The Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, USA and the Irish Invitational Brass Band
We’re very excited to announce that Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, USA and the Irish Invitational Brass Band will team up for a fundraising concert for Waterford Healing Arts Trust this month!
The concert takes place on Sunday 23 June at 4.30pm at Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. All proceeds will go to our arts programmes at UHW. Tickets cost €10 (€5 for children under 18) and are available in advance from Waterford Healing Arts Trust (051) 842664 / what@hse.ie / www.waterfordhealingarts.c
The Fort Wayne Children’s Choir (FWCC), from Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA, performs a wide-ranging programme featuring a variety of genres and styles. Based in the American Mid-West, this excellent choir offers young people the opportunity to develop their vocal ability along with music literacy through an extensive choral programme utilising the teaching philosophy and methodology of Zoltan Kodaly. The choir is renowned for their musical education, the diversity of their membership and the quality of their contributions to the cultural life of the community. 40 members of the choir will travel to Ireland this summer, representing their full membership of 300 talented students from 85 schools across the region back home in the US. The choir is conducted by Executive Artistic Director Jonathan Busarow. In high demand as a conductor, educator and performer in the US, Mr Busarow teaches voice and choral music at Purdue University Fort Wayne School of Music and is the recipient of the First Decade Achievement Award from Valparaiso University.
The Irish Invitational Brass Band is composed of members of the National Symphony Orchestra, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, The Band of An Garda Síochána, the Army No 1 Band, The Band of The Western Command, Drogheda Brass Band, Lourdes Brass Band, Arklow Silver Band, the Steadfast Band and freelance professional musicians. Most members came up through the brass band system as youngsters and have maintained a lifelong connection with the brass band world. Formed in 2017, and meeting twice a year, their repertoire spans four centuries of music, including original compositions, transcriptions of the classics and arrangements of modern pop hits. Under the sharp baton of Maestro Brian Daly, their sole aim is to spread the infectious palette of the brass band sound to the four provinces and beyond.
Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) brings arts experiences to the bedsides of patients at University Hospital Waterford (UHW) and other healthcare settings. These experiences include Healing Sounds, a live music programme on the wards and in the hospital foyer; Open Gallery, an art project for people living with dementia and their family members/carers; the mobile Art Kart, which travels to many of the hospital wards; the Artist on Call service, responding to individual patient needs; the Arts Programme in the Renal Dialysis Unit; the Staff Art Wall and the extensive UHW Art Collection. Through these programmes, Waterford Healing Arts Trust seeks to soften the clinical environment and alleviate stress and anxiety for patients, family members and staff.
Announcing details of the concert, Shirley O’Shea of the WHAT Fundraising Committee said “We are delighted to welcome Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, Indiana and the Irish Invitational Brass Band to Waterford for what promises to be an exciting afternoon of music and song, all in aid of Waterford Healing Arts Trust’s programmes at UHW. We are very grateful to the choir and the members of the band for sharing their abundant talent and time with us. We’re fortunate to have Waterford Healing Arts Trust here at our hospital, so we sincerely hope that the Waterford public will come along to enjoy this beautiful and stirring music, and raise much needed funds at the same time.”
Established in 1993, Waterford Healing Arts Trust (WHAT) is Ireland’s leading arts and health organisation. Further details about Waterford Healing Arts Trust are available from www.waterfordhealingarts.c
