‘Local Arts for Little Hearts’ Benefit Concert: Anne O’Byrne, Tracey Welborn & Charles Staples Come Together One Night Only on Sunday, September 16 in the Modlin Center at 4:00 p.m. to Help Honduran Children with Heart Defects.
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA – July 10, 2012 – The Friends of Barnabas Foundation and their PROJECT LITTLE HEARTS initiative dedicated to the lifesaving treatment of Honduran children with critical heart conditions is hosting the ‘Local Arts for Little Hearts’ benefit concert at the Modlin Center for the Arts, University of Richmond’s Alice Jepson Theater on Sunday, September 16th at 4pm. Tickets for this wonderful evening of music featuring a unique performance by soprano Anne O’Byrne, tenor Tracey Welborn, and pianist Charles Staples are available through the Modlin Center box office, online at www.modlin.richmond.edu or by phone at 804-289-8980 (cost $36). One hundred percent of ticket sales will benefit PROJECT LITTLE HEARTS and will serve to help fund the cardiac surgery team that will perform 25 open-heart surgeries and 40 heart catheterization procedures for children on their next trip. Tickets are scheduled to go on sale July 30.
Singing virtuosos Anne O’Byrne and Tracey Welborn and renowned pianist Charles Staples have each entertained audiences around the world but have never performed together until now. With the goal of raising much-needed funds and spotlighting an important cause, these amazing entertainers are performing this one-night-only music event which will feature popular arias and duets guaranteed to please a wide audience while showcasing their versatility and combined artistry.
Anne O’Byrne, Soprano studied at the College of Music, Dublin, and at University College Dublin, before joining the Irish Radio Chamber Choir. Anne’s performances have taken her all over the world. She has worked with many leading opera companies, singing over twenty major roles – Handel in Melbourne (Oriana in Amadigi), Mozart in Milan and the US (Pamina in The Magic Flute), Verdi in France (Gilda in Rigoletto), Puccini in England (Mimi in La Bohème), and Bizet in Ireland (Leila in The Pearlfishers) – to name but a few. Since her move to Richmond in 2002 with her husband David Fisk, the executive director of the Richmond Symphony, and their two children, Anne has performed for Virginia Opera, the Symphony, many East Coast choral societies, numerous concerts at the Cathedral, and has sung for distinguished international speakers at the Richmond Forum – including Robert Redford. Anne teaches voice, both privately and at the Academy of Music, but also continues to divide her career between Ireland, England, and the US. Recent engagements include Mozart’s C Minor Mass with the London Symphony Chorus, and a performance at Carnegie Hall with the American Youth Harp Ensemble.
Tracey Welborn is a graduate of the music department of VCU and The Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Welborn has sung with many of the major opera houses and symphony orchestras in the United States and abroad including New York City Opera, Opera de Lausanne, Opera de Geneve, Hong Kong Opera, Virginia Opera, San Francisco Symphony, BBC Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Richmond Symphony, Shinsei Symphony, and The Minnesota Orchestra.
Charles Staples has held teaching and church music positions in Alabama, New York and Texas and is currently director of music ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church in Richmond, Va. He is on the music faculties of the University of Richmond and VCU and along with practicing piano, he practices martial arts as a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. Staples has performed as soloist with both the Richmond Symphony in Liszt’s “Totentanz” and the Richmond Philharmonic in Beethoven’s “Emperor Concerto,” Rachmaninoff’s “1st and 2nd Piano Concertos” and in Tchaikovsky’s “1st Concerto.” “[He] proved yesterday to be fully up to the technical and expressive demands of the Rachmaninoff concerto … the pianist lifted more than 300 listeners out of their seats in a cheering ovation after a performance that was both bravura and lyrically sensitized.” [Richmond Times Dispatch]
ABOUT THE FRIENDS OF BARNABAS FOUNDATION: The Friends of Barnabas Foundation (FOBF) is dedicated to helping the lives and well being of Honduras’ underserved mountain families. Through PROJECT LITTLE HEARTS, children with critical heart ailments have been identified by FOBF’s eleven mountain medical mission teams, or referred to FOBF by other local agencies, non-governmental organizations, or Honduran hospitals and physicians. Although the children are dependent on US surgical teams for the surgeries, follow-up care will be provided in Honduras at the FOBF’s medical clinic.
ABOUT PROJECT LITTLE HEARTS: Approximately 50 cardiac surgeons, nurses and technicians from the USA are donating their time and expertise to enable these life-saving surgeries to be performed at an average cost of $2,500 per open heart procedure and $1050 per heart catheterization. This astonishingly cost effective approach will enable this concert to help give a future to 65 children
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For further information, please contact:
MEDIA CONTACT – Local Arts for Little Hearts Event:
Beth Noakes
804-822-2743
MEDIA CONTACT – Friends of Barnabas Foundation:
Larry Girvin
804-347-1674
CONTACT LINKS
The Friends of Barnabas Foundation – www.fobf.org
