PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Promoting Peace Through Understanding
Ron Clark shared with us some great tools to connect with
our youth last week! Hear them,
discipline them, encourage them, tell them (and yourself) to “Suck It Up” sometimes
and most of all LOVE them. I hope you were
inspired to engage a young person and share what you learned from Ron this week
(don’t forget to put your name in the I Shared IT! box). Go visit Ron Clark Academy! Encourage a teacher! Inspire a kid! Let me know if you need help getting involved with our kids!
You may not know that I have played the piano most of my
life. For me, playing gives me inner
peace. As you probably know, promoting
peace is one of Rotary’s dearest causes. In a world full of conflict and violence, Rotary refuses to accept
conflict as a way of life. Conflict and
violence displace millions of people each year. Half of those killed in
conflict are children and 90 percent are civilians. Rotary is a global network
of 1.2 million neighbors, friends, leaders, and problem-solvers who see a world
where people unite and take action to create lasting change – across the globe,
in our communities, and in ourselves. Roswell
Rotary seeks to promote peace through understanding through our leadership in
GRSP, Lunches for Learning, End Human Trafficking and Be THE Voice. Malek Jandali, our speaker this week, combines
his gift as a world-renown pianist and his desire for peace and will share his
story and his music with us so that we may better understand the importance of promoting
peace around the world, in our community and in our own lives. Join me on Thursday with an open mind and an
open heart for what I know will be an inspirational meeting.
President Becky
This Week's Speaker
Malek Jandali, Founder of Pianos for Peace
Malek Jandali is the founder and CEO of Pianos for Peace, a non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through music and education. He embraces young talent through the Malek Jandali International Youth Piano Competition. Jandali makes his home in both New York City and Atlanta. His music is published by Soul b Music and can be found on iTunes, Amazon and at Virgin Megastores worldwide.
German born, Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali has been hailed by BBC WorldNews as “an acclaimed pianist”, his music has been described as “moving and thought provoking” by Bob Stevenson of NPR. His most recent commission was premiered by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. “The world premiere of ‘The Silent Ocean’ by Malek Jandali was an evocative and emotional journey for musicians and audience members. In this piece Malek captures the struggle, trauma and triumph of our displaced brothers and sisters, through the voice of a child. It is a beautiful and important message.” Maestra Marin Alsop.
Malek’s compositions not only integrate Middle-Eastern modes into Western classical forms and harmony, they echo UNESCO’s call to preserve and protect the rich cultural heritage of Syria and the Silk Road at a time when it is being eradicated. They range from chamber music to large-scale orchestral works including three symphonies and concertos for violin and piano. His works have been performed by numerous leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, The Cairo Symphony Orchestra, The Stockholm Solister, and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra among others. David Firman of the RPO describes Jandali’s music as “gorgeous, haunting, yearning and full of hope, with a pain more personal than that of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff.”
His albums “Syrian Symphony”, “SoHo”, “Hiraeth”, and “The Jasmine Tree” were released at Carnegie Hall in 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 respectively. Jandali’s compositions have been described by Fanfare Magazine as “a major new addition to the 21st century’s symphonic literature.” American Record Guide hailed the “Syrian Symphony” album as having “heartrending melodies, lush orchestration, clever transitions and creative textures.” The Syrian children were the inspiration for his second symphony, Luminosity, which was premiered by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
A prolific composer, his repertoire includes four symphonies and concertos for piano, violin, and cello in addition to numerous chamber works. Recent commissions include a Piano Quintet for the Apollo Chamber Players, a Saxophone Quartet for Wright State University, a String Quartet for the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and a Symphonic Poem, “The Silent Ocean” for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestra Marin Alsop, received a standing ovation and “found a rapt audience at its world premiere” (The Washington Post).
Jandali is the recipient of the 2014 Global Music Humanitarian Award and in 2015, The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored him as a Great Immigrant. Jandali is a strong advocate for peace and human rights and was selected as a Visiting Scholar for the 2017/2018 academic year in the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights at Rutgers University. His causes go beyond those of humanitarian activism, as he is regularly recognized by and invited to speak to key academic audiences at Harvard University, the Skoll World Form, Duke University, Aspen Ideas Festival, Fordham University, the United Nations headquarters in New York City and the Doha Debates at Georgetown University in Qatar.
