The Concert at Peace Awareness Labyrinth and Gardens on February 22nd, 2014, was a celebration of the release of the new CD Sky Watching, featuring the talents of Merrill Collins Chausseblanche on piano, and Michael Fitzpatrick on cello. Alethea Lamb joined in on clarinet for a new series of harmonic progressions, “Convergence,” intended to be vibrationally uplifting. Glorious healing music of the soul, it lifted and reawakened the senses to an inner joy.
To be moved by a musical performance, the musicians must be inside the music, attuned to it, breathing it in and out, focused on the senses or images. And when musicians and their instruments are one, the listener goes along for the ride. This concert was music that transformed and transported.
Michael’s cello sings in the range of the human voice, alternately gliding and dancing in sheer beauty. Merrill’s piano sets a tone, then goes on to explore, touching and whirling, or rocking or trilling – providing a stage for Alethea’s mellow sounds and Michael’s expert bowing.
This was a most dramatic and spell-binding production (the Grand Foyer of PALG is an excellent venue for live music of almost any kind). A whole musical cloth woven on a finely attuned loom of woods, ivory, reed and strings. If you did not have the pleasure of attending the concert, I highly recommend the CD, which can be ordered at spiralingmusic.com.
PERFORMERS
Pianist MERRILL COLLINS started playing and studying piano at age 4, and later received a full scholarship to receive her Master’s of Music Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. She has composed music for the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, UNCHR Human Rights Day, Amnesty International, United Way, Pathways to Peace, UN World Habitat Day, Earth Day. Her most recent production, Minute of Silence, was featured in three languages in the global broadcast for the International Day of Peace. Merrill is leader in the field of Peace Education using music as a tool for building global awareness of international laws and holidays. Her works were presented at the Council for the parliament of the World’s Religions, Capetown, South Africa, 1999, where her contributions were cited as “Gifts of Service to the World”. Film music credits include “Recalling a Buddha” by Greg Eller. Merrill’s music is used in hospitals on the C.A.R.E. channel and at the UCLA Center for Integrative Medicine. www.spiralingmusic.com/artists.htm#merrill
MICHAEL FITZPATRICK, Internationally renowned Cello-soloist, recording-artist, producer, filmmaker, creative director. Recipient of The Prince Charles Award for Outstanding Musicianship conferred by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. Producer of TUNING THE PLANET, the unprecedented East-West collaboration recorded and filmed inside the heart of the earth. He has collaborated musically with Nobel Peace Prize laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama for the past 18 years. Responsible for bringing together His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Muhammad Ali, performing his Invocation for World Peace for the historic Blessing of the Chamtse Ling Interfaith Temple. Mr. Fitzpatrick provided the music for the Global Summit on Peace hosted by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan at Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan, the Dead Sea, and for His Majesty King Abdullah II at the Royal Palace. He has performed as Cello-soloist around the world for the past thirty years including at the Hollywood Bowl, the United Nations, and on the United States Capitol West Lawn in Washington, D.C in conjunction with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Fitzpatrick most recently performed for and served as Music Director of the First Annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards Gala. Founder & Executive Director, Millennia Music. He is a relative of Rose Bein Lerman, pianist and accompanist to famed tenor Jan Peerce, and of violinist Bronislaw Huberman, Founder of The Israel Philharmonic. www.michaelfitzpatrick.com
ALETHEA LAMB clarinet, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Music at Huddersfield University in England and her Master’s degree in Music Composition at Southampton University. After graduating, Alethea spent a year studying East Indian music in New York. Alethea is versed in the classical, East Indian, jazz and funk genres, and recently took up the alto saxophone. She has collaborated with other musicians on various inspirational music recordings and enjoys playing to groups to inspire deeper meditation and chanting. She also plays in a jazz ensemble in Ventura, and a funk band in Los Angeles. For more info: alethealamb@gmail.com
