Capturing the spirit of the Concordia Foundation

Many people who have worked with or heard the Concordia Foundation have given them high praise. It would be impossible to include all their comments but the following selection, and a few press cuttings, capture and help to explain the spirit of the Concordia Foundation.

“...Bringing the experience of music to those in this world who are not as fortunate as we are. Every day the Concordia Foundation openly helps to spread goodwill. Long may these ideals prosper.”
Ruth Nye, The Menuhin School

“The Concordia Foundation aims to build bridges through music and the arts. This it achieves handsomely, with performance opportunities which span continents and which encourage talented young artists to share their music with others in a wide variety of ways...long may the work continue.”
Dame Janet Ritterman

“Music is our daily medicine. The Concordia Foundation focuses on the living art of making music to the highest possible level and it portrays the immense joy of sharing and communicating through sound. This charity is a real gem.”
Evelyn Glennie OBE

“The work of Concordia Foundation highlights the huge value of music as the international language, cutting through all barriers and opening hearts and minds wherever it is heard. I admire the vast energy that Gillian puts into achieving such professional performances with such admirable goals, giving young performers that vital first step into the concert business, and delighting audiences the world over with their talent.”
Richard Hickox CBE

“Music is a powerful way of building bridges between different cultures, religions and civilizations.”
William Dalrymple

“In this series of concerts, experienced artists share the platform with young talent and audiences are able to share in the pleasure of hearing these and other musical ‘bridges' being built. The choice of music also emphasises sharing and cooperation. Opportunities like this are special for all who take part: thank you Gillian, for all that you do to bring delight to others.”
Dame Janet Ritterman
Director, Royal College of Music

“Gillian Humphreys captures the very essence of music making her annual series of Barbican concerts. Young performers share the platform with established artists, and together they provide music making of a very high order that reaches out to audiences. Gillian and her fellow artists really do succeed in ‘building bridges through music and the arts'. But don't just take my word for it- come and enjoy this for yourselves!”
Dame Janet Ritterman

“In these days of political unrest the Concordia Foundation offers an aspect of sanity to challenge the spiritually myopic with the eternal selflessness of art. It gives me pleasure to add my name to such a worthy charity.”
Robert Tear OBE

 

"Bridge-building is easy to say, but hard to do, and I salute the way you are giving younger people a real-live encounter with individuals of a culture and tradition they'd be unlikely to meet otherwise. Music-making of this kind is worth more than any number of words about "international co-operation". The experience helps to equip them for life."
Kathleen Dodd, composer and musicologist, about the Concordia Foundation's series of concerts at The Barbican Centre, London in 1995.

"I have just returned home from my Thursday's teaching at the Yehudi Menuhin School and I wanted to tell you that Cliodna played two pieces from the 'Vingt Regards' by Messiaen at the lunch-time concert and her performance was stunning. Her poise, artistry, maturity and sense of performance and confidence in herself, have become so strong since you took her on that
incredible trip to Hanoi earlier this year and she played the Shostakovich
2nd Concerto.

I do want to thank you so much for that opportunity and for all the unselfish work you do for these young artists and for the joy of music.

As a teacher and mentor to these youngsters, I appreciate all your vision
and hard work."
Ruth Nye, Menuhin School

  "You, yourself Gillian, made an enormous impression on everyone here, with your enthusiasm and determination to get things done, your vision that people from all over the world can work together in peace and harmony through this wonderful medium of music. I personally am truly converted. … Concordia has contributed, in quite a significant way, to influencing the development of the arts in Vietnam and you have certainly affected significantly the lives of quite a number of people. I truly hope we will have further opportunities in the future to develop what we have started."
Graham Sutcliffe, conductor, Ho Chi Minh City International Choir, in a letter to Gillian Humphreys on 20th November 2000.

"It is wonderful that the young, in particular, can gain experience in this way and that all who care to come have the privilege of listening to a performance of this kind."
Estelle Spottiswoode, artist and singing teacher, speaking about one of the performances in the series of Concordia Foundation concerts at the Barbican Centre, London in 1995.


"I want to say again how grateful I am for the work I have been able to do for Concordia and I sincerely mean it when I say that I wish to remain involved in the Foundation's work in the future. I do have a commitment to you and Peter and I really admire the tireless work you both put into Concordia. Were there but more people in this society with your selfless dedication and enthusiasm for bringing pleasure to people through music."
Colin Lee, tenor, in a letter to Gillian Humphreys on 27th November 2000
 
"It turned out to be all one had hoped for and more. Wonderful content and superb artistry made it an evening to remember and the reaction from the many friends in the audience has been extremely positive. Everyone seems to have really enjoyed it all and to have found the whole atmosphere of the concert to be really fresh and rewarding. … It has been a thoroughly memorable and enjoyable experience to be involved from the outset and I am incredibly proud that somehow, between us, we have managed to scrape together the incredible sum of £40,000. … I am just thrilled that it all turned out so well."
The Marquess of Zetland, chairman of the committee which worked with the Concordia Foundation to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Relief in the UK.
 "Gillian Humphreys and her charitable organisation, the Concordia Foundation, would no doubt attract raised eyebrows from those convinced that charity should begin and end at home. But the Welsh soprano has helped sufficient deserving young musicians and brought measurable comfort to enough disadvantaged kids overseas to prove that her motives are genuinely inspired by a desire to make a difference to the lives of others."
Classical Music, 12th August 2000

"… oh what a treat to hear Ms Humphreys' glorious, richly rounded voice performing arias from Norma, Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Faust, among others."
Review of Patti, Patti, Patti in Y Drych, a Welsh newspaper, November 2000.  

"Last night was such a moving and wonderful evening; the children's singing was so poignant, tears were often in my eyes. Like you, I also believe that only through love, laughter and friendship can we bring peace to a so troubled world. Congratulations to you both. Your hard work has been appreciated by so many."
Pat Cole, a member of the audience during the visit to London of the Romanian Cantorino Children's Choir during the summer of 1995.

 "The Concordia Foundation deserves to have the whole-hearted support of all musicians who have a similar vision. Gillian Humphreys works tirelessly and selflessly, using her talents, expertise and vitality and enthusiasm to bringing the experience of music to those in this world who are not as fortunate as we are. Every day the Foundation openly helps to spread goodwill. Long may these ideals prosper."
Ruth Nye, the Menuhin School 1997.

 "People from completely different cultures and speaking with different languages are able to be drawn together just by music and there is no other medium that can do it in the same way."
Damian Penfold, conductor, speaking in 1996 about the work of the Concordia Foundation.

 "It is a pleasure and a privilege to be able to extend my sincere wishes to the Condordia Foundation for the success of their most commendable activities meant to build bridges through music and the arts. The Concordia Foundation is committed to offering a much needed platform of assertion to young musicians from all over the world, Romania included. It is making a contribution by bringing together young artists from various countries and cultures and presenting them to the world, in the hope that the perfect harmony of music will pervade and bear its influence upon human relations as well, leading to a better understanding among nations."
Radu Onofrei, Ambassador of Romania.

"As Patron of the Concordia Foundation, I am delighted to send my sincere wishes for an inspiring and successful series of concerts to celebrate once more the Foundation's objective of "building bridges through music and the arts".
The Lord Menuhin of Stoke D'Abernon OM KBE, who was patron of the Concordia Foundation.

"Humphreys, as the diva, sang and acted with an endearing mixture of sympathy and humour."
Review of Patti, Patti, Patti in The Washington Post, 27th September 2000.

"Thank you for everything you have done for the students here at the Royal College of Music. The opportunities hyou have given them I know are very much appreciated. From all the concerts I have attended I know they have been very much enjoyed by the audience. The chance to work on various concert platforms with an artist of your calibre can only enhance what the Royal College of Music is trying to achieve - enabling them to develop their music skills, professionalism, knowledge, understanding and resourcefulness. Hopefully this will qualify them to enjoy successful careers and contribute significantly to musical life in this country and internationally. Your constant supply of energy and new fresh ideas continue to amaze me - I am delighted that I have had the opportunity to be associated with you and look forward to many more successful collaborations."
Caroline Mullett, Director of Development, Royal College of Music, August 1995.

 "The dialogue and the acting were witty, outrageous, and altogether charming, as Patti's career seems to have been: and the humour served to intensify the audience's delight in the music itself. Humphreys possesses a voice like Patti's, full of sweetness and bell-like purity revealing years of disciplined development. … in this evening of beautiful song and pesonal charm, Gillian Humphreys and her company brought Patti to life again."
Review of Patti, Patti, Patti by Professor Joan Bennett, University of Delaware, September 2000.