UNITED IN MUSIC
A VIRTUAL CHARITY CONCERT TO AID UNHCR’s CORONAVIRUS RESPONSE
International artists, professors and friends from 30 countries, join Maestro Shlomo Mintz and team up for globe-spanning performance in support of the UN Refugee Agency’s COVID-19 appeal.
More than 50 musicians from around the world are contributing their talents and time to a joint virtual concert performance to raise funds for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s COVID-19 response.
United in Music is slated to premiere on Thursday 28 May, at 18:00 GMT (14:00 EST) and will be hosted and streamed on UNHCR’s global YouTube and Twitter channels. The musical charity fundraiser was initiated by Shlomo Mintz, a world-renowned violin virtuoso and conductor, as a response to an invitation from Christine Mori and Alexis Spieldenner of Canadian-based Bravo Niagara!. The duo invited Maestro Mintz to collaborate on a virtual performance of Vivaldi’s celebrated Concerto for Four Violins, together with musicians of different orchestras based in Canada, New Zealand, Great Britain and the United States. Upon Maestro Mintz’s invitation the program was extended with Rachmanoniv’s Vocalise curated by Q-Toi, bringing together professors, concert artists, and students from 29 countries. United in Music will be recorded remotely by the diverse ensemble of artists in their respective homes. The artists will be performing works by Vivaldi, Kreisler and Rachmaninoff.
All donations from the concert go to UNHCR to help protect refugees and displaced people in the ongoing global fight against COVID-19.
The initial idea behind the project was sharing music and joy to people’s homes, to overcome together the challenge we have found ourselves in worldwide due to the virus spreading and when Bravo Niagara! approached me and asked to collaborate on a live-stream performance of the Vivaldi Four Violins Concerto, I was delighted to accept.
However, I thought this initiative should also find a way to support the people who are in an extreme crisis in this tough time, and that’s why we started conversations with the UN Refugee Agency. We found a quick and enthusiastic collaboration in their representatives, and after a few conversations, the United in Music project got a new purpose: I believe that one should always nurture solidarity and empathy through everything that we do, and we musicians do it through playing music.
With this project, we encourage you to help us to raise funds for the Refugee Camps to help fight against COVID-19. Beyond the artistic result because of a difficult “set up” from home, we aim to help.
Shlomo Mintz
Even a small donation to UNHCR can make a huge difference in protecting refugees from COVID-19.
Just US$20 (€18) can provide 10 families with bars of soap to help prevent the spread of the virus.
A. VIVALDI
Concerto for 4 violins in B minor, RV 580 (1st & 3rd mov.)
- Soloists:
Shlomo Mintz
Carmine Lauri, London Symphony Orchestra & Oxford Philomusica
Jonathan Crow, Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Nikki Chooi, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
- Violins:
Qianqian Li, New York Philharmonic
Chen Zhao, San Francisco Symphony
Andrew Beer, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra
Barbora Kolářová, Lake George Music Festival
- Violas:
Bryony Gibson-Cornish, Marmen Quartet
Ren Martin-Doïké, National Arts Centre Orchestra
- Double bass:
Daniel Pendley, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
PROGRAM
- Celli:
Guy Johnston, Faculty, Eastman School of Music
Julian Schwarz, Faculty, New York University
Produced by:
F. KREISLER
Recitativo and Scherzo, Op. 6
Shlomo Mintz
S. RACHMANINOFF
Vocalise, string version
Q-toi with friends
(young violinists, competition winners and some professors from Albania, Austria, Australia, Argentine, Brazil, Canada, China, UK, Belgium, France, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Holland, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia, Taiwan, Singapore, Spain, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, USA and South Korea)
Filippo Grandi, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
“This is a great example of organizations coming together creatively across the globe to support refugees, and we are enormously grateful to Maestro Shlomo Mintz, Bravo Niagara! Festival of the Arts, and all the brilliant musicians who have come together from all over the world to collaborate to raise funds for UNHCR’s COVID-19 response.”
United in Music is possible thanks to the collaboration of:
THE UN REFUGEE AGENCY (UNHCR)
Claire Lewis (Global Goodwill Ambassador Programme)
Lauren La Rose (Fundraising and Comms Manager in UNHCR Canada)
Carlotta Wolf (Global Appeals team)
MAESTRO SHLOMO MINTZ & TEAM
Belén Alonso, General Manager
Ana Curcin, Assistant
BRAVO NIAGARA!
Christine Mori, Artistic Director & Co-Founder
Alexis Spieldenner, Executive Director & Co-Founder
SOUND ENGINEER
Ben Ewing, Ben Ewing Recordings
FILM PRODUCTION
Guillermo Subauste, Pacha Sound
COORDINATION VIVALDI CONCERTO
Bravo Niagara!
Nikki Chooi (ensemble)
COORDINATION RACHMANINOFF VOCALISE
Qian Zhou
GENERAL COORDINATION
Belén Alonso