Benefit Recital for Rayos de Canción - CAELI SMITH and TIM RIBCHESTER

Come hear violinist CAELI SMITH and pianist TIM RIBCHESTER in a recital featuring works by Bach, Mozart, Bartok, and Piazzolla.

The recital is free to the public. All ages, including children, are welcome to attend this community-friendly concert. There will be reception with refreshments following the concert.

A freewill donation is requested to support  Rayos de Canción's musical outreach work with public school children, and developmentally disabled children and adults in Antigua, Guatemala. 

19-year-old CAELI SMITH is a Chestnut Hill native currently studying violin performance with Ronald Copes and Catherine Cho at the Juilliard School. Caeli made her debut as an orchestral soloist at age 10, and has performed as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestra member in venues throughout the US and South America, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Philadelphia's Kimmel Center and Prince Music Theater. Her performances have also been featured frequently on radio, TV, and film. Caeli was a cast member of the NPR radio show From The Top for three years, and starred as a street musician in Robert Downey, Sr.'s feature documentary, Rittenhouse Square. Her YouTube channel www.youtube.com/alicelizard, which features many collaborations with Tim Ribchester, has received over four million hits. At Juilliard, she is a recipient of a Gluck Community Service Fellowship, though which she performs at area hospitals, nursing homes, and alternative care facilities, and a MAP (Music Advancement Program) Teaching Fellowship, through which she teaches violin lessons at Juilliard’s campus to highly gifted children from backgrounds underrepresented in American performing arts. Caeli is a founding member of Rayos de Canción. 

TIM RIBCHESTER, a native of Denver, Colorado raised near Edinburgh, Scotland, has been active for many years in the Philadelphia area as conductor and pianist, acclaimed by colleagues and press alike for "awe-inspiring" music making "as passionate as it is expert." He serves on the musical preparation staff of the Academy of Vocal Arts and the Opera Company of Philadelphia. He is also a specialist in the Nuevo Tango music of Astor Piazzolla, which he researches, arranges, performs and directs in collaboration with distinguished chamber musicians in Philadelphia and New York, and with the guidance of Piazzolla's own former collaborators. 

Rayos de Canción is a group of eight musicians, actors, and dancers from the Juilliard School. They are funded through an outreach grant from the Juilliard School and through benefit concerts such as this one, bake sales, and other member-generate fundraising efforts. Last year, Caeli and Tim's  generated over $2500 in donations, which helped to make Rayos de Canción's inaugrual trip. You can read about last year's project in Caeli's blog, and in the Juilliard Journal.

This year, the group will also offer an 8-day performing arts camp to the children of the public schools in Antigua, Guatemala.

Donations to Rayos de Canción may also be made online, directly through their fiscal sponsor, The Field.