WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2010 – On Sunday, January 24, 2010, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and choral groups from Hartford and beyond will perform Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem to raise money to help earthquake victims in Haiti. All of the proceeds from the concert will be donated to the American Red Cross, which is at the heart of relief efforts in the devastated country. The concert will be held at Immanuel Congregational Church, 10 Woodland Street, Hartford, CT on Sunday, January 24, 2010 at 3:00 p.m. Attendees will be asked to make a free-will donation to support the American Red Cross.
“The need for relief in Haiti is immediate, and local musicians wanted to act quickly to help meet that need,” says Tom Cooke, Executive Director of Voce, the Hartford-based professional choral group spearheading the fundraising effort. “There are literally hundreds of people donating their time to produce this concert – people who believe that music can change lives.” In addition to Hartford Symphony musicians represented by American Federation of Musicians Local #400 and supported by Local 84 stage hands, the concert will feature singers from Voce, the Hartford Chorale’s Chamber Singers, the Vernon Chorale and local church choirs including Immanuel Congregational Church, Asylum Hill Congregational Church, and many others. “We even have singers from the New London Chorale coming up to join us – the groups are too numerous to name.”
According to Hartford Symphony Orchestra Executive Director Kristen M. Phillips, “everybody in our organization – musicians, board members, staff and supporters – was looking for an opportunity to do something to help. A community-based performance of Fauré’s beautiful Requiem is exactly the right thing to do, and our musicians were eager to take part in it, donating their time and talent to participate.”
The American Red Cross has over 400 volunteers on the ground in Haiti, where the scale of the disaster is overwhelming. With a reported 200,000 casualties, over 1.5 million people displaced, and entire towns decimated, Haiti is in desperate need of help, according to a Red Cross spokesperson.
CONTACTS:
TOM COOKE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VOCE – 860.335.7256 or 860.246.8623
voceinc@att.net
MEGHANN ECKENHOFF, DIRECTOR OF ARTISTIC OPERATIONS, HARTFORD SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA 860.246.8742, ext. 311
meckenhoff@hartfordsymphony.org