Benefit concert: EarthTones 2013
Published: October 30, 2013
What kinda life are you looking for / When you stumble back to my door / And you pick it up off of the floor / And you feed me a line that says you adore it all?”
So sings Sarah Kenvyn in “Love Again,” a track from her debut disc, “This is the Sea.” Kenvyn plays guitar, piano, saxophone, cello and flute on the album, which she wrote and recorded in her home studio, when she wasn’t studying or running her carbon-neutral web-design business.
Kenvyn is a fourth-year University of Toronto student who studies neuroscience in the Human Biology Program, and she will take the stage with her band The Indecision on November 9, in the 13th annual EarthTones. The show is a benefit concert for children’s charities, and features performances by over a dozen multitalented U of T students and faculty members.
“EarthTones is a wonderful opportunity to discover the musical talents of students and faculty from across the University,” says Jeremy Zung, a second-year medical student who was inspired to help coordinate this year’s event after attending the show in 2011.
“The musicianship of the performers, the range of styles — and the fact that many of the songs are heartfelt originals — make it a really interesting evening,” says Zung.
This year’s event will feature pop, rock, barbershop, guitar instrumental and classical, among other styles. The Faculty of Medicine and the U of T International Health Program will sponsor the show, which happens in Victoria College’s award-winning 500-seat Isabel Bader Theatre.
Proceeds from the event will benefit two registered Canadian Charities. The first, Save a Child’s Heart, provides life-saving heart surgery and follow-up care for children from low-income countries. Since 1995, the organization has also trained over 50 physicians and nurses, and repaired cardiac defects in over 3,200 children.
The second charity, Bringing About Better Understanding, helps improve health in Nepal through preventative and curative medicine, empowering the public and health professionals through knowledge and equipment donation.
Laura Stratton was one of 11 second-year medical students who spent six weeks in Nepal this summer with Bringing About Better Understanding. The group helped collect data and improve screening at the new International Friendship Children’s Hospital Nutrition Centre, which provides nutritional and educational support for malnourished children and their families.
“Despite the centre’s limited funding and resources, we saw real improvements in the health of patients, due to the dedicated and passionate staff. I am so excited that EarthTones will be able to help support them,” says Stratton.
Stratton will attend EarthTones as an audience member. Tickets are $20 for general admission, and $10 for students (with a valid student ID) and seniors.
Jim Oldfield is a writer with the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.
