Cuatro Puntos, Neighbor

Cuatro Puntos ("four points" in Spanish) is a non-profit organization that works to uplift persecuted, silenced or underrepresented music voices from around the world. Based in Connecticut, Cuatro Puntos is the parent organization for two permanent ensembles: Cuatro Puntos Ensemble (a professional string ensemble) and Music Moves Hartford Street Choir (an ensemble of adults who face housing or food insecurity in Hartford, in partnership with Christ Church Cathedral). Cuatro Puntos’ work is long-term project based, and projects often last many years. A project usually consists of a partnership with a musician or musical group who considers their art form as silenced, persecuted, or underrepresented. Through logistical and financial support, and often via musical partnerships with our permanent ensembles, Cuatro Puntos develops opportunities to spotlight the underrepresented musician or art form. The material results of a project vary, but they most often include: a recorded album (distributed on an international label), live concerts, commissions of new music, video projects, and music creation based on an intercultural dialogue model. Our album discography chronicles our most in-depth projects: Ji bo sê kes çay (preserving traditional Kurdish music); Through The Eyes of Children (highlighting American middle school students who speak out against youth violence); Ameen Mokdad’s The Curve (highlighting musical oppression by extremists in Iraq); Jaipur to Cairo (underrepresented composers/genres of the Middle East); and Rosegarden of Light (young musicians of Afghanistan). Current projects include Contemporary Ukrainian Composers (commissioning composers inside Ukraine in 2022/23) and an album of music recorded in 2023 by Afghan musicians who are in hiding inside the country. Our albums have been published on Naxos, Toccata Classics, Métier, and Arkadash. The quality of our work has been praised around the world, with airtime on NPR, BBC, and reviews by Fanfare. Cuatro Puntos Ensemble has performed extensively throughout the United States as well as in Bolivia, Brazil, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Afghanistan as they work alongside underrepresented musicians. Tracks from our albums have been included on the soundtrack for films produced in England, Australia, Iraq, and Afghanistan, and our organization has presented at prestigious universities such as New England Conservatory (Boston), Columbia University (New York), Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (Germany), and Goldsmiths College (London). We invite you to visit our website to to experience our projects. You may interact by attending a live concert, listening to our albums, or searching our Monday Music video archives. CuatroPuntos.org