(Apologies for multiple mailings)

Montreal, February 6, 2012—I Medici di McGill Orchestra continues its 23rd concert season featuring violinist Caroline Chéhadé and French horn quartet James Roberts, Margaret Gundara, Allison Duff, and Laura Heino, under the direction of maestro Iwan Edwards. The concert will be presented on Sunday, March 11 at 4 p.m. in Concordia University’s Oscar Peterson Hall on the Loyola Campus. The event is free although a $20 donation is appreciated. The program is comprised of the works of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Thallis, Robert Schumann’s concert piece for Four Horns in F Major, op. 86, and Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra in E Flat Major, op. 46.

The featured violin soloist is Caroline Chéhadé, a talented musician who studied at the Montreal Conservatory, the Manhattan School of Music and Mannes College in New York. She has performed at Montreal’s Wilfrid-Pelletier Hall and the Weill Hall of Carnegie Hall. Chéhadé is a two-time winner of the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank Competition and grand prize winner of many solo competitions including the Prix d’Europe. Chéhadé, a founding member and artistic director of the Halo Ensemble, has also appeared as a soloist with various orchestras.

Since 2000, I Medici has been under the direction of internationally renown Montreal conductor Iwan Edwards. He is the founder of many choral ensembles such as the St. Lawrence Choir and Concerto Della Donna. Edwards has also conducted orchestras at the Schulich School of Music at McGill, the McGill Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra until 2007, retiring after 21 years.

About I Medici di McGill
I Medici di McGill was founded in 1989 by Dr. Ante L. Padjen of McGill’s Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics. Its primary roots consist of musical talents found amongst the staff and students of the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University. The current ensemble consists of more than 80 players. Over the years, more than 370 instrumentalists have been associated with the ensemble.

The mission of I Medici is to provide musical content for various events in the life of the faculty, the university and the community, thus adding a unique social dimension to medical education and to the profession. The group has played over 160 concerts since its foundation. In addition to regular public concerts, I Medici has played at faculty meetings, convocations, scientific meetings and congresses, fund-raising campaigns, as well as provided entertainment for patients of Montreal area hospitals.

One of the hallmarks of I Medici’s double heritage has been a series of yearly multidisciplinary lecture-concerts on the theme of “Music and Medicine—Biology of Music” exploring many links between the two areas. Currently, I Medici is supported entirely by private donations. For more information, please visit the orchestra website at http://www.imedici.mcgill.ca
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Contact

• Ms. Gwenyth Epstein, Communications Agent, I Medici di McGill Orchestra, Schulich School of Music McGill University, E-mail: gwenyth.epstein@mail.mcgill.ca
• Dr. A. L. Padjen,  Director, I Medici di McGill Orchestra, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University Tel: (514) 398-3603 E-mail: ante.padjen@mcgill.ca