Mensenrechtendag: Washington
Washington, DC – Music for Life International and The United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women are happy to announce the Launch of the The Scheherazade Initiative: Celebrating the Resilience of Women and Girls in the Face of Violence, at 6 pm on Thursday December 5, 2013, hosted by the the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands to the United States of America and H. E. Ambassador Rudolf Simon Bekink at the Netherlands Residence in Washington, DC.
The programme will include remarks by the Honorable Tina Tchen, Assistant To The President of The United States, and Executive Director, White House Council On Women and Girls; H.E. Ambassador Rudolf Bekink, Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United States of America; Ms. Karen Naimer, Director, Physicians for Human Rights’ Program on Sexual Violence in Conflict Zones; George Mathew, Artistic Director, Music For Life International; and Ms. Aldijana Sisic, Chief, United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women.
A brief chamber music performance will follow, featuring Carla de Kleuver-Leurs, concertmaster of the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra; Smithsonian Institution Resident Artist and Hesperus Ensemble Pianist and composer, Mark Kuss; and George Mathew, pianist and Artistic Director, Music for Life International, in works by Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov.
The Scheherazade Initiative is proposed as a series of fundraising concerts around the world culminating in a major performance, bringing together internationally renowned musicians from the New York Philharmonic, MET Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra as well as other major international ensembles from around the world, of the great Scheherazade-inspired pieces of Rimsky Korsakov and Maurice Ravel to be held in January 2015 at Carnegie Hall in New York City. The Project, a partnership between Music for Life International and the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women, will raise funds for some of the world’s most catalytic, innovative and promising approaches to eliminating gender-based violence.
Through ticket sales, sponsorships and donations, the Initiative will support the UN Trust Fund as a critical source of funding for civil society organizations and a vital mechanism for translating government commitments to ending gender-based violence into concrete action. It will also connect audience around the world to the innovative and effective strategies pioneered by UN Trust Fund grantees to prevent violence against women and girls. To date, the UN Trust Fund has supported over 350 initiatives in 128 countries with more than $86 million in grants, combining multiple areas of intervention to respond to women’s interrelated rights and needs from physical safety to economic security. / Ambassadeur Bekink host a.s. donderdag 5 december een receptie ter ere van de lancering van het Scheherazade Initiatief ‘celebrating the resilience of women and girls in the face of violence. Het Scheherazade project is een initiatief van de organisatie Music for Life en het UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. Middels een aantal fundraising concerten over de hele wereld zamelt Music for Life geld in voor projecten die tot doel hebben geweld tegen vrouwen uit te bannen.
Tijdens de receptie op donderdag vertolken Carla de Kleuver-Leurs, concertmeester van het Nederlands Symphony Orkest, pianist Mark Kuss en George Mathew, pianist en artistiek directeur van Music for Life International, werken van Bach en Rimsky-Korsakov.