SoBe Arts To Perform Free Daniel Pearl Memorial Concert 10/15

SoBe Institute of the Arts will dedicate its upcoming October 15th concert as part of the annual International Daniel Pearl World Music Days. This annual event brings together thousands around the world under the theme of "Harmony for Humanity" to celebrate the power of music to bring people together and focus on the brotherhood of man rather than the differences that set us apart.

Daniel Pearl World Music Days started in 2002 to honor the birthday of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, an accomplished musician who was murdered by Muslim extremists in Pakistan in 2002.

SoBe Arts' Executive Artistic Director Carson Kievman extends an invitation to all community members to "join us in using the universal language of music to promote tolerance, diminish hatred, respect differences and raise awareness of our common humanity. The selections of our concert convey a message of hope, strength and reflection to make the world a kinder, better, more beautiful place."

This event will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, October 15 that the Little Stage Theater on the SoBe Arts campus, 2100 Washington Street, Miami Beach. It is free and open to the general public. Free parking is available in the lot between the Miami Beach Convention Center and the 21st Street Recreation Center.

Sopranos Rebekah Diaz, Lissette Jimenez, baritone Graham Fandrei and pianist Robert Chumbley will perform music by a wide range of composers, including:
Kindertotenlieder (composer, Gustav Mahler) Selections from this uplifting song cycle reflecting on loss and death as inevitable parts of life, in which Mahler offers comfort, solace and friendship to those who have ever been sad, or distraught, or in despair, or disappointed.
May Rain (composer Lou Harrison), based on a poem by Elsa Gidlow, the herald of the contemporary women's spirituality movement. Its timbre, rhythm and the sense of space in its melodic lines emphasize the cosmic elements that unify all humankind.
Marietta's Lied (composer, Erich Korngold) from the opera Die tote Stadt, which resonates with the theme of overcoming the loss of a loved one. It was written to address audiences of the 1920s who had just come through the trauma and grief of World War I, and is equally poignant in the context of this performance.
Love Duet and I Spoke the Word So Softly from the opera Hidden Jewel (music by Robert Chumbley, libretto by Ruth Hart), a love story set in Nazi-occupied France during World War II which addresses racial warfare in the second half of the twentieth century.
Somewhere and Tonight (music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim) from West Side Story. Powerfully championing love and hope that cross racial/ethnic barriers, these pieces have an emotional veracity that captured the imagination of a nation in the 1960's and still rings true in today's world.
About SoBe Institute of the Arts (SoBe Arts):

The mission of SoBe Institute of the Arts, a nonprofit organization, is to promote excellence, creativity, and accessibility of the arts through performance events and arts instruction of the highest quality, in music and related artistic disciplines. Since its founding five years ago, SoBe Arts has established a unique arts complex in the historic Carl Fisher Clubhouse and adjoining Little Stage Theater, located in a park-like setting between the Miami Beach Botanical Garden and the Miami City Ballet.

The 2011/12 season is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners, the City of Miami Beach, the Cultural Arts Council of Miami Beach, the Woodruff Family Foundation, the Horowitz Family Foundation and the Leroy Schecter Foundation.

For additional information on Daniel Pearl World Music Days, please visit www.danielpearlmusicdays.org. For more information on the Daniel Pearl Foundation see www.danielpearl.org.