Tag: Musicians

Pittsburgh Symphony musicians, partnering with food rescue organizations

Posted on November 16, 2018 by - News Briefs

“On a chilly, misty afternoon in October, a truck rattled to a halt in front of a nondescript brick building in Wilkinsburg, where a small band of musician volunteers began unloading boxes and parcels of food,” writes Jeremy Reynolds in Thursday’s (11/15) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “The location was an … agency that provides specialized services to the county’s suburban school districts, non-public, charter and vocational-technical schools…. Meanwhile, three more musician volunteers … launched into a short concert for the staff inside the facility…. The musicians were from the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, working under the auspices of 412 Food Rescue, a local organization that seeks to eliminate food waste and connect food with those in need…. In 2009, the League of American Orchestras … joined with Feeding America … to create the national Orchestras Feeding America program. Since its founding, more than 360 orchestras have participated…. ‘Musicians are expanding their roles to being active community participants,’ said former Pittsburgher Jesse Rosen, president and CEO of the League of American Orchestras.” Says Lorien Benet Hart, a violinist in the PSO who began volunteering with 412 Food Rescue in 2016, “It’s been a positive, incredible way to get music out into the community.”

Posted November 16, 2018

In photo: In a Pittsburgh neighborhood, Dan Scullin, left, field operations manager of 412 Food Rescue, and Andres Franco, associate conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, help area resident Bob Demask, right, deliver food on Monday, Nov. 5. Other members of the orchestra performed while food was being delivered. Photo by Steve Mellon/Post-Gazette.

Dallas Symphony principal oboe recognized for volunteer efforts in community

Posted on August 1, 2018 by - News Briefs

Seven years ago, Erin Hannigan, principal oboe in the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, “organized the first Concert for Kindness” to raise money for Dallas Animal Services, a no-kill animal shelter, writes Kate Peebles in Friday’s (7/27) D magazine (Dallas). The annual concert, held in March, is “performed by volunteer[s] … including performers from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Opera, and the Avant Chamber Ballet…. In June, Hannigan received the 2018 Ford Musician Award for Excellence in Community Service [from the League of American Orchestras], given to just five orchestra musicians across the country who use their musical talents to improve their communities…. Over the past five years, Concert for Kindness has raised more than $200,000 for Operation Kindness, allowing the shelter to raise adoption rates and provide spots for more animals…. The concerts have also helped cover the cost of medicine that the shelter pays to treat its animals, an expense of over $120,000 every year…. Hannigan’s … aims go beyond the animals. ‘I want [people] to see the Dallas Symphony as a group of community members,’ Hannigan says. ‘We’re here because of the Dallas Symphony job, but we are entrenched in the community and it’s a wonderful thing.’ ” Learn more about the League’s Ford Musician Awards for Excellence in Community Service here.

Posted August 1, 2018

Utah Symphony musicians and music director spend week in Haiti, working with local musicians

Posted on May 9, 2018 by - News Briefs

“About 20 of us from the Utah Symphony recently spent a week in Cap-Haitien, in the north of Haiti,” writes Thierry Fischer, music director of the Utah Symphony, in USA Today on April 30. “We were there for the National Orchestra Institute, a partnership with Building Leaders Using Music Education. For the second year in a row, BLUME had brought together about 100 Haitian musicians for a week of intensive training…. I first learned about the institute last year when John Eckstein, one of our cellists, told me in an email that ‘we just want you to know that 17 of us are going to Haiti on our week off to teach music.’ The musicians were volunteers raising their own funds for the trip from private donors.… It’s one thing to make yourself feel collaborative by making a donation, but it’s a completely different thing to … take the initiative and be prepared to be confronted by a different world and to give of yourself…. I am so proud of the musicians of the Utah Symphony for bringing us there in the first place. We are an orchestra … committed to both our work in America and in developing countries like Haiti, and to the notion of sharing what sounds can bring. We hope to inspire our leaders through our actions.”

Posted May 9, 2018