Recycled Orchestra of Cateura Visits San Marin
In celebration of Latino Heritage Month, San Marin Performing Arts welcomed the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura to the Emily Gates Performing Arts Center for a special day of music with students from across our community.
Fourth graders from Pleasant Valley and Olive Elementary Schools joined San Marin students from a variety of classes and programs—including Spanish, Ethnic Studies, Multicultural Literature, ELD, AVID, Jazz Band and Choir—for three performances throughout the school day, reaching more than 500 students in all.
Turning Recycled Materials Into Music
The Recycled Orchestra of Cateura comes from a community near the Cateura landfill in Paraguay. The program began when environmental engineer and musician Favio Chávez started offering music lessons to local children. With more students interested in learning than instruments available, Chávez and local craftsman Nicolás “Colá” Gómez began creating instruments from materials recovered from the landfill.
Oil cans, forks, bottle caps, discarded wood and other everyday materials were transformed into violins, cellos, guitars and other playable instruments. The project grew into the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, whose story has reached audiences around the world, including through the documentary Landfill Harmonic.
For students at San Marin, seeing and hearing these instruments up close was a big part of the experience. The musicians shared how the instruments are created and restored and demonstrated just how much can be done with materials that might otherwise be thrown away.
Music, Questions & Connection
The musicians also spent time talking with students and answering questions. Students learned more about how the recycled instruments are made and restored, how long the musicians have been playing, and what it’s like to perform with such unique instruments.
Throughout the day, the Emily Gates Performing Arts Center hosted three performances, welcoming different groups of elementary and San Marin students for each one. The visit was a wonderful way to celebrate Latino Heritage Month while bringing students together through music and the performing arts.
A special thank you to Steven Hess and Kris Starn for hosting the event, welcoming the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura and our visiting elementary students, and helping make this experience possible at San Marin.
Behind the Orchestra
The story of the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura is captured in the documentary Landfill Harmonic, which follows the young musicians, their remarkable instruments, and the unexpected journey that brought their music to audiences around the world.
