The benefit concert series If Music Be the Food . . . will continue its third season with a concert at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 25 Westminster Rd. (at East Avenue) in Rochester, on Sunday, Feb. 26, at 7:30 p.m. Last year’s concert series, which involved Eastman School of Music faculty and students, members of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and international guest artists, yielded nearly $2,000 and 1,500 pounds of food for Rochester’s Foodlink.
The second concert of Season 3 will open with Schumann’s “Maerchenerzaehlungen” Trio for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, performed by Eastman School Professors Jon Manasse, clarinet; Carol Rodland, viola; and Barry Snyder, piano. Eastman’s Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, Abra Bush, soprano, will be joined by eight Eastman cellists, including Professors Alan Harris and David Ying, in Hector Villa-Lobos’ Bachianus Brasileiras #5. The concert will conclude with Dvorak’s String Sextet, performed by Eastman professors Oleh Krysa, Rodland, and Ying, and their students Markiyan Melnychenko, Wendy Richman, and Jamie Clark.
Rather than pay an admission price, attendees are asked to bring canned goods and non-perishable food items to help stock the Foodlink shelves. Cash donations will also be accepted.
The third concert of Season 3 will take place at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on Friday, May 11.
Rodland, who is Associate Professor of Viola at the Eastman School, created If Music Be the Food . . . in 2009 with the assistance of Robert Poovey, Director of Music at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, to raise awareness and provide relief for the hungry in the Rochester community. All proceeds go directly to Foodlink. All of the musicians donate their services for these performances and the churches donate the performance spaces and assist with the collection of food and cash contributions. The success of If Music Be the Food . . . is inspiring other musical institutions in the United States to implement similar initiatives in their own communities.
Foodlink is a non-profit regional food bank that distributes food to soup kitchens, shelters and emergency food pantries, and to non-emergency programs such as group homes, and senior centers. Founded in 1978, Foodlink serves a 10-county area in the Genesee Valley and Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York. Foodlink’s mission is to empower at-risk communities by providing food, nutrition, education and resources in Central and Western New York. Today, the food bank serves nearly 90,000 meals each week or a total of 4.5 million meals annually.
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