World Interfaith Harmony 2016
OAKTON, Va. -
Jan. 27, 2016 -
PRLog -- (Oakton, VA) – Mosaic Harmony, an interfaith, multicultural community choir based in Northern Virginia proudly announces their participation and hosting of a concert in celebration of the 2016 United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, at Unity of Fairfax Church in Oakton, Virginia on February 1, 2016 at 7:30pm. Confirmed choirs who will perform from various faith traditions include the
Washington Baha'i Chorale, The Olam Tikvah Chorale, Hindu faith tradition performers
Arun Murkherjee and Misti Acharyya, with special greetings from
Rabbi Gerald Serotta, Executive Director, Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington will join them on the program. World Interfaith Harmony Week held annually, brings together thousands around the world. The February 1 concert, open to all, is entitled “
Mosaic Harmony & Friends – One Humankind in Music”, celebrating the ability of the language of music to bring people together and focus on our common humanity rather than the differences that set us apart.
North, a successful songwriter in his own right, wrote the song “One Humankind” upon which the theme of the concert is based, with the intention of specifically using it in Mosaic Harmony’s concerts and a natural tie in to their theme “Make Us One.” North invited other choirs who are like-minded in their approach to music and their place in the world to participate in the February 1 event, which Mosaic Harmony has committed to producing annually at various venues in the area. The free concert will be an opportunity to meet choirs from the area and to show that music is indeed the universal language that brings people together.
Over their twenty-two year history, Mosaic Harmony has garnered praise and developed close ties from their varied performances at fundraisers, corporate events, educational institutions, churches, government agencies and private events in the Washington metropolitan area. The choir has received many awards most notably in 1997, they were chosen by the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission to receive its prestigious Human Rights Award and in 1998, were the recipient of the President's Initiative on Race as a model program that encourages participation of people from different racial backgrounds.
Promising. Mosaic Harmony was included on the White House web site as one of the country's Promising Practices, which highlights efforts to improve race relations and build One America. Other performances have included: the Baha’i Black Awards Banquets/Baha’
i Conferences on Race Amity; a Millennium Celebration program at Addas Israel, Washington, DC (a conservative Hebrew temple) designed by the Interfaith Conference of Washington to bring together youth of nine major world religions; a sunrise ceremony millennial celebration beginning in Samoa, which spread across 27 countries; a wave of peaceful intention sponsored by the International Club of Budapest, consisting of former statesmen, Nobel laureates, writers, and scientists; the Finnish Embassy “
Search for Common Ground” event; travel to Germany and Slovenia on a Goodwill Tour; sponsored a reciprocal visit by
Musica Viva, the internationally known Slovenian choir that hosted Mosaic Harmony. In 2004, Habitat for Humanity, Northern Virginia Chapter was celebrated by a joint benefit concert venue shared with the Slovenian choir,
Musica Viva, during their reciprocal Goodwill visit. In 2006, Slovenian choir, “
France Preseren”, silver medalists in the International Choir Olympics, was home-hosted and offered venues by Mosaic Harmony. Additional repeat performances at the Interfaith Choir Festival of Reston, Homeless in DC and Annapolis; the Lakota Nation; BODYWISE (a fitness program for seniors); Open Books, Open Hearts tutoring program; efforts to build a church in Dominican Republic, work with inner city youth in Atlanta, the Medical Benevolence Foundation’s home-based orphan care program for HIV/AIDS in Africa; Katrina flood relief; brain tumor cancer research all in an effort to assist these organization with their fundraising goals. The choir was also recognized “Changemakers”
by Ashoka (www.Ashoka.org)
and in 2006, provided, through their international newsletter, the seeds and structure for two interfaith children’s choirs in Jerusalem, Israel. Says North, “producing a concert with friends for World Interfaith Harmony Week was a no brainer, clearly this is our wheelhouse, we live and believe in this mission.”
For more information on Mosaic Harmony, please visit
www.mosaicharmony.org. Media inquiries please contact
promotions@mosaicharmony.org. For additional information on 2016 World Interfaith Harmony Week please visit www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com