Friday, May 31, 2013

Slavyanka "Roots & Branches" concerts

Listen for Life recommends for this weekend 
(Friday May 31st, Saturday June 1st, Sunday June 2nd):



Slavyanka Celebrates 34th Anniversary with special “Roots and Branches” concert series!
Slavyanka’s exciting new Artistic Director Irina Shachneva has created an fascinating program titled “Roots and Branches” that will feature a wide range of new choral pieces for Slavyanka,-- from ancient chants to modern works by Rachmaninoff and Stravinsky and including the American premier of “Death and Life” by contemporary Moscow composer Valery Kalistratov.

Concert Dates and Locations:

  • Friday, May 31, 8 PM, St. Marks Episcopal Church, 600 Colorado Street, PALO ALTO
  • Saturday, June 1, 7:30 PM, Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian Church, 49 Knox Drive, LAFAYETTE
  • Sunday, June 2, 4 PM, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 240 Tiburon Blvd, TIBURON

Tickets available online, and at the door. Advance price $5 less!

Thursday, May 30, 2013

"Unlikely leaders", unite....


On this date - May 30th - in 1431, a young girl named Joan of Arc (or Jeanne d'Arc) was burned at the stake for being a heretic and revolutionary of sorts, after devoting her energy and passion in a courageous commitment to defend her people and culture against British invaders who were robbing her countrymen of their livestock and livelihoods. She was a very unlikely leader because she was poor, female and powerless in the eyes of the world that she knew - and yet, her own passion inspired all people to realize the oppression they were living under, and "armies" of people followed her lead and changed the culture for future generations in France.
Joan of Arc (image from Wikipedia)
I have always felt that Jeanne d'Arc is a great "role model" or "mascot" for all of our Listen for Life team members who share a passionate commitment to 1) defending the equal opportunity and presence of all nourishing music genres and styles on our global media channels/formats and 2) preserving music cultures by helping the music masters who have given their lives to a study of their traditions/instruments, but now struggle to support their families and villages.

Listen for Life is not a powerful media corporation and we are simply a global family of music listeners, performers, educators, and producers, working together to encourage people in all countries to be aware of the present situation in global music production, vs the inspiring music choices they could be making to enrich their lives......We are a global non-profit supported by donors and the work of volunteers - yet, we have so far managed to impact over 10 million individual lives of music listeners in 55 countries through our outreach projects, educational products, live cross-cultural programs, and unique music-media productions (400 hours of them and counting, to be exact.....)...

We hope Joan of Arc would be proud. And we invite all of you to join our "Global Band of Musicians"  - to inspire musicians to give of their highest potential and encourage listeners to change the channel - wherever they are.