“A group of military veterans got a healthy dose of music Monday—courtesy of the MET Orchestra,” write Dale Eiwinger and Reuven Blau in Monday’s (4/24) New York Daily News. “The 42-piece Met Orchestra—along with star soprano Susanna Phillips and conductor Marco Armiliato—played inside the atrium of the Veterans Affairs NY Harbor Healthcare System facility on E. 23rd St.… Jason Haaheim, 38, principal timpanist of the MET Orchestra, was one of the main organizers of the concert. ‘I wanted to figure out how we could do more for the community,’ … he said…. ‘We know you’re here, we want to honor you.’ The 70-minute performance included Aaron Copland’s ‘Fanfare for the Common Man’ and selections from Verdi’s ‘La Forza del Destino,’ Puccini’s ‘La Boheme,’ Mozart’s ‘Exsultate Jubilate,’ Dvorák’s ‘Rusalka,’ as well as the ‘Armed Forces Salute’ and the ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.’ It marked the second season of the MET Orchestra Musicians Community Performance Series [which] seeks to bring music into the city’s communities.” Said Army veteran James Stewart, 76, “It’s something different and something nice for the veterans. Just to have some comfort is very beautiful.”
Posted April 25, 2017
