In Wednesday’s (1/11) Christian Science Monitor, Molly Driscoll writes, “When Julie Leven and her musician friends prepare to play classical music at the Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women in Boston, they noticed that everyone looks tired. Discussion and therapy sessions take place right before Ms. Leven and her fellow musicians perform. The sessions can leave the women at the center drained. But once the music starts, that changes. ‘It’s like watering a flower,’ she says. ‘They come to life.’ Leven, the founder, executive director, and artistic director of Shelter Music Boston, performs at the Kitty Dukakis Treatment Center for Women and the Shattuck Shelter—both in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood and both part of the organization hopeFound—once a month with two other musicians. … Leven is a violinist, a member of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, and a member of Boston Baroque, the professional ensemble for Boston University’s Historical Performance Program. …Violinist Julia McKenzie and violinist Rebecca Strauss play with Leven at the shelters every month. … The fact that she and the other two musicians keep returning has played a large part in winning over their audiences, Leven says.”
Posted January 12, 2012
