What do you get when you cross world-class talent with a heart of gold and drive to give back? Ensemble Charité, founded by local Colorado resident and renowned opera singer Michelle DeYoung.
Michelle started singing in her hometown of Loveland and went to college in Michigan, where she joined the choir. The director there convinced her to consider a professional career, and now she performs worldwide with prestigious orchestras and prominent conductors.
Michelle says she came up with the idea of Ensemble Charité after taking conducting lessons with John Baril, music director of the Central City Opera. She felt she needed to do something good with her new-found skill.
“My voice teacher said I could sing one concert and pay for an orphanage in Africa for a year, but I wanted to do more than sing for them,” she says. Now she hires local musicians to play concerts that she conducts—and sometimes sings and conducts at the same time—for charities chosen by her and the board of directors.
Here’s how it works. She hires the musicians, chooses the music, and makes all performance arrangements. The costs usually run around $10,000, which she and the board collect from donors. This means all ticket sales go directly to the selected charity.
Their first concert, to benefit Bal Swan Children’s Center of Broomfield, is called “String Time in Broomfield” on March 23rd at the Broomfield Auditorium. They will feature music by Edward Elgar, Béla Bartók, and more.
The pièce de rèsistance will be Franz Joseph Haydn’s Arianna a Naxos, a powerful work depicting the emotional turmoil of the Princess Ariadne, abandoned by her love, Theseus.*
Mark your calendars now, and don’t miss the first-rate voice and conducting of Michelle DeYoung while helping one of Broomfield’s best charities. Get tickets at ensemblecharite.com
Ensemble Charité is currently discussing the next concert—which will probably be this summer—so bookmark their website and stay up-to-date on all performances.
Want to help more? Simply click on the donation button on the Ensemble Charité website.
*Rumor had it that Haydn traded the piece for a sharp razor, but it’s more likely that he wrote it for the daughter of Prince Esterházy’s physician, Peter von Genzinger.