Me2/Burlington Presents Benefit Concert for Josh's House
Concert features the debut of new Music Director & Conductor Michael Colburn
The Me2/Burlington orchestra will give a benefit concert for Josh's House on Tuesday, November 1 at 8:00 pm at the Elley-Long Music Center at Saint Michael's College. The hour-long program includes great orchestral music, brief mental health testimonies from the musicians, and a Q&A session with the audience. The event is free, with audience members encouraged to make donations to the Josh Pallotta Fund. All funds raised will support the operation of Josh's House, a wellness and recreation center in Fort Ethan Allen that supports the mental health of Veterans and active-duty Service Members.
Me2/ ("me, too") is the world's only classical music organization created for musicians living with mental illness and the people who support them. Nearly half of the members of Me2/Burlington's orchestra have a diagnosis such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, addiction, borderline personality disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder. Other musicians may not have a diagnosis themselves, but they join Me2/ to use their musical skills to further the organization's social mission: to erase the stigma surrounding mental illness. There is no audition and no fee required to join the orchestra.
This performance marks the debut of Michael Colburn as Music Director & Conductor of Me2/Burlington. Colburn and his wife are native Vermonters who recently returned to the state. Colburn most recently served as Director of Bands at Butler University. Prior to that, he served for 27 years in "The President's Own" United States Marine Band, where he held a variety of positions including Principal Euphonium (1991-1996), Assistant Director (1996-2004), and Director (2004-2014). As Director, Colburn was music advisor to White House and regularly conducted the Marine Band and Chamber Orchestra at the Executive Mansion and at the Presidential Inaugurations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He was promoted to Colonel by President Bush in a private Oval Office ceremony in 2007, and in 2014 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal by Gen James Amos, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and the Medal of Honor by the Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic Board of Directors.
The music to be performed includes Copland's "Prairie Night" and "Celebration Dance" from Billy the Kid, selections from Bernstein's West Side Story, and The Stars & Stripes Forever by John Philip Sousa.
For more information about this performance, please contact Me2/ at (802) 238-8369 or info@me2music.org.
Contact: Caroline Whiddon, Executive Director Phoenix Crockett, Managing Director cell phone: 802-238-8369