Hope for Haiti charity
April 19, 2011 by Maria
Filed under Best Charities, Clubs & Associations, International and Highlights
This charity project is focusing on the reconstruction phase after the devastating earthquake of 2010 which has cost many lives and almost completely destroyed whole villages along the West Coast.
Please help us help them: Friends of Paradis des Indiens, Inc. is a volunteer organization.
Our goal is to raise the funds necessary to carry out many projects. The funds raised by the Foundation will help pay for:
* Medical supplies and equipment for the infirmary
* Laptops for the computer center
* Educational programs for children in 12 schools including meals, supplies, uniforms, vocational training, reforestation and scholarships.
* School payroll and teacher training, including teacher’s, and principal’s salaries, manual skills course monitors, supervisors, cooks, maintenance personnel, etc.
* Expansion of existing schools and construction of new schools as needed
* Artisan and crafts workshops including: embroidery, ceramic, wood, dry fruits, and beekeeping.
* Modernization of agricultural programs through the grafting of existing trees.
* Reforestation and establishment of protected green areas planted with trees endemic to Grand’Anse, Haiti.
The Friends of Paradis des Indiens, Inc. is a US based non-profit organization whose mission is to support the schools and projects of Grand’ Anse, Haiti. The organization’s goal is to create an empowered, self-sufficient community by raising funds to support education, work and modernization of the existing resources of the region.
Paradis des Indiens in Abricots is a humanitarian organization created to combat illiteracy, through the implementation of educational programs that not only facilitate learning but also impart real life skills to both children and adults in Abricots, Haiti.
The mission of the organization in Abricots, Haiti, is primarily to educate, but the goal is to empower the people of Abricots to achieve both financial independence and self-sufficiency through entrepreneurial development.
A Honeymoon Weekend for Pipe Organ Lovers: Two Great Dedications, March 26-27
March 26, 2011 by admin
Filed under Best Arts & Culture, Best Events, Highlights
Vienna’s Oldest Pipe Organ Rises Again
Organ at the Franciscan Church
Built 43 years before Johann Sebastian Bach was born, the Franciscan church’s 1642 Wöckherl organ is the oldest organ in Vienna. The Baroque instrument had survived years of intense international conflict–from the Thirty Years’ War through World War II–only to fade into silence.
Following a restoration costing 1.3 million euros, the organ will sound again tomorrow morning. The head of the Franciscan order, Auxiliary Bishop Franz Lackner, will direct the special 10:00 service to return the Wöckherl to its rightful position as a cornerstone of the city’s musical life.
The Wöckherl is notable not only for its beautiful sound and exceptional longevity, but for its distinctive ornamental design and sumptuous surroundings. Although the Franciscan church has a Renaissance exterior, its interior is unmistakably Baroque. There is, accordingly, something of a time-travel fantasy involved in hearing the nearly 500-year-old organ now. Because it still stands in the building for which it was constructed, the Wöckherl presents an opportunity to hear Baroque music on a Baroque instrument in a Baroque interior–as a Baroque audience would have heard it! This provides an extraordinary opportunity for historians, artists, and music lovers alike.
There will be three additional presentations concerning the organ beginning at 11:30, March 26. A lavish
ly illustrated 76-page guide will be available. Weekly Friday concerts at 3:00 p.m. have also been announced, in recognition of the role of this historic instrument in the artistic community.
Funding for the restoration was supplied by the Franciscans, the Archdiocese of Vienna, the City of Vienna, and the Federal Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture.
More events involving Vienna’s exceptional pipe organs will be available in the future at www.orgelmusik-wien.at.
March 26: 10:00 Dedication Mass for the Franciscan Church’s Wöckherl Organ/11:30 Organ Presentations
Musikverein’s 200th Anniversary Celebrated with Organ Dedication
Organist and composer Martin Haselböck has praised the instrument as the “Ferrari of organs”…
Musikverein Organ
On Saturday, March 26, the new organ of the Musikverein will be inaugurated in an 11:00 concert featuring Martin Haselböck, Peter Planyavsky, Ludger Lohmann, Gillian Weir, and Olivier Latry. The concert is part of the festivities surrounding the 200th anniversary of the Musikverein itself. The familiar golden façade of the pipes will not be the most beautiful thing in the house that day. Thanks to the long-term 1.8 million-euro organ renovation, the sound of the organ will finally outshine its visual beauty.
The Vorarlberg company Rieger has worked on the organ since last September. Organ pipes are designed for the space in which they are installed and must be heard in the space to be voiced accurately, so months were required to place and prepare the 6,138 new pipes. (The organ also retains the 33 front pipes from the Ladegast organ premiered by Anton Bruckner in 1872.) With the smallest pipe of a 3.5-millimeter diameter and the largest at a length of ten meters, tremendous care and accuracy were required.
Organ design presents unique challenges for the player, as well as the builder. This is the fourth Musikverein organ and its specifications were the work of an international organ committee. It has four manuals, eighty-six registers, and a mobile console. With the electronic sensibilities of an Android phone and the artistry of centuries of organ-building, Rieger sought to create an instrument worthy of the Musikverein’s famous acoustics while meeting the committee’s requests. Because organ performance has historically been at the mercy of period practice and instrumentation, organists have often been challenged by instruments which—on the basis of being required to do everything—did nothing well. Rather than an historic animal with an authentic Baroque or Romantic pedigree, performers often find themselves facing a “mutt from every village” (to paraphrase Peter Planyavsky) when they sit down to play. This has not been the case with this unusual instrument. New compositions were commissioned by the Musikverein even as the organ was under construction: Planyavsky’s May 16 premiere will be one of them.
The 1.8 million euro renovation was funded by Peter Puehringer and the Musikverein. In cooperation with the Federal Heritage Office, the installation also included restoration of the visual surroundings to their original conditions. Thus, the new organ provides not only a feast for the ears, but for the eyes as well.
The March 26 dedication concert will be presented live on “Radio Stephansdom” at 7:30 p.m., and will be followed by other concerts and presentations on Sunday, March 27, at 11:00 and 7:30 p.m. For further information on these inaugural concerts and ticket information, please check http://www.musikverein.at
Karen Bentley