Notes on Art: A unique concert celebrating the perfect marriage of music and painting

June 19, 2008 (Toronto) For Immediate Release

If an artist painted a Beethoven violin sonata, what would it look like?

You’re invited to the Workman Theatre on June 25 at 8 pm to see (and hear) for yourself.

In an evening celebrating the healing power of music and art, Mayumi Seiler, renowned violinist and Artistic Director of the Via Salzburg Chamber Orchestra, will perform selected works by Schumann and Beethoven accompanied by pianist Yuval Fichman and string players Benjamin Bowman, Rafael Hoekman and Carolyn Blackwell.

In a very unique concert experience that will delight the senses, visual artists Henry Benvenuti and Ann Davidson, will join these talented musicians on stage and capture with paint strokes the essence and power of everything they hear. Both high-profile members of Workman Arts, Benvenuti is an internationally exhibited artist whose work is hung in the National Gallery of Canada.

The concert will takes place in the Workman Theatre located at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), and be based on a theme of madness. Mayumi Seiler will read from Schumann’s letters and talk about Beethoven’s dramatic life.

An auction of the freshly-created paintings will be held at the end of the evening. The auctioneer, appropriately enough, will be the Master of Ceremonies and psychiatrist Dr. David Goldbloom, CAMH’s charismatic Senior Medical Advisor, Public Affairs.

Mayumi Seiler, who has performed as a soloist with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, the Royal Philharmonic, Moscow Symphony and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, among others, has achieved consistently rave reviews on her recent concerts and recordings. Born in Japan, she grew up in Austria, established her professional international career in London and is now living in Toronto. Ms. Seiler plays a 1740 Guadagnini violin.

Please join us as we celebrate Workman Arts and congratulate CAMH on its 10th Anniversary with this exceptional free concert.

When and Where:

June 25, 2008 at 8 pm at the Workman Theatre, CAMH, 1001 Queen Street West (at Ossington), Toronto.

For more information contact Lisa Brown at 416 583-4339 or 535-8501 ext. 1905, or Michael Torres at 416 535-6015.

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Founded in 1988, Workman Arts is a not-for-profit professional arts company working in partnership with and located at the Queen Street site of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto’s Art and Design District.

The mission of Workman Arts is to support aspiring, emerging and established artists with mental illness and addiction issues who are committed to developing and refining their art forms, and to promote a greater understanding of mental illness and addiction through film, theatre, visual arts, music and literary arts.