Top musicians to perform Mozart to help battle chronic disease

March 22, 2019
SC
ByShawn Conner
4 min read

Myasthenia gravis is a chronic auto-immune disease that affects nerve transmission to the muscle. It can strike anyone at any age. Once recognized, myasthenia is treatable with medication, such as corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, plasma exchange, intravenous gamma globulin, and in younger patients, possible surgery. If diagnosed and treated early, myasthenia patients can look forward to a normal life with medication.

On Sat. March 30, a group of internationally acclaimed artists come together to perform some of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s finest chamber works in support of the Myasthenia Gravis Association of BC. The concert takes place at the Vancouver Academy of Music (1270 Chestnut St.). Find out more about who’s performing, and what, below.

The program will include Sonata for Violin and Piano, String Quartet K465 “Dissonant” and Piano Quartet in G Major. Musicians include Andrew Dawes (violin), an MGABC board member and founder of the Orford String Quartet. Dawes is also an organizer of the event, and he has gathered several musicians to join the group. These are:

Jason Ho (viola) – A graduate of the prestigious Cleveland Institute of Music, Ho was a grand prize winner at the Canadian Music Competition, BC Festival of the Arts, UBC Concerto Competition, and Burnaby Clef Concerto Competition. He made his orchestral debut at the age of fourteen, has served as concertmaster of the Vancouver Metropolitan Orchestra and was appointed Principal Second Violin of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in 2013.

Jane Coop performs at an upcoming Mozart concert.

Eric Wilson (cello)- Wilson received the Bronze Medal (1971) in the Geneva International Competition and is co-winner of the Morris Loeb Prize for Strings (1973) at the Juilliard School. Mr. Wilson was solo cellist of the Ensemble of New York in residence at the Lincoln Centre, and was a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet. The quartet won the prestigious Walter W. Naumberg competition Prize for Chamber Ensemble.

Isabel Vila (violin) – After studying violin in Barcelona, Vila went on to study with such luminaries as Lorand Fenyves, Ivan Galamian, Dorothy Delay and Ruggiero Ricci. She was concertmaster of the National Ballet of Canada for seven years and went on to be concertmaster of several orchestras in Spain. Vila also founded youth orchestras in Las Palmas Gran Canaria, Barcelona, Salamanca and Vitoria Gasteiz. Retired, she now resides part-time in Spain and part-time in Canada.

Jane Coop (piano) – An internationally recognized concert pianist Coop appears as a recitalist and a soloist with major symphony orchestras throughout the world. The Bolshoi Hall in St. Petersburg, the Kennedy Center, Alice Tully Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, the Beijing Concert Hall, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris are among the august venues at which she has performed. From 1980-2012 she taught on the faculty of the University of British Columbia’s School of Music in Vancouver. In 2012, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.

Mozart for Myasthenia

When: Sat. March 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Wher: Koerner Recital Hall at Vancouver Academy of Music, 1270 Chestnut St.

Tickets: $25/Adults, $40/Couples, $18/Student at the MGABC Office at 604 451 5511 ext 1284.

There will be a light refreshments at intermission.

THE MYASTHENIA GRAVIS ASSOCIATION OF BC is a non-profit organization incorporated in 1958. The mandate of the MGABC is to provide, support, education and advocacy for myasthenia patients. Over the last few years the Association has also raised funds to support research in the neuroimmunology lab at UBC and the education of young neurologists at the neuro-muscular diseases unit of the VGH.

Mozart concert
Myasthenia Gravis
chronic disease awareness
Vancouver Academy of Music
autoimmune disease
chamber music
Myasthenia Gravis Association of BC