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Community Corner

11th Annual Music to Cure MS Benefit Concert

A wonderful cast of musicians, many of whom you may recognize from companies such as Longwood Opera, will present Music to Cure MS, an annual benefit concert of opera, songs, and chamber music to support the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, on Sunday, October 27th, 2013 from 3:00 – 5:00 PM at Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington, MA.  Tickets for this benefit concert can be purchased in advance for $20 or at the door for $25 ($10 for MSers, students, MIT staff, and elders).  A raffle will be held at intermission and refreshments will be sold to further support the cause.  Those who wish to support the efforts of concert organizer Marion Leeds Carroll and her fellow musicians but are unable to attend this benefit will find a link to the Music to Cure MS fundraising page (http://acceleratedcure.donorpages.com/MusictoCureMS2013) at the top of the Music to Cure MS website: www.singtocurems.org/2013/program.shtml.

Music to Cure MS is the brain child of Ms. Carroll, a former opera singer and stage director who was diagnosed with MS in 1988.  Ms. Carroll heard about the Accelerated Cure Project in 2002 and decided to use her own skill-set to bring opportunities to her own world: classical music.  The first fundraising concerts she organized were called "Sing to Cure MS", but it soon became clear that musicians other than singers were eager to take part and thus the broader name was adopted.

Now in its 11th year, this year’s program is planned to include selections spanning from the operatic repertoire (Bizet’s Carmen, Verdi’s Macbeth, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ponchielli’s La Gioconda, Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur, and Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte) to works by Bach, Brel, Brahms, Wolf, Schubert, Wildhorn & Knighton, and Rodgers & Hammerstein. 

This year’s performers include contralto Elizabeth Anker; sopranos Karen Amlaw, Sangeetha Vandeyar Appavoo, Marion Leeds Carroll, Laura Hansen, Alyssa Koogler, Julie Poole Martini, Kimberly States, and Sonya Taaffe; mezzo-sopranos Kate Meifert, Sophie Michaux and Janine Waneé; tenor Ethan Butler; baritones Tom Frates and Miles Rind; violinist Jagan-Nath Khalsa and his chamber ensemble Seele Musicale; and accompanists James Hay and Mark McNeill.  Lyman Opie will return as the Master of Ceremonies for the program.  

For the second straight year internationally acclaimed soprano Barbara Quintiliani will be a featured artist on the program.  This year she will be joined by baritone Patrick Marques in a duet from Verdi’s Il Trovatore.  Ms. Quintiliani and Mr. Marques, along with their accompanist S. Robert Schroeder will be appearing courtesy of Personaggi. 

Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to curing MS by determining its causes.  Its major success so far is the creation of a large-scale, multidisciplinary MS Repository of blood samples and data from people with MS and matched controls. With the help of funds raised by efforts like Music to Cure MS, samples are being collected at sites across the United States.  These samples are currently being used by over 25 studies investigating the causes of MS. In exchange for access to the repository, researchers agree to return the data they generate from the samples so that results from disparate experiments can be combined.  

For more information about• The Accelerated Cure Project call (781) 487-0008 or visit www.acceleratedcure.org• Music to Cure MS visit www.singtocurems.org or contact Ms. Leeds Carroll at cure@leedscarroll.com• Ms. Quintiliani visit www.personaggimanagement.com/barbara-quintiliani-biography.  To hear about her life with MS visit www.vimeo.com/41158202 and www.vimeo.com/41733583.

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