Mahler for Vision: A Concert For The Restoration of Vision, Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” Monday, February 13, 2017 at 8PM Carnegie Hall
New York, NY (PRWEB) January 27, 2017 -- Who: Music for Life International | George Mathew, Conductor | Elmira Darvarova, Concertmaster | Indra Thomas, Soprano | Susanne Mentzer, Mezzo-Soprano | Musicians from the New York Philharmonic, MET Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus and others | Members of MasterVoices, Ted Sperling, Artistic Director
Beneficiary: HelpMeSee | http://www.helpmesee.org
Program: Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”
When: Monday, February 13, 2017 at 8PM
Where: Carnegie Hall: Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage, New York, NY
Tickets: $35-$149 | carnegiehall.org | CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800 | Box Office at 57th & Seventh
For media inquiries and to request press tickets, please contact Kirshbaum Associates:
212-222-4843 | info(at)kirshbaumassociates(dot)com
"Music has the extraordinary power not only to gather communities to solve problems like preventable blindness, but also to illuminate the solutions to those problems. Mahler's own words in the Resurrection Symphony, ‘O believe, my heart, that you have not suffered in vain,’ offer to all who seek the radiant hope for a future of light and joy."
– Archbishop Desmond Tutu

New York, NY - Music For Life International continues its decade-long tradition of global humanitarian concerts at Carnegie Hall with Mahler For Vision, a benefit concert of Gustav Mahler’s monumental Second Symphony “Resurrection” on Monday February 13, 2017 in Stern Auditorium/Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The concert aims to put the restoration of vision to the millions around the world affected by treatable cataract blindness on the most prestigious
concert stage in the world. The net proceeds of Mahler For Vision will benefit HelpMeSee’s unique efforts to end preventable cataract blindness and to preserve and enrich the dignity of those affected through the innovative use of cutting edge technology and transformative socio-economic models for distributing these critical public health services.
Mahler For Vision (the only performance of the work at Carnegie Hall in the 2016-17 season) is the culmination of the Music For Vision series of concerts in the Netherlands and Mumbai and Delhi, India which has highlighted the issue of cataract blindness on three continents. The performance will be conducted by Singapore-born, Indian conductor and Music For Life Artistic Director, George Mathew, and will feature renowned American violinist, Elmira Darvarova (the first woman ever to serve as Concertmaster of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in New York); the distinguished soprano Indra Thomas; and the mezzo- soprano Susanne Mentzer, a familiar voice to New York audiences from more than thirty years of iconic performances at the Metropolitan Opera and the concert stage. The Choir will include members of one of New York’s iconic choral ensembles, MasterVoices, Ted Sperling, Artistic Director.
Mahler For Vision will bring together many of the world’s finest orchestral musicians. Principal artists will gather from the New York Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, MET Orchestra, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Buffalo Philharmonic, American Symphony Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Baton Rouge Symphony as well as their colleagues from other international orchestras and ensembles; faculty and students of the Juilliard School, the Manhattan School of Music, Curtis Institute, and other major music academies. The Chorus will consist of singers from major New York City choral ensembles.
Mahler’s monumental Resurrection Symphony speaks to universal themes of searching for meaning within the human condition, of trying to make sense of suffering and death, and a gradual progression to acceptance and then to hope that there is still more to the human story.
Music For Life Artistic Director George Mathew noted that, “the music has uncanny resonances to the cause and the mission of the concert. The first three movements of the Resurrection Symphony paint a picture of the communities affected, the loss and collapse of human potential caused by a problem like cataract blindness, and the distortion and strangeness of life when a critical sense like vision is affected.
Mathew went on to observe that “in the fourth movement the miracle happens! The human voice appears! And we hear with shocking simplicity and transparency – the human cry of deep, personal yearning – the longing for light – for vision.”
“In the giant finale, Mahler much like Beethoven in the 9th (and HelpMeSee with its mission) ensures that this aching longing is not just remembered, but is amplified, intensified and ‘scaled’ (to use the social sector term) to create a vast community of people (voices) and technology (instruments) to bring that longing to its destination of fulfillment –a transformed future of health, life and contribution.”
HelpMeSee’s uniquely innovative approach enables far more than the restoration of vision. The individuals, families and communities served by HelpMeSee’s cataract surgeries are enabled and empowered to become newly minted participants and contributors in the larger socio-economic marketplace, an opportunity which many were denied, often for generations. HelpMeSee’s approach to the problem through the enhanced and accelerated training of cataract specialists using new technologies at the junction of aviation technology, surgical instrument production and powerfully improved standards of safety will ensure that it is new life, dignity, empowerment and economic justice in addition to light that will pass through that little lens that restores vision to millions.
Hannah Goldshlack-Wolf, Kirshbaum Associates Inc, http://www.kirshbaumassociates.com/, +1 2122224843, [email protected]
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