Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra helps Jamaica

May, 2006Ars Flores Symphony Orchestra, in addition to its regular season, will participate later this month in an international exchange and humanitarian mission. The May 2006 trip to Jamaica will include thirty Ars Flores musicians, all of whom will be donating their time. The Ars Flores musicians will perform in concerts alongside Jamaican musicians, the Jamaican National Dance Troup and other artists in a 5,000-seat arena to raise money for the Missionaries of the Poor (MPO). Proceeds generated by these performances will be used to purchase supplies for free MOP missions located around the world. Since its inception, Ars Flores has been involved in humanitarian work with MOP. Founded by Father Richard HoLung in Kingston, Jamaica, MOP provides food, clothing, housing and medicine to “unadoptable” children, the terminally ill and the elderly that are homeless and destitute around the world. This world-wide organization has homes in India, Uganda, the Philippines and Haiti, as well as four large homes in Jamaica. Ars Flores has traveled to Toronto, Atlanta and the Cayman Islands to perform for MOP. This will be its third trip Jamaica. Previous performances in Jamaica have been sold out. This year’s trip to Kingston, Jamaica will take place May 18th through 22nd. The orchestra will participate in four performances in the National Arena. The program presented will be Father Richard HoLung’s new opera, Moses. Father HoLung, who has no formal musical training, composed the melodies for this opera on an inspiration from God. Associate Conductor, Maria Perez-Rudisill, has written an accompanying orchestral score for the melodies. Ars Flores musicians will not only donate their time for the benefit performances, they will also work with student orchestras in the area.