UCA IL HELPED SENIORS ENJOY CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CONCERT

UCA

UCA IL HELPED SENIORS ENJOY 

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA CONCERT

Kaidi Hu and Allan Li

July 29th, 2017

On July 29, 2017, over 45 senior residents from three Downers Grove buildings and Naperville families attended the OPUS Fantastic 15 Gala chamber music concert in Wentz Concert Hall downtown Naperville. This event was sponsored by OPUS and organized by the UCA (United Chinese Americans)

The OPUS Fantastic 15 Gala concert celebrated its15th anniversary of chamber music excellence by providing chamber and orchestral performances as well as a vocal piece by Linda Lin Yu, the founder of the OPUS organization. Linda championed for youth musical development past 15 years donating over half million dollars to the OPUS summer chamber music camp . The concert opened with various compositions by Mozart, Brahms, and Schumann, and were performed by chamber trios and small ensembles. The performance ended with orchestral works played by the full orchestra and a Puccini opera in which Yu sang vocals. Specially invited musicians also performed onstage during the course of the performance.

Attending chamber and orchestral performance was a first for many senior citizens. "This is the first time Ive ever been to an orchestra concert," Priscilla Kreger says. "The music was enjoyable, uplifting, and I was thoroughly impressed with the skill that this talented group of musicians had. I was so dumbfounded by it, it really is such nice and beautiful classical music!" Other residents enjoyed the overall experience of exceptional care by the UCA IL volunteers. Charlene Pivoney, also of Peace Memorial Manor, reflects: "Great concert, the volunteering and care that volunteer provided for me was just phenomenal. I love music, I love any kind of music, even music in different languages." Many Chinese American seniors were grateful for their first concert experience: "Without transportation, it is impossible for us to go anywhere since we do not drive ".

The 9 high school volunteers had assisted many of the seniors riding on one school bus and one handicapped accessible van to travel to the concert hall. Additionally the volunteers had conversed with the seniors, making them feel welcome and excited to listen to the classical music. After one of the seniors from Peace Manor was helped by the volunteers to the handicap accessible van, she said "Beautiful event, everyone is so nice, I hope I will see you again".

Many of them reported that classical music soothed them and made them feel joyous. They were helped back onto buses by UCA volunteers, who provided safe and reliable service and care.

UCA 's mission is to empower Chinese American community for civic engagement, heritage sharing and youth development . It hopes to continue to encourage youth volunteerism, and inspire future generations of Chinese-Americans to give back to our community through volunteerism.