San Francisco, California, July 30, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Swords to Plowshares is proud to host our 3rd Annual Summer Solstice Symphony Concert taking place on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, at the Wilsey Center for Opera in the San Francisco War Memorial Veterans Building.
Summer Solstice Symphony Concert
Wednesday, July 31, 2019; 6:00 PM-8:45 PM
6:00 PM - Reception
7:15 PM – Performance
Wilsey Center for Opera, 4th Floor
401 Van Ness Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102
The concert will be a joyous evening of music by Symphonia Caritas, a professional orchestra that plays to improve the lives of those in need. Our partner, Symphonia Caritas, is led by conductor Paul Schrage and backed by a chamber orchestra of professional musicians. The program will also include selections performed by accomplished soprano soloist Ellen Leslie, a two-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera Council Auditions in the San Francisco District (2016, 2018). The performance will include Beethoven’s Symphony 5, “Je veux vivre,” “Mi chiamano Mimi,” “Quando m’en vo,” “Intermezzo” from Cavalleria Rusticana, “Mein Herr Marquis,” and “O Mio Babbino Caro.”
“My wife and I,” said Paul Schrage, musical director of Symphonia Caritas, “are deeply grateful to the veterans who have sacrificed for our protection and defense. With veterans constituting an outsized proportion of the overall homeless population, we are proud to partner with Swords to Plowshares to raise money to help prevent and end homelessness and poverty among all veterans in need.”
“The services that we offer empower veterans to live meaningful and productive lives. Thanks to our sponsors and community partners like Symphonia Caritas, the funds raised from our Summer Solstice Symphony Concert will go to supporting San Francisco’s most vulnerable veterans. Without community partners like Symphonia Caritas, our work would not be possible,” said Michael Blecker, Swords to Plowshares’ executive director.
All proceeds from the event will go to support Swords to Plowshares’ critical services to the nearly 3,000 San Francisco Bay Area veterans served annually.
Sponsors of our 3rd Annual Summer Solstice Symphony Concert include: PayPal; Pinterest; JP Morgan Chase & Co.; Cahill Contractors, Inc.; Nonstop Wellness; Saida + Sullivan Design Partners; Edelman; Signature Bank; Rainbow Grocery; SF Giants; John Marquez; Paul Cox & Margo Schueler; Kate Richardson; Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects; Thirty-Seven Wines; Whole Foods; 21st Amendment Brewery; Dropbox; and Northern Lights.
About Swords to Plowshares:
Founded in 1974, Swords to Plowshares is a community-based not-for-profit organization that provides counseling and case management, rapid re-housing and eviction prevention services, employment and training, supportive housing, and legal benefits assistance for low-income, homeless, and at-risk veterans in the San Francisco Bay Area. Swords to Plowshares promotes and protects the rights of veterans through advocacy and public education, and partner with local, state, and national entities. Learn more about the work of Swords to Plowshares, and ways you can help, by visiting our website at http://www.stp-sf.org.
About Symphonia Caritas:
Symphonia Caritas was born in early 2015 with a benefit concert for the Lima Center, a daytime homeless shelter in San Francisco. The idea was simple: hire great musicians, put on a great concert, and raise more money than it cost to produce the concert. Since that first concert, Symphonia Caritas has continued to raise money in benefit concerts, as well as expanded its mission to include free concerts directly for the underserved. To learn more, visit https://symphoniacaritas.org/home.
Attachment