Hear good music and support public health programs in Philadelphia

Cellist Amy Sue Barston and pianist Navah Perlman have performed in major concert venues around the world, and now they’re coming to Penn to do a fundraising concert for the Center for Public Health Initiatives (CPHI).

CPHI, the home and academic base for the Master in Public Health (MPH) degree program, is holding the benefit concert on April 28 at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts’ Harold Prince Theatre. The concert will feature selections from composers such as Chopin, Debussy and Silverman. After the performance, concertgoers are invited to a dessert reception with Barston and Perlman.

Proceeds from the concert will fund CPHI’s service programs that help Philadelphians maintain a healthy lifestyle. In one of the programs, Master of Public Health students work with 4th and 5th grade students at the Lea Elementary School to write about health issues for The Healthy Post, a newspaper distributed at the school.

Additional programs have MPH students working with recent refugees from other countries by conducting health screenings and assessments, and helping people at the Penn-assisted Sayre Health Center learn about and enroll in medical programs such as Medicare.

Both musicians, who also teach music to students of all ages, are donating their time and talents for the fundraiser. Wendy Voet, CPHI managing director, knows the muscians and says she simply asked if they would perform for the benefit concert. “They liked the mission and they wanted to help,” Voet says.

Barston, cellist of The Corigliano Quartet, has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at Carnegie Hall, Haan Hall in Jerusalem, The Banff Centre in Canada and Chicago’s Symphony Center. A Philadelphia-area resident, Barston has performed sonatas and chamber music with noted musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Jon Kimura Parker, Arnold Steinhardt, Bernard Greenhouse and Ani Kavafian.

Perlman has performed with orchestras around the world, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Barcelona Symphony Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic and Montreal Symphony. Perlman, who is the daughter of violin virtuoso Itzhak Perlman, also collaborates frequently in chamber music with violinist Giora Schmidt and cellist Zuill Bailey as the Perlman/Schmidt/Bailey Trio.

For more information about the concert and tickets, call 215-746-3467 or order tickets on the CPHI website.

Top: Pianist Navah Perlman Bottom: Cellist Amy Sue Barston