Benefit Concert For Columbus Children Foundation Comes to Duke Energy Center

"A Tempo, Il Soldato & Friends" global benefit tour will make a special stop in Raleigh for a memorable evening in support of the Columbus Children Foundation. Proceeds from the Nov. 7 concert will benefit the organization's mission to advance effective therapies to help children suffering from ultra-rare and life-threatening neurodegenerative diseases.

Tickets on sale now at Ticketmaster or by calling: 800-745-3000.

"The Columbus Children Foundation is pleased to bring these exceptional Spanish musicians to North Carolina for a rare performance," said Javier Garcia, founder of the Columbus Children Foundation. "There is a harmony and universal language shared between music and medical discovery, and we are fortunate to intertwine the two in order to advance therapies for children suffering from rare diseases."

The Raleigh performance marks the launch of the Columbus Children Foundation, the United States arm of Fundación Columbus, a global children's charity. Raleigh is one of only three scheduled concerts in the United States for these Spanish artists, all of who have graciously dedicated their art to the cause.

The concert begins at 7:30 PM in the A.J. Fletcher Opera Theater of the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts. María José Montiel (mezzo-soprano), Ángel Luis Quintana (cellist) and Laurence Verna (lead pianist) will play alongside special guest, pianist Toni Pearson, Director of the Cerebral Palsy Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital. The artists will perform music from Spanish composers, Falla and Montsalvatge, and French music including the favorite arias from Samson and Delilah and Carmen. Prior to the performance, there is a Spanish Cava Reception for VIP ticket holders, starting at 6:00 PM in the lobby of Raleigh Memorial Auditorium.

A highlight of the evening, Quintana will play the coveted Il Soldato, a magnificent cello with a rich history dating back to 1800, and now owned by Fundación Columbus. This crown jewel has been owned by one master cellist after the next, passed from generation to generation since 1920. In 2016, the famous Dutch cellist Herre-Jan Stegenga awarded Quintana, first cello of the Spanish National Orchestra, as the next gifted artist to carry on this celebrated tradition.

The global benefit concert tour "A Tempo, Il Soldato & Friends" kicked off late last year in Valencia, Spain and was followed by a performance in Barcelona in early 2018. Additional concert stops are planned for Moscow, Russia (September 27), Washington, DC (November 12), Naples, Florida (November 16), and San Sebastian, Spain (January 28, 2019).

About the Columbus Children Foundation

Our mission is to accelerate access to the most advanced and effective therapies to treat children diagnosed with ultra-rare neurodegenerative disease. At the Columbus Children Foundation, we are deeply driven by the urgency to improve the quality of life for children with life-threatening illness. For more information, visit ColumbusChildrenFoundation.org

About the Artists

Spanish mezzo-soprano Maria José Montiel's talent for taking on all types of repertoire and making them her own is well known. In recent years, her voice has caressed some of the most emblematic opera roles in her register, such as Carmen (awarded the Premio Teatro Campoamor for her interpretation), Dalila, Charlotte, Amneris, Leonora, Neris, Federica and La Cieca. A great specialist in the Lied repertoire, Montiel has recorded for the labels Deutsche Grammophon, Dial, BIS, RTVE, Ensayo, Fundación Autor and Stradivarius. Her CD 'Modinha' was nominated for a Latin Grammy Award. In 2015, María José Montiel was awarded the National Music Prize by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport.

Ángel Luis Quintana was born in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria where he began his musical studies with Maestros Jaimez Medina and J.A. García, then continued his training in Madrid with E. Correa. He has won various national contests (Musical Youth, Directorate General of Music and Theater) and participates in prestigious Chamber Cycles with groups such as Ensemble Plural, Zarabanda, and Camerata Sa Nostra. Currently, Luis is a soloist and first cello of the Spanish National Orchestra, Professor at the Conservatori Superior de Musica del Liceu in Barcelona, and Guest Professor of the Rotterdam Conservatory.

Laurence Verna graduated from the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where she was honored with two extraordinary awards. She then moved to Austria with a scholarship from the French Ministry of Culture to perfect her piano studies and Lied accompaniment at the Musikhochschule in Vienna. She worked as Repertoire Professor at the Atelier Lyrique de l'Opera National de Paris and the Vienna Musikhochschule, and later moved to Madrid where she held the position of Head Choir Pianist at Madrid's Royal Opera House for ten years. In 1994 she received the Andrés Segovia-José Miguel Ruiz Morales Award, and in 1995 she was honored with the prestigious Joaquín Rodrigo Award.

Dr. Toni Pearson, special performance guest, is a pediatric neurologist with specialty training in pediatric movement disorders. She received her medical degree from the University of Adelaide in South Australia, and completed residency training in Pediatrics at the Children's Hospital at Westmead in Sydney and at the Montreal Children's Hospital. She then moved to New York, where she completed a residency in Child Neurology and a fellowship in Movement Disorders at Columbia University. Her fellowship training also included laboratory research experience in the field of human motor control, using non-invasive techniques of quantitative movement analysis to study motor learning. She was awarded an American Academy of Neurology Foundation clinical research training fellowship in 2009 to study mechanisms of motor learning and recovery in children. In addition, she is a trained classical pianist and has performed with solists and orchestras in Australia and around the world.

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