The Arts of Compassion

Boston Arts Consortium for Health
The Arts of Compassion: Perspectives on Arts and Health

On October 2, 2010, the 141st birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, experts will gather at Berklee College of Music to consider the role of compassion and the integration of the arts in healthcare. This symposium, which is open to the public, will stimulate conversation and celebrate the depth and diversity in Boston of those who teach and practice compassion through their art forms.

The Arts of Compassion will be held at the David Friend Hall of in the Berklee College of Music from 9:00am-5:00 pm.

Following the symposium, participants are invited to attend Longwood Symphony Orchestra's season-opening concert on October 2 .

A year ago, a remarkable group began meeting together at the Berklee College of Music. This group of engaged, curious and committed individuals all share an interest in the role of the arts in health care. Each month, the group gathers to hear a presentation about the remarkable work being done by one of its member organizations. BACH: Boston Arts Consortium for Health would now like to share its wealth of knowledge in the field of arts and health care with the greater Boston community.

Conference topics will include expressive arts therapy for children in Roxbury, the role of the arts in the care of people living with Alzheimer's, Longwood Symphony's LSO on Call program, and the vision of an artist/architect, The Healing Empowerment Center.

During the midday break, participants will be invited to meet practitioners from The Integrative Medicine Alliance (IMA)'s Mobile Clinic.

The IMA is committed to deepening the quality of the human experience of health care. As part of that mission, the IMA promotes the integrated practice of complementary and conventional medical practices as a means to support patients in their total healing. The Mobile Clinic was created to enable people to learn about and experience some complementary health practices. Mobile Clinic attendees can interact with complementary medical practitioners in an informal and informational setting while having a brief experience (10-15 minutes) of a variety of practices. The IMA has put on Mobile Clinics in a number of settings including medical schools and national and local health conferences.

Registration for the conference will be through Berklee College of Music. For more information and to register for the program, click here

Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts and LSO celebrate 15 year collaboration

Over the past three weeks, thirty-three young musicians from Taiwan, China, and conservatories across the U.S. were gathered for private lessons, master classes, chamber music and orchestra at the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts. This remarkable summer Music Festival, directed by Dr. Cathy Chan and sponsored by her Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts, has introduced scores of talented young people to the United States over nineteen years. For many, the Festival is a life-changer - some return every summer, others enroll at Walnut Hill or go on to conservatory studies in the U.S.

On Wednesday evening, August 18, 2010, 13 young orchestra musicians from the Summer Music Festival joined the musicians of the Longwood Symphony Orchestra for its annual summer performance.

Pianist Rui Zhang, winner of the 2010 Concerto Competition, made her American debut at an American landmark, the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Esplanade on the banks of the Charles River.

The concert drew a crowd of 9000, who cheered to Boston and Gershwin, loved the Beethoven and danced to Duke Ellington's "In the Mood."

Twenty year-old Chinese pianist makes her U.S. debut at Hatch Shell on the Esplanade

For twenty year old pianist Rui Zhang, coming to Boston for the first time is special for two reasons. It is here, 7000 miles from Shanghai, that she has reconnected with her beloved piano teacher, Hung-Kuan Chen, and here that she will make her U.S. debut as piano soloist with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra.

Born in 1989 in Lanzhou, a city in Northwest China, Ms. Zhang began the piano at the young age of 3 1/2. When she was nine, she left her family to become a student at the prestigious Affiliated School of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. By the time she was fifteen, she was giving concert tours throughout China.

Three years ago, Ms. Zhang was accepted into the college level of the Conservatory, and began her undergraduate studies with Hung-Kuan Chen, a pianist well known to Boston audiences, then Chair of the Piano Department of the Shanghai Conservatory. When Mr. Chen was appointed to the piano faculty at New England Conservatory in 2009, he left Shanghai to return to Boston. Ms. Zhang now studies with Professor Xiang-yu Mao.

This summer Rui Zhang has come to Boston to participate in the Annual Summer Festival at Walnut Hill sponsored by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts. Each year, 30-40 young outstanding young musicians from Taiwan, China, and the United States come together to participate in an intensive three-week musical training program that includes private study with master faculty, chamber music and orchestral training. The program was an opportunity for Rui Zhang to reunite with her teacher.

As the winner of the Foundation's annual Concerto Competition, Ms. Zhang will perform with the Longwood Symphony Orchestra at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade on Wednesday August 18.

This year, LSO Artistic Director Jonathan McPhee chose George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue as the featured work. This distinctively American work made a big impression on Rui Zhang.

"I have never been to the United States, and really love it. I had never played an American concerto before and it is so special to me that I will make my American debut here in Boston, playing this very special piece. And I am so grateful that my teacher Mr. Hung-Kuan Chen is here to teach me about its American nature. I have learned so much."

Ms. Rui Zhang makes her American debut on Wednesday August 18 at 7:00 p.m. at Longwood Symphony Orchestra's Free annual concert on the Esplanade as part of Boston Landmarks Orchestra's Landmarks Festival at the Shell series.

LSO's 25th Annual Summer Concert on the Esplanade

One hundred years ago, the Charles River Dam was completed at the mouth of the Charles River. The land that was recovered became Boston's beloved Esplanade. Eighteen years later in 1929, a conductor named Arthur Fiedler conducted the first free open air concert on the Esplanade, a tradition of classical music for the community that has continued to this day.

Every summer, thousands of families pack their picnics, spread their blankets, and head to the Hatch Shell on the banks of the Charles River to hear these free concerts. The season begins with the now legendary and widely broadcast Fourth of July performance by the Boston Pops.

For twenty-five years, Longwood Symphony Orchestra has also been a part of this musical tradition, performing its annual free classical concert on the Esplanade at the end of every summer .

In 1995, as part of its mission of community engagement, Longwood Symphony Orchestra began a remarkably successful collaboration with the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts Summer Music Festival. This Festival offers a unique educational experience for talented young people from Taiwan, China and the United States. The program is the brainchild and passion of Dr. Catherine Chan, whose dedication and vision has brought hundreds of talented Chinese musicians to study in Boston for over twenty years.

For most of these students, the Summer Music Festival at Walnut Hill is their first American experience. They spend three weeks at the Walnut Hill School for the Performing Arts in Natick with master artist faculty, honing their individual instrumental skills, learning chamber music, and sitting side-by-side in orchestra with the seasoned musicians of the LSO. But they do have a chance to put their instruments down to get to know Boston - from shopping, to Duck Boat Tours to a trip to Tanglewood.

The final highlight of this three-week camp is the chance to perform with the LSO on the Esplanade.

And for the lucky winner of the annual Concerto Competition, it is a the chance to make his/her Boston and often American debut, performing for 9000 people.

The winner of the first such Concerto Competition was a young 12-year old pianist named Lang Lang, who has gone on to a wildly successful international career. This performance was Lang Lang's American debut. Although at that time his feet could barely reach the pedals, even at that tender age, his performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21 was riveting and memorable.

On Wednesday August 18, Longwood Symphony will perform its 25th concert at the Hatch Shell, joined by the Foundation for Chinese Performing Arts students : 6 young violinists, 2 violists, 3 cellists, a bassoonist and clarinetist.

The winner of the 2010 annual Summer Concerto Competition is Rui Zhang, a 21 year old student from Shanghai Conservatory. Ms. Zhang will make her American debut, performing Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. The concert, led by Longwood Symphony Orchestra's Artistic Director and Conductor Jonathan McPhee, will also include On Eagle's Wings by the aptly-named composer Bill Boston, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 4, opus 60.

Longwood Symphony Orchestra
Wednesday evening August 18 at 7:00 p.m.
"In the Mood" conducted by Artistic Director Jonathan McPhee as part of Boston Landmarks Orchestra's Landmarks Festival at the Shell series. 617-667-1527

www.longwoodsymphony.org

Longwood Symphony and Berkshire Children and Families at Tanglewood

Longwood Symphony Orchestra will partner with Berkshire Children and Families for an extraordinary two day collaboration beginning with a symposium focusing on Inspired Prevention, child education and literacy featuring Drs. Eli Newberger and Kerby Alvy. The highlight of the weekend will be our June 12th Ozawa Hall debut under the baton of Artistic Director and Conductor Jonathan McPhee featuring the works of Debussy, Nielsen and American composer Gene Scheer.

SYMPOSIUM - The new relationship between Longwood Symphony Orchestra and Berkshire Children and Families has sparked the creation of a symposium on Friday, June 11th. The symposium, Inspiring Prevention: will represent the intersection of the two organizations' respective missions around music and medicine, and early education and literacy in the context of parent child relationships for children. It will be held at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, and will intertwine notable speakers with musical performances to give emphasis to the rich opportunities for healing and healthy development for children. We are extremely fortunate to feature Eli Newberger, M.D., internationally renowned pioneer in the field of child abuse and neglect, accomplished musician and part-time Lenox resident aKerby Alvy, Ph.D., founder of both Center for the Improvement of Child Caring, Dr. Carolyn Burns, Executive Directo. For r of Berkshire Children and Families and a string quartet of pediatric experts from Longwood Symphony Orchestra. For more information, or to register, click here.

MUSIC - Celebrating music, healing and the inextinguishable human spirit, Maestro McPhee will lead the orchestra in a performance of Albert Schweitzer Portrait by Gene Scheer (2009) narrated by State Representative Daniel E. Bosley. This work was co-commissioned by Longwood Symphony Orchestra and the Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in 2009 to honor Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, musician, physician and humanitarian. The concert will also include Nielsen’s moving Symphony No. 4 “The Inextinguishable” and Debussy’s epic La Mer. Purchase tickets here.

PARTNER - Berkshire Children and Families is the most comprehensive family services agency in Western MA improving the lives of children by helping families build their future through effective, innovative programs including parenting services, early care and education, family literacy, foster care and adoption. Founded in 1887, BCF is headquartered in Pittsfield, MA.

LSO and BCF are pleased to announce an Honorary Event Committee featuring Governor Deval L. Patrick, Eugene A. Dellea, Mayor James M. Ruberto, Senator Benjamin Downing, State Representative Smitty Pignatelli, State Representative Daniel E. Bosley and State Representative Denis E. Guyer.

We hope that you will join us for this weekend of thrilling events! For tickets to Ozawa Hall, please click here.

For any questions, contact Jillian Scales at 617.667.1527 or info@longwoodsymphony.org.

Philip Edward Fisher makes his Boston Debut

100 years ago, on November 28, 1909, in New York City, Sergei Rachmaninoff himself performed the first performance of his Third Piano concerto, a work of brooding beauty and complexity. The New York Herald predicted that “it will doubtless take rank among the most interesting piano concertos of recent years," but that "its great length and extreme difficulties bar it from performances by any but pianists of exceptional technical powers.”

On Saturday evening in Jordan Hall, the brilliant 29 year-old British pianist, Philip Edward Fisher, will demonstrate just the sort of exceptional technique the New York Herald critics referred to a century ago. Rehearsals have been thrilling; a chance for great collaboration between Fisher, conductor Jonathan McPhee and musicians of the LSO.

McPhee has paired the Rachmaninoff with Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 4,"The Inextinguishable" a work that was premiered only seven years later in 1916. Nielsen himself described this monumental piece as “a sort of symphony in one movement, which is meant to represent all that we feel and think about life in the most fundamental sense of the word, that is, all that has the will to live and to move.”











Following the performance, Fisher will be on hand to sign his newly released CD. For tickets and information, go to www.longwoodsymphony.org

LSO receives Community Health Pinnacle Award from Mattapan Community Health Center

[On April 24, 2010, Dr. Lisa Wong accepted the 2010 Community Health Pinnacle Award on behalf of Longwood Symphony Orchestra at Mattapan Community Health Center's 14th annual "Rock the Boat" Gala]

I am proud to accept this award on behalf of Maestro Jonathan McPhee and my 120 colleagues in the Longwood Symphony Orchestra. We are practitioners of music and medicine and Heal our Community through Music through three major programs:
• By playing in shelters, hospices and senior centers
• By giving lecture performances that demonstrate creativity at the intersection of the arts and sciences
• AND our signature program: By sharing our concert stage at Jordan Hall with outstanding local nonprofit organizations such as Mattapan Community Health Center to help them build new relationships, get the word out, and grow. Since we started this program in 1991, we have worked with 38 different organizations, and have helped raise nearly $1 million dollars for our community’s health.

About six years ago, I met Greg Bulger and Richard Dix, who many of you know well. Back then, they shared with me their vision to support health and the arts in our community—a vision from which they have never wavered. It was Greg who suggested that I get to know Mattapan Community Health Center.

I have been a pediatrician for over 25 years. One thing I love about my profession is that special feeling and electricity that you feel when you walk into any well-run healthcare organization—an energy that radiates from people who care--people who are working to make a difference: in the life of a child, in the life of a family, in the life of a community

This is an energy that is palpable.
THIS is the energy I felt when I walked into Mattapan Community Health Center the very first time and when I met Dr. Azzie Young.
It is the energy I feel every time I visit the health center.

Azzie’s vision was to use our Longwood Symphony concert together to announce the start of a new campaign – a campaign to build a much-needed new facility to meet the health needs of the people of Mattapan. It was a huge success.

Since then, I have watched Mattapan with pride and have attended every Rock the Boat event—I’ve even played violin at some of the VIP receptions—and now I applaud you as your dream of a new facility becomes a reality.
I am proud to have played a part in the remarkable work of Mattapan Community Health Center and I am proud to be part of the medical and musical fabric of our Boston Community.

I’d like to close with a few words to live by from my pediatric and my musical world. First, I’d like to quote from Robert Fulghum’s “All I Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten”,
• Play fair.
• Share everything.
• Put things back where you found them.
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together
• Warm cookies and cold milk –and a good gala--are ALL good for you.

To these I’d like to paraphrase two thoughts from “All I Need to Know I learned in Orchestra Rehearsal” taken from last week’s rehearsal with conductor Jonathan McPhee.

• When there is more than one musical idea going on in the music, if everyone only thinks about his own part and plays it loudly, it won’t sound very good. Listen to each other’s ideas first, then put the music back together. Now you will listen for each other and hear how the parts are in harmony.

• When you are looking at a difficult passage, don’t look up to the note and wonder if you will get there—your fear will hold you back; instead, aim beyond that note and you’ll be sure to land on it--squarely, securely --and in tune.

Don’t look back, Mattapan Community Health Center – keep on striving, reaching beyond your notes and being in tune with the community.

Thank you again for honoring me and the Longwood Symphony Orchestra with the 2010 Community Health Pinnacle Award.