Thursday, Feb. 27, the Sage Chamber Music Society presents Schubertiade VI: A Benefit Concert. Smith professors Joel Pitchon (violin), Volcy Pelletier (cello), and Jiayan Sun (piano), will perform works by Franz Schubert and collect donations in support of the Hubei Charity Federation.
The concert is the sixth in Sun’s “Schubertiade” series of eight concerts celebrating the music of Schubert. Sun, the Iva Dee Hiatt Visiting Artist in Piano & Lecturer in Music, has been honoring the Austrian composer in performances that started in September of last year and will continue through April.
While Thursday’s concert was always planned as part of the Schubertiade series, the recent coronavirus outbreak moved Sun, who is originally from China, to dedicate his next concert to aiding those fighting the virus in Hubei Province, China, the epicenter of the outbreak.
In recent months, the coronavirus has dominated headlines as it originated in China and then spread to other countries across the globe. According to official numbers reported in the New York Times, at the time of writing more than 82,000 people have tested positive for the virus (more than 78,000 in China alone), while at least 2,795 people have died.
When asked in an email about his decision to turn this performance into a benefit, Sun said, “As I am preparing for the upcoming Schubertiade program, the news of coronavirus outbreak has shaken me. As a teenage boy, I lived through the SARS outbreak in Beijing back in 2003. That excruciating episode left a significant imprint in my memory. Now I am far away from the center of the epidemic, but my heart is with my people in my home country.”
While the concert is free and open to the public, there will also be collections of cash donations in support of those fighting the coronavirus. All proceeds will go to the Hubei Charity Federation, a Chinese government-run organization which distributes charitable resources for the province and which now is turning its efforts toward supporting those at the epicenter of the outbreak.
By turning his performance into a benefit, Sun hopes to leverage the power of music to help support his home country.
“As people around the globe are suffering from the coronavirus outbreak and the imminent threat of the disease is spreading far and wide, music will bring us together, to help people who are in need, to support each other at the time of divide and threat.”
For this concert, Sun’s music will not only be a tribute to Schubert, but also a means of creating local and global community in the face of fear and disease.
Schubertiade VI: A Benefit Concert will be Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020 at 8pm in Sweeney Concert Hall. The event is free and open to the public, but will be accepting cash-only donations.
The Schubertiade series will continue with VII on April 2 and VIII on April 16, same time and location.
