Wesley Choral Festival to benefit Imagine No Malaria
Wesley Choral Festival to benefit Imagine No Malaria
Wesley Choral Festival to benefit Imagine No Malaria
Ibrahim Massaquoi, 4, wears a smile after 24 hours of treatment for acute malaria in the Bo Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. Through the Imagine No Malaria program, The United Methodist Church collaborated with the Sierra Leone government in June 2014 to distribute 390,000 nets in the Bo District and provide other aid.
UMNS/PHILEAUS JUSU
Ibrahim Massaquoi, 4, wears a smile after 24 hours of treatment for acute malaria in the Bo Government Hospital in Sierra Leone. Through the Imagine No Malaria program, The United Methodist Church collaborated with the Sierra Leone government in June 2014 to distribute 390,000 nets in the Bo District and provide other aid.
UMNS/PHILEAUS JUSU
Choirs and individual singers will participate in the four-day 2015 Wesley Choral Festival, May 21-24, in Washington, D.C. It will culminate with a May 23 gala concert to benefit Imagine No Malaria at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
“For the eighth year, we are excited to bring the Wesley Choral Festival to fruition,” says James Ramsey, festival founder and director of music and arts at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Highlands Ranch, Colo. Approximately 250 singers from across the United States will perform at the concert. All ticket proceeds will go to Imagine No Malaria, an initiative by The United Methodist Church to reduce preventable deaths from malaria.
“Though malaria is treatable and preventable, more than 600,000 people die each year from the disease,” Ramsey says. “Because of The United Methodist Church’s Imagine No Malaria initiative, lives are being saved and communities are being transformed through bed net distributions, health worker education and lifesaving medications and diagnostic kits.”
The varied program for the concert will include classical pieces as well as contemporary works by Aaron Copland and John Rutter, the soon-to-be published “Justice Suite” by Mark Miller and a piece by Mark Hayes, which has been commissioned for the event.
The concert will feature Ramsey as co-conductor, along with Helen Cha-Pyo, conductor of Empire State Youth Orchestras Youth Orchestra, as guest conductor.
Individuals may participate in the Wesley Festival by joining the choir, purchasing concert tickets (on sale in January) or attending as Wesley Festival pilgrims, non-performance participants who participate in festival events and activities. Find complete information at www.wesleyfestival.org or by emailing info@wesleyfestival.org or calling 480-894-3330.
Crystal Caviness, Office of Public Information, United Methodist Communications