Two orchestras, one in New York State and one Vermont, have announced separate programs that reach out to senior citizens in their communities. New York’s Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes will offer the fourth year of its “Send-a-Senior” program, allowing senior citizens who normally could not afford to attend OSFL concerts the chance to attend for free. The program is funded through donations from area businesses; OSFL reports that the program has been gaining momentum, and that last season’s donations allowed seventeen senior citizens to attend its concerts. The orchestra, which performs in Elmira and Corning, New York, will play four programs during the 2009-10 season, beginning with an October 10 concert at the Clemens Center in Elmira. Vermont Symphony Orchestra Principal Viola Harold Lieberman will give free concerts in five Vermont dementia facilities from September 25 to October 4, which coincides with the VSO’s “Made in Vermont Music Festival” tour of performances around the state. At the free concerts, Lieberman will give a brief talk and perform Bach’s Fifth Suite, Vieuxtemps’s Capriccio, and Fuchs’s Sonata Pastorale; he is offering the performances in memory of his father, who died of Alzheimer’s disease several years ago.
Posted September 25, 2009
