News
Telegraph-Journal -- May 23, 2016
SAINT JOHN • Orchestral musicians in the Greater Saint John area are putting on a benefit concert on Tuesday in support of victims of the Fort McMurray wildfire.
The event, hosted by Tutta Musica, will be held at 7 p.m. at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and admission is by way of donation to the United Way of Fort McMurray, which is supporting families as they return home.
Tutta Musica is a collective of professional musicians who are the Teaching Artists of Sistema New Brunswick, a program of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra.
“One of the Sistema teachers in Saint John, Kate Clarke, is from Fort Mc-Murray and all of us in Saint John felt her distress,” said organizer Michael DePasquale, a cellist and Sistema NB teacher. “We were shocked at the destruction and knew that her family had been evacuated.”
DePasquale said another teacher offered the idea of a benefit concert to help support people affected by the wildfire like their colleague.
“We have a strong, close-knit community of teachers who wanted to do something,”he said.“Then we thought, others will also want to be part of this.”
The concert will feature the Saint John String Quartet with Jessica Rhaye, the NB Symphony Strings and organist Richard Kidd and several Saint John-based Tutta Musica ensembles.
“We think that it is essential that our students see and take part in an event like this as it demonstrates the principles of community and support that our program strives to foster in them” said DePasquale.“After all, an orchestra is one big community.”
