’s also a chance to help older folks feel hopeful for his generation, he said.
“I feel like the older generations have been saying, ‘Oh, we're lazy,’ and I just want to prove that wrong,” Maldonado Suero said, “I feel like we are a capable generation now that we could lead other people to what we want to achieve in life.”
He only asks one thing: be easy on them.
“You gotta remember these are high schoolers,” Maldonado Suero said. “This is a first experience for all of us.”
Learn more
The 15th annual Ramon Santiago Salsa Meets Jazz Festival is happening on Sunday, July 26 at the Thomas D. Harris IV Pavilion in Bushnell Park. The schedule is as follows:
1:00 to 2:30 p.m.
Youth Ensemble
3:00 to 4:30 p.m.
Goza Latin Jazz Band with local Hartford guitarist David Giardina
5:00 to 6:30 p.m
Headliner: Puerto Rican jazz musician, composer, and Afro-Rican Jazz pioneer William Cepeda
