It was a tough summer for residents of Orlando, Florida, following the June 12 mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub. But orchestras did their part to help, with Orlando Philharmonic Music Director Eric Jacobsen joining performers from more than 50 local arts groups on June 28 for a benefit concert. Proceeds went to those affected by the tragedy. Performers included the Orlando Ballet, Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Orlando Shakespeare Theater, and the Orlando Gay Chorus. A second benefit, “One Voice Orlando: A Celebration in Song” on September 11, was organized by Opera Orlando, with the Orlando Philharmonic donating its music library’s services and collection of music and the rehearsal space; several musicians from the Orlando Philharmonic performed. The event benefitted Orlando health and human-services agencies. Elsewhere, the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra were among orchestras dedicating performances to Pulse shooting victims. At the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, a “Requiem for Orlando” organized by the School of Music featured Mozart’s Requiem, with students, faculty, and alumni joined by musicians from the Michigan Philharmonic and from Michigan’s Ann Arbor, Dearborn, and Rochester symphonies.
In Baton Rouge, Louisiana this August, historic flooding meant that some musicians of the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra lost homes, vehicles, and musical instruments. The orchestra launched a GoFundMe campaign to help musicians with food and shelter as well as to help pay for replacing instruments. On September 8 in New Orleans, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and New Orleans Opera gave a benefit concert for schools, arts organizations, and artists hit by recent floods. Louisiana Philharmonic President Matthew Eckenhoff said, “We feel for our colleagues in the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and for the Baton Rouge arts community as a whole, knowing all too well how it feels to lose not only homes and possessions, but the instruments we need to create our art. This concert, performed by LPO musicians donating their services, is the least we can do to repay their generosity and help them regain what was lost.”
