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January 15, 2010
Musical interfaith event
David Cohen gets idea for concert from N.Y.
REBECA KUROPATWA
About seven years ago, Winnipeg’s David Cohen and his wife, Maureen, went to New York for their winter vacation, where he connected with an old schoolmate.
“This schoolmate suggested that we go with him to a concert on New Year’s Eve, at a church,” said Cohen. “I kibitzed with him about how we, two nice Jewish boys from Winnipeg’s North End, are celebrating New Year’s in a church, but he insisted ... and I’m glad he did.”
The three went to St. John the Divine, a church on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, for its annual New Year’s Eve Concert for Peace. Cohen found the experience to be “truly extraordinary and very uplifting. When we walked out at the end of the evening, I turned to Maureen and said, ‘Why don’t we have this type of an event in Winnipeg?’”
As it turns out, thanks to Cohen and many supporting organizations and individuals, Winnipeg celebrated its fifth annual, free New Year’s Eve Concert for Hope and Peace on Dec. 31 at the city’s Westminster United Church. In 2009, as in previous years, the concert was sold out, with approximately 900 attendees.
“Attending the New York concert made me reflect on how fortunate I am to live in a wonderful country like Canada,” said Cohen. “Winnipeg’s concert gives people the opportunity to enjoy wonderful music, celebrate life in Canada and the immigrant experience. Wishes of hope and peace are common, universal threads for everyone.”
When Cohen first had the idea of bringing the concert to Winnipeg, he was serving as the executive director of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba. The Manitoba Foundations Council is the umbrella organization for all the major funders in the city, who meet once or twice yearly to discuss funding and ways to work together. Cohen raised the concert idea with the council and, he said, “They loved it. Its main selling feature was that it would be free and the location would be inner city-focused.”
Some of the community partners who helped make the concert admission free are the Winnipeg Foundation, Jewish Foundation of Manitoba, Asper Foundation, Assiniboine Credit Union, Investors Group and United Way of Winnipeg. Beaver Bus Lines provided buses and drivers to bring up to 150 attendees from the Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council’s Welcome Place Residence to and from the concert.
“This concert has captured the imagination of the public, and of the private and public foundations that support it,” said Harvey Secter of the Jewish Foundation of Manitoba and chancellor of the University of Manitoba. “It provides a forum for individuals and brings together the whole Winnipeg community. I’ve yet to meet anyone who’s attended who hasn’t enjoyed themselves thoroughly.”
Having been the concert chair since the event’s inception five years ago, Cohen handed the reigns for this year’s event over to a fellow founding committee member, Valerie McPherson.
“Concert organizers are like-minded individuals from diverse social and cultural backgrounds who believe the shared experience of listening to beautiful, evocative music gives people from all walks of life the chance to celebrate the past and look forward to the future,” said McPherson. “At every concert, as people walk through the door, there’s a feeling of good. It’s New Year’s Eve, they’re warm, safe, and are about to enjoy a wonderful concert with family, friends and strangers.”
Between each of the musical performances, selected Winnipeg schoolchildren appeared on stage to talk about their lives in Canada. “Some have come from war-torn countries, where they’ve witnessed violence, and even death of family and friends,” said McPherson. “Others have experienced the challenges of living in poverty in Winnipeg’s inner city. They all provide an inspiring message of hope and optimism.”
She added, “I sincerely hope everyone who attends the concert is touched by the experience and [is] reminded of how many parts of the world don’t enjoy the peace and hope we experience in Canada.”
Geleta Gurmu, a Grade 5 student who arrived in Canada from Ethiopia in 2008, said, “We left Africa because of the fighting. People burned down our home and we had to sleep outside. Here, we feel safe. Coming to Canada saved my life.”
Fred Penner, a family entertainer and humanitarian, was this year’s concert emcee. Other headlining performers included 15-year-old singer Andrea Macasaet, the Celtic-roots Franco-Manitoban band Bandaline, dancers of the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble and Jazz on Wheels, founded and led by the director of the University of Manitoba’s jazz studies, Steve Kirby. For more information on the concert, visit hopeandpeaceconcert.ca.
Rebeca Kuropatwa is a Winnipeg freelance writer.
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