This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Music to Cure MS 2012

Internationally acclaimed soprano Barbara Quintiliani to join efforts of area musicians to help raise funds to support the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis


A wonderful cast of musicians, organized by Marion Leeds Carroll, will present Music to Cure MS, an annual benefit concert of opera, songs, and chamber music to support the Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, on Sunday, October 28th from 3:00 – 5:00 PM at Park Avenue Congregational Church in Arlington, MA.  Tickets for this benefit concert can be purchased in advance for $20 or at the door for $25 ($10 for MSers, students, MIT staff, and elders).  A raffle will be held at intermission and refreshments will be sold to further support the cause.  Those who wish to support the efforts of Ms. Carroll and her fellow musicians but are unable to attend this benefit will find a link to Ms. Carroll’s Music to Cure MS fundraising page (www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/marion-carroll/musictocurems2012) below the artists section of the Music to Cure MS website: www.singtocurems.org/2012/program.html.



Music to Cure MS is the brain child of Marion Leeds Carroll, a former opera singer and stage director who was diagnosed with MS in 1988.  Ms. Carroll heard about the Accelerated Cure Project in 2002 and decided to use her own skill-set to bring opportunities to her own world: classical music.  The first fundraising concerts she organized were called "Sing to Cure MS", but it soon became clear that musicians other than singers were eager to take part and thus the broader name was adopted.

Find out what's happening in Watertownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.



Now in its 10th year, this year’s program is planned to include selections spanning from the operatic repertoire (Bizet’s Carmen, Dvořák’s Rusalka, Puccini’s La Bohème, Handel’s Giulio Cesare, Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Boito’s Mefistofele, Offenbach’s Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Gounod’s Faust and Roméo et Juliette  and Verdi’s Aida and Rigoletto) to works by Britten, Monquet, Debussy, Fauré, and Vaughan Williams to Cole Porter’s I love Paris and Johnton & Burke’s Pennies from Heaven, as well as a world premiere of Pong, a flute duet by James Ricci.



This year’s performers include sopranos Karen Amlaw, Sangeetha Vandeyar Appavoo, Marion Leeds Carroll, Laura Hansen, Julie Poole Martini, Sara Michale Smith, Kimberly States, Sonya Taaffe, Janine Waneé, and Megan Welker; mezzo-sopranos Sophie Michaux and  Amanda Sindel-Keswick; flautists Mies Boet, Willemien Insinger and Elke Jahns; violinist Jagan-Nath Khalsa; and accompanists Joseph Turbessi, Joseph Reid, and Daniel Padgett.  Lyman Opie will return as the Master of Ceremonies for the program.  Internationally acclaimed soprano Barbara Quintiliani will be joining the program as a featured artist.  Ms. Quintiliani will be appearing courtesy of Personaggi.

Find out what's happening in Watertownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.



Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to curing MS by determining its causes.  Its major success so far is the creation of a large-scale, multidisciplinary MS Repository of blood samples and data from people with MS and matched controls. With the help of funds raised by efforts like Music to Cure MS, samples are being collected at sites across the United States.  These samples are currently being used by over 25 studies investigating the causes of MS. In exchange for access to the repository, researchers agree to return the data they generate from the samples so that results from disparate experiments can be combined.


For more information about
• The Accelerated Cure Project call (781) 487-0008 or visit www.acceleratedcure.org
• Internationally acclaimed soprano Barbara Quintiliani visit www.personaggimanagement.com/barbara-quintiliani-biography
• Music to Cure MS visit www.singtocurems.org or contact Marion Leeds Carroll at cure@leedscarroll.com

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Watertown