ITthe Covid-19 pandemic destroyed life in society. One of the aspects in which he was the most cruel is the artistic one, and the closing of the Diná Study, in the last days, was one of the hard blows he gave to this class.
“Dominican music education is in mourning,” Manuel Tejada posted on the Facebook page of Farida Diná, the founder and director of the space where he trained a large number of instrumentalists for almost four decades.
“The country cannot afford this loss after 37 years of training musical talents”, continues the publication of the composer, instrumentalist, arranger and producer.
Like him, other musicians took the Diná wall to express their concern about this situation. “All these demonstrations need to reach the higher government, especially the cultural sector. We have to do something so that this institution does not disappear “, wrote professor Rafael Solano in the same social network.
“The Diná study is recorded in the history of the development of Dominican music, its legacy is there and will remain forever,” wrote Professor Dante Cucurullo, who also recalled that former students of that institution who decided to open schools, are like “Subsidiaries”.
“I feel helpless, devastated and extremely sad,” said Diná, who is comforted by the fact that she received more than 600 messages of support after announcing the closure of her school, which she greatly appreciates. “Anyone who opens my Facebook account realizes that I have sown and reaped,” the teacher commented to LISTÍN DIARIO when talking about a school that trained young people who developed their talents in music, song and teaching.
An academy that began modestly in 1983, in the living room of his house on Ramón Santana Street in Gazque, offering piano lessons and was to become a three-story building with a team of 24 teachers and an enrollment of about 250 of students.
A space where all instruments were taught, except brass horns and singing lessons, from six months (early stimulation through music) to maturity, and with a branch in Santiago de los Caballeros opened in 2003 and continues to operate . “The truth is that, at first, I didn’t think it would grow that much,” says the teacher and pianist.
Close
In addition to the artists who expressed regret for the closure, students, parents and former teachers expressed their outrage, sadness and inability to close. The health situation that the world is experiencing is what caused this, because, despite the fact that they have adapted to offer courses in practice, many parents did not accept and enrollment decreased. “I came to a time when I was no longer covering my salary. We continue to fight, even to sell personal items “, he explains, since he had to sell some pianos and other instruments, until the moment came when he realized that he could not continue.
To reopen it, it does not have the necessary resources at the moment. “I do not believe in my own funds. With a help that comes from heaven, because we no longer have funds to reopen “, Diná complains.
What fills her with pride is knowing that many of the students at her school have been successful, both on stage and in teaching.
Proud
Although, for fear of omitting and without the slightest intention of making any of her former students feel bad, she mentions some of the musicians she is proud of who have gone through school.
Among them Stephany Ortega, a singer who was nominated twice for Sovereign, awarded by Acroarte; Giorgio Siladi, from the pop band Bocatabú; Rosana Rosario, violinist of the National Symphony Orchestra, Martha Jhoana De Luna, pianist who developed her career in the United States; Josean Jacobo, who together with his group Tumbao has released several jazz records, others who have graduated doctorates abroad, such as José Guillermo Puello. Also, Patricia Linares and Gilem Linares, who have their academies; Albania Gabot, professor at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo and Sly de Moya, professor at Pedro Henríquez Ureña University. “But I’m sure I have a few more and I don’t want her to feel bad,” she says sadly.
Other achievements of Estudio Diná that make her proud are, for example, the fact that her academy was the first to obtain a Kindermusik license and that her daughter, Farida Peña, is the international Kindermusik Mentor for Latin America.
The fact that their class program is approved and they are members of the Latin American Association of Conservatories and Music Schools (ALCEM), the International Society for Music Education (ISME), the Caribbean Choral Federation and Central America.
His students have also become winners of international competitions in Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas, Luxembourg, the Dominican Republic, among others.
OTHER DATA
Contest.
Studied Diná organizes the “Ibero-American Competition for Young Pianists”, the first and only international piano competition in the country :.
Solidarity.
Other figures from different branches of art who have dedicated words of encouragement are José Antonio Rodríguez, Mónika Despradel, Antonio Melenciano, Ondina Matos, Nancy Vizcaíno, among others.