"One World" Spring Concert, Order Tickets Now!

“One World: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation,” the first large-scale event under Intersections' new Arts at the Intersection umbrella, comes to New York City April 24.

The concert features internationally-renowned musicians, including Eugene Friesen, cello; Steve Gorn, flutes; Glen Velez, percussion; and Intersections’ Artistic Director and vocal artist Fred Johnson, who hosts the evening. Though the musicians have earned individual reputations and popularity, they are perhaps best known to New York audiences from their years of association with the Paul Winter Consort.

The musicians will perform amidst a spectacular backdrop of gold-illuminated paintings by visual artist Ellen Frank. Her monumental series of nine paintings, called “Cities of Peace,” honors the history and culture of world cities that have experienced major conflict and trauma. Included in the series are Jerusalem, Beijing, Hiroshima, Baghdad, Kabul, New York, Llasa, Monrovia and Sarajevo. The musicians, individually and collectively, will provide their musical interpretations of these works.

Eugene Friesen, a member of the Paul Winter Consort since 1978, has created a unique voice among the cellists of the world. Drawing on a childhood filled with the great masterworks of Western music––as well as the influences of hymns, and ethnic and popular music––Eugene uses cello and voice to create personal and accessible works.

Flutist Steve Gorn has created a new idiom, a music that combines the essence of classical Indian tradition with a contemporary world sensibility. A student of the Bengali bansuri master Sri Gour Goswami, Steve brings his elegant bansuri sound to American pop music, influencing and recording with a wide range of musicians, including Paul Simon, Richie Havens and Paul Winter.

Four-time Grammy Award winner Glen Velez is the founding father of the modern Frame Drum movement and is regarded as a legendary figure among musicians and audiences worldwide. Velez brings a new genre of drumming to the contemporary music scene by creating his own performance style inspired by years of percussion and frame drumming studies from various cultures.

Fred Johnson has opened for both Aretha Franklin and Deepak Chopra. His presentations on the healing power of music are internationally recognized. Mentored by the masters, Johnson is hailed as one of the true guardians of an oral tradition transplanted and nurtured to create a fusion of cultural heritage that is uniquely American and inherently African.

Ellen Frank is the founder and artistic director of the Ellen Frank Illumination Arts Foundation in Easthampton, N.Y. The “Cities of Peace” series is a visual tribute to the people and locations around the world where the violence and tragedy of war or conflict have left horrific reminders of humanity's destructive powers. “Cities of Peace” began as an ambitious dream to use the transformative power and beauty of art to build a global culture of peace and understanding.

Order Tickets NOW! Visit the Intersections events page for more information.