The Akron Symphony Orchestra (ASO) will participate in Orchestras Feeding America, the first national food drive by America’s symphony orchestras. The Akron Symphony’s musicians, staff members, and volunteers will collect non-perishable food items at the March 14 and March 29 concerts in the lobbies of E.J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron.
The food will be donated to the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank. For information about the types of food that can be accepted go to AkronSymphony.org/fooddrive. Those who donate will receive a special $5.00 coupon good toward a future Akron Symphony ticket purchase.
To date, nearly 300 orchestras have come together to combat hunger in their communities through Orchestras Feeding America, and the number of participants is growing daily. The project will take place in March and April, and is organized by the League of American Orchestras, which represents the nation’s professional, volunteer, and youth orchestras, and Feeding America’s network of over 200 food banks and 63,000 agencies. The drive was inspired by the true story of the upcoming film The Soloist.
Said Akron Symphony Executive Director Margo Snider, “I think it’s a great gesture that when so many of the non-profits, particularly orchestras, are facing their own crises, that we still care enough about humanity in general to do what we can to see that everyone has food on the table.”
The first ASO concert in March is Beethoven 7th on Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m.
In addition to Beethoven’s buoyant 7th Symphony, guest conductor Daniel Hege (making his Akron debut) will lead the orchestra through Michael Daugherty’s Red Cape Tango—the final movement in the composer’s musical tribute to comic legend Superman and his ultimate fight to the death with the villain Doomsday.
Other works on the program include Berlioz’s Rob Roy Overture and Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat: 2nd suite. Tickets for Beethoven 7th are available now by calling the Akron Symphony ticket office at 330-535-8131 or online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets start at just $20. Student rush seating is available for $5 starting at 7:30 p.m.
The second March concert is the Symphony’s final Odyssey concert of the 2008-2009 season, Fiddle Madness, on Sunday, March 29 at 3 p.m. Thorough this unique concert, audiences will discover how the violin has endured to become part of the musical cultures of so many around the world, from the fiddle to the Stradivarius.
Led by Akron Symphony Associate Conductor Christopher James Lees, Fiddle Madness will feature a number of guest artists performing with the orchestra including Steven Greenman, internationally recognized as one of the finest practitioners of traditional East European Jewish klezmer violin; Marlene Moses and the Western Reserve Suzuki School; and “The World’s Best Young Violinist” 14-year old phenom Chad Hoopes. Tickets for Fiddle Madness are also on sale now by calling the Akron Symphony ticket office or online at Ticketmaster.com. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for children under 12.
One in eight Americans is at risk of hunger. According to the USDA, there are 36 million people at risk of hunger in the U.S.; 12 million of them are children. In December 2008, Feeding America conducted a survey of 160 food banks nationwide – the results were troubling, with food banks reporting a 30 percent increase in demand for emergency food assistance, compared to one year ago.
The Soloist, starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey, Jr., directed by Joe Wright, will be released by Paramount Pictures to theaters nationwide on April 24. A Dreamworks Pictures/Universal Pictures presentation in association with Studio Canal and Participant Media, the film is based on the true story of the relationship between Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers, a gifted Juilliard-trained string player whose mental illness landed him among the homeless on the streets of Los Angeles. The relationship has expanded to include staff and musicians of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Soloist, which also features the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is a testament to the redemptive power of music and a reminder of our connections to the most vulnerable among us.
