Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 7:30pm
Music for Humanity, a narrated concert in memory of Daniel Pearl, reporter for The Wall Street Journal, will be held on Saturday, September 25, 2010 at 7:30 PM at the Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 Tenth Avenue, NYC. Admission is FREE and no tickets are required.
The concert, part of the Great Music for a Great City Series produced by Carline Stoessinger, is narrated by Harry Smith, co-anchor of The Early Show on CBS. The evening will feature the Ossia Chamber Orchestra, Orlando Alonso, conductor; with soloists Paula Robison, flute; Jesse Mills, violin;
Joel Noyes, cello; Camellia Johnson, soprano. The international program also includes performances by the Mozart Academy Ensemble, Rafi Malkiel Jazz Quintet, and the Middle East Ensemble. Speakers will include a member of Daniel Pearl’s family and Jesse Pesta from The Wall Street Journal.
Overwhelmed by this tribute concert, Danny’s parents, Ruth and Judea Pearl said, “Thank you for your concert in honor of our son, Danny and the ideals for which he stood. Your music will serve a purpose, … ringing the earth for sanity and humanity.”
The program will include:
* Vivaldi’s Concerto in B Flat for Violin, Cello and Continuo; Jesse Mills, violin; Joel Noyes, cello; Orlando Alonso, piano and conductor
* In MEMORIAM, Raffi Malkiel Quintet
* Bach’s Aria In G
* Avi Eilam Amzallag’s Mawai (New York Premiere); Paula Robison, flute
* Purcell’s When I am laid in earth; Camellia Johnson, soprano
* Barber’s Adagio for Strings
* Beethoven’s Ode to Joy
The world knows Daniel Pearl as the reporter for The Wall Street Journal who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists in Pakistan in 2002, four months after 9/11. Since then, he has been remembered as a symbol of hope: a man who built bridges between diverse cultures and a writer and gifted musician who used the power of music to promote tolerance.
Music was an essential form of expression for Pearl. As a fixture in several bands throughout the world, he improvised on the electric violin, fiddle or mandolin. A gifted writer and musician, Pearl’s aptitude for journalism became apparent as a student at Stanford University where he co-founded the student newspaper Stanford Commentary and graduated in 1985 with Phi Beta Kappa honors. In 1990, Pearl began working for The Wall Street Journal, serving as a Middle East correspondent for the newspaper’s Atlanta, Washington, and London bureaus. In 2000, he and his wife Mariane moved to Bombay where Pearl became the South Asia Bureau Chief for the Wall Street Journal. Pearl found himself on what would be his last assignment, investigating links between Al Qaeda and Pakistan’s intelligence service and funding of 9/11, when he was kidnapped in Pakistan on January 23, 2002. A militant group referring to themselves as The National Movement for the Restoration of Pakistani Sovereignty, accused Pearl of being a spy and kidnapped Pearl on his way to an interview. After several weeks without word of Pearl’s fate, his murder was confirmed on February 21, 2002.
Today, the Daniel Pearl Foundation, started by his friends and family in 2002, operates in his memory with the mission to “promote cross-cultural understanding through journalism, music, and innovative communications.”
Harry Smith joined CBS News in 1986 as a Dallas-based reporter and was named a correspondent in March 1987, reporting primarily for the CBS Evening News. From 1987 to 1996, Smith served as co-anchor of “CBS This Morning,” covering a wide range of domestic and international stories, including the Gulf War (in a month of live broadcasts from Saudi Arabia), the 1988, 1992 and 1996 Republican and Democratic National Conventions, and the Oklahoma City bombing. Smith has been an anchor of The Early Show since October 2002. He also hosts a daily radio news and analysis feature, “Just a Minute,” on the CBS News Radio Network. He serves as substitute anchor and occasional correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning and anchored and contributed to CBS News documentaries, as well as to 48 Hours.
The Ossia Chamber Orchestra is a classical music orchestra consisting of some of the finest young musicians from age 18 to 35 years old selected from the different music conservatories and music schools in New York City. The orchestra’s mission is to assist members with the financial burden of formal education by providing them with scholarships. The orchestra’s scholarship program will help significantly alleviate the financial burden of many students. As part of the scholarship program the OSO will also perform four concerts a year in important venues around the city where the musicians will have the opportunity to collaborate with renowned soloists from the classical world that will donate their time to coach and perform with the orchestra.
The Rafi Malkiel Jazz Quintet performs extensively in venues such as the 92 Street Y, The Corcoran Gallery of Arts in Washington, D.C. and The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. The group was featured in 2005 in the outreach program of the 92 Street Y performing for young audiences totaling more than 4000 students.
About John Jay College of Criminal Justice: An international leader in educating for justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York offers a rich liberal arts and professional studies curriculum to upwards of 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 135 nations. In teaching, scholarship and research, the College approaches justice as an applied art and science in service to society and as an ongoing conversation about fundamental human desires for fairness, equality and the rule of law. For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu.
For more information, visit www.jjay.cuny.edu/theater.php.
