Music professor travels to Colombia to work with low-income student musicians

University of Richmond professor Alexander Kordzaia will travel to Cartagena, Colombia at the end of September to work with three youth orchestras.

Kordzaia, who conducts the University of Richmond Orchestra, will arrive on Sept. 29 and spend seven days in Cartagena at the invitation of Fundacion Tocando Puertas Abrir Futuros, an organization that provides musical instruments, lessons, performance opportunities and scholarships for further education to low-income families in Colombia.

He will participate in their orchestral festival, Festival De Orquesta, Music y Juventudes, and will work with student musicians in three orchestras for five days, preparing them for a final concert on Oct. 5.

Kordzaia donated his services to the festival and will be taking violin strings donated by music faculty and a beginner violin, case, and bow to donate to the program as a gift from the University and from Jan Hampton Violins, a local music store in Richmond.