2024 SPRING SERIES IN LITHUANIA
In May 2024, we will continue our program in the European Union with the gift of four classical music concerts to Lithuanian correctional institutions.
The series, delivered by an international team of performers – newcomers from Austria, Germany and Lithuania – will be unique. This is the first time since our inception in 2015, that we will include vocalists in the program – a soprano and a tenor.
S. Gordon Harwood, our Artist in Residence, will create paintings during each of the performances and will gift them to inmates as part of a Looking at the Stars tradition which originated with our Canadian concerts.
This will bring our Lithuanian prisons program count to 35 musical gifts in total.
Click the image below to view the upcoming musical programme.
Death of a Grand Piano
Our extraordinary team of international artists and technicians travelled to Izium, Ukraine, to record an open air performance of classical music as a gift to honour the dead and inspire the living. A stunning white grand piano is a beacon in the grey anguish of this ravaged landscape. The scarred earth is a bleak reminder of the russian invader’s attempt to subjugate the Ukrainian people. Yet Ukraine remains steadfast in their resistance.
The beautiful white grand piano did not survive the production. Moisture took its toll, as you can hear during the final musical sequences. Overcome by the pathos of the moment, the piano gave up its spirit and died. Yet the spirit of the piano lives on in this phenomenal recording of a celebration of the Ukrainian people’s courage and commitment.
Sponsored and organized by Looking at the Stars Foundation – a Canadian federal charity. (www.lookingatthestars.org) with invaluable support from All-Ukrainian Forum for Democracy (DEMFORUM) https://demforum.org/en/
New Canadian Concert Series June 10 – 12, 2023
We are continuing our work with Ukrainian refugees in Eastern Canada. On June 10 and 11 Peter Lambert will be moderating two concerts in Halifax and Moncton respectively (pianists Walter Delahunt and Anna Sagalova will present the program of western and Ukrainian composers).
The third concert of the series will take place at Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto on June 12, 2023.
https://holyblossom.org/event/mondays-in-the-mishkan-2/
Report on our Halifax event
About 100 Ukrainian refugees (some with small children) arrived in St. Andrew’s Church in Halifax this evening to enjoy the music of Bach and Chopin, gifted by the Looking at the Stars foundation.
A short presentation about our Ukrainian projects and a demo of “Chopin in Irpin” trailer was immediately followed by a Ukrainian national anthem sung emotionally and enthusiastically by everyone in the beautiful hall.
Then for about one hour one could hear the pin drop and dozens of hearts beat during the brilliant performance of the pianist Walter Delahunt.
A wonderful and grateful audience. A deeply emotional and successful event – to be remembered.
Special thanks to Peter J Lambert for moderating it, to Polina Kogan for organizing it , to Mychol Scully and Derek St. Dennis for technically supporting it.
We agreed to return to Halifax next Spring.
RECLAMATION Trailer Now Online
We’re thrilled to share this trailer from our newest video project, RECLAMATION. This documentary features parolee, James Ruston, who shares his sometimes heart-breaking but also uplifting experiences as a convict in the Canadian Federal penal system. The production is supported with amazing performances by Philip Chiu, piano, Barry Shiffman, violin and viola, and Cameron Crozman, cello. You can read all about it here.
This production is the first in a planned series of portraits of inmates and parolees who have experienced classical music performances at Looking at the Stars events.
The generous support of donors like you, without any institutional, corporate or government funding, enables us to operate. We need it in order to continue creating these documentaries and sharing these stories. Please visit our donation management partner, CanadaHelps. Thank you for your time and attention.
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