Our warmest thanks to all the IC4C supporters who made the Twelfth Annual Benefit Concert the best ever! With your help, we raised over $8,000 for The Peaceful Children’s Homes in Cambodia. These funds will be used for the educational needs of the young people at the Homes, including university studies, with a focus on the education of girls. We see this as our contribution to a better future for these young people and for Cambodia.

In Concert for Cambodia started as a modest, youth-based initiative in 2006, launched by 13-year-old Laurent Côté, under the Honorary Patronage of Canadian-born pianist, Janina Fialkowska, O.C. Twelve years later – the musicians have matured, the program has become more sophisticated and the audience has grown. This year some 130 people turned out to hear the music and to enjoy the reception and silent auction that followed. Laurence Wall of CBC Radio Ottawa was the excellent Host. H.E. Per Sjøgren, Ambassador of Sweden to Canada, opened the event, reflecting Sweden’s active presence in Cambodia. We were honoured to have Mona Fortier, Member of Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier, and Nathalie Des Rosiers, Member of the Provincial Parliament for Ottawa-Vanier, both attend the concert.

This year’s musical program was made up of more reflective pieces, to honour the memory of our much-loved young violinist, Jonah Poplove, who passed away last year. The concert opened with a selection of jazz pieces, performed by Peter Woods on sax and James McGowan on piano; it continued with Prokofiev’s Violin Sonata in D major, Opus 94a, masterfully performed by 16-year-old Maria Krstic, accompanied by Ioulia Blinova on piano; a selection of music on traditional Cambodian instruments with the Pleng Duong Chit Musicians from Ottawa-Gatineau; Ravel’s Miroirs: Un Barque sur l’Océan, exquisitely performed by University of Ottawa pianist, Sophia Stoney; Kyle Burghout with a personal tribute to Jonah and a medley of fiddling tunes; Argentinian classical guitarist, Martin de Zuviria, playing Milonga Triste by S. Piano and Tango by Isaac Albeniz; and to close, Maria Krstic with her accomplished 9-year-old brother, Danilo, playing the Méditation from Thaïs by Massenet, again accompanied by Ioulia Blinova.