Beautiful Mind Beautiful World

This year, the third series of the Beautiful Concert, entitled “Beautiful Mind, Beautiful World,” will be held at the Hong Kong City Hall Concert Hall at 7:30 pm on Friday, September 26, 2008. 

The theme of this concert is to look beyond our immediate surroundings and focus on issues that commonly affect the people of this planet, particularly the pollution and destruction of our environment that have resulted in countless sufferings and epidemics around the world, with the hope that concerned citizens of this world can join their hands and put their beautiful minds together, to make this place a more beautiful world for our children to grow in.  

The performers for this event will include Hanbit Percussion Ensemble, Hanbit Sound of Light Vocal Ensemble, marimbist Chun Kyung Ho, clarinetist Lee Sang Jae, and Maximum Crew. The BMC Ensemble will also make repeat appearance. 

Hanbit Percussion Ensembleis a group of musical artists with visual impairment. It specializes on the crossover of the classical music with the traditional Korean music. Hanbit Sound of Light Vocal Ensemble is comprised of visually impaired students under the age of thirteen with special talent in signing. Their clear and innocent voices are inspiration to the soul and evoke images of heaven. Chun Kyung Ho who has visual impairment of Class One, is the first visually impaired performer in the world to specialize in marimba. He has done more than to offer another window of possibilities to the differently abled. Clarinetist Lee Sang Jae was the first visually impaired student to receive the master’s and doctorate degrees from The Peabody Conservatory of Music of The Johns Hops University. He has made approximately 30 appearances with leading orchestras in Korea and abroad. The Maximum Crew is a top performing B-Boy group. This team has won several awards in Korea and abroad. So, they have become a celebrity team of performers. 

All proceeds from the concert will go to the Nature Conservancy and Growing Together. The Nature Conservancy (www.nature.org)is a leading conservation organization working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Founded in 1951, drawing support from more than one million members and actively at work in more than 30 countries, the Nature Conservancy addresses threats and challenges to conservation including climate change, fire, fresh water, forests, invasive species and marine ecosystems through a science-based, pragmatic approach in partnership with indigenous communities, businesses, governments, multilateral institutions, other non-profit organizations and individuals. 

Growing Together (www.growingtogether.org) is an umbrella organization that encompasses five charities in HK that serve the English-speaking special needs population, from infant to adulthood. These organizations include the Child Development Centre, Watchdog, the Rainbow Project, the Springboard Project and the Nesbitt Centre.   

Growing Together advocates for individuals with special needs. Our Mission is to help create an inclusive society for all people.  Our “Friends and Family Advocacy Group” strives to bring the shortcomings of the policies of the Hong Kong Government to its attention, aiming to advocate for policy changes that can improve services for this often overlooked and forgotten population. To date, there are over 200 individual members. 

The Beautiful Mind Charity 

The Beautiful Mind Charity (BMC / www.beautifulmindcharity.org) was founded in June 2006 by a group of Koreans living in Hong Kong, who shared a commitment to do something and give back to the community in light of all the blessings, small and large, found in life.   

Ever since, an ever-widening circle of donors, volunteers and performers have come together, and through their tireless dedication and generous support, BMC has hosted a number of charity concerts, including the Beautiful Concert in October 2006 and the Beautiful Cross, Beautiful Concert in May 2007, both in Hong Kong, and a number of other concerts and performances, including in Korea, the United States, Japan, Vietnam and Guam.   

The proceeds from the BMC events are donated to worthy causes, including special programs for differently abled children, among others.   

We hope to continue to be part of this exciting effort and expand the venues of artistic expression by including various cultural genres, such as private concerts, performance by amateur musicians, dances, music classes for differently abled children, art exhibits and so forth. We want everyone and anyone to be able to be part of this team.  

BMC has chapters in Hong Kong, Seoul and California.  We hope to launch chapters in other cities, in fact anywhere in the world where we can find beautiful minds willing to help sponsor beautiful concerts to make the place we live in a more beautiful world.   

Once again our most sincere thanks to all of you for your generosity, dedication and prayers. All of you have truly been beautiful friends, and we cannot thank you enough.  

Beautiful Mind Concerts 

-- Beautiful Concert (2006) 

On October 4, 2006, the first charity concert to be organized by BMC, entitled “Beautiful Concert”, was held at the Concert Hall of City Hall, Hong Kong.  

The Soma Trio from Seoul, Korea, led by cellist professor Il Hwan Bai of Ewha University, and Onnuri Sarang Chamber Orchestra consisting of physically and mentally challenged young musicians from Korea were invited to perform, together with Sam Tsui, a visually impaired accordion player from Hong Kong, and the Charis Ensemble, a trio consisting of the founding members of BMC.  

The proceeds from the Beautiful Concert (about HKD 500,000) were donated to Ebenezer School, a school for the visually impaired children in Hong Kong, and The Rainbow Project, a program for children with autism in Hong Kong. 

-- Beautiful Cross, Beautiful Concert (2007) 

On May 24, 2007, the second series of the Beautiful Concert, entitled “Beautiful Cross, Beautiful Concert” was held at the Concert Hall of City Hall, Hong Kong, in continuation of the spirit that made the first Beautiful Concert not only possible but also a tremendous success. 

 True to its theme, this event featured crossover music performance mixing traditional Korean instruments with a blend of classical and contemporary musical genres, emphasized the crossing of paths among different cultural communities in Korea and Hong Kong, including the ordinary and the differently abled, and sought to carry out themeaning of cross as a sign of positive addition by acting out the spirit of sharing and giving back to the community.  

The performers included the Crossband, consisting of professional musicians from Korea specializing in crossover music, and The PHAB Children Choir, consisting of children from Hong Kong with different degrees of physical disabilities. These gifted performers were accompanied on stage by, once again, cellist professor Il Hwan Bai and the Charis Ensemble.  

Hee ah, the “Four Fingered Pianist” born with two fingers on each hand and legs only up to the kneecaps, was a special source of inspiration, along with everyone else, in vivid demonstration of the boundless potential of the “can-do” spirit that can prevail against any and all odds, physical or otherwise. 

The proceeds from this concert (about HKD 700,000) were donated to the Hong Kong PHAB Association, a center for the physically handicapped and able-bodied, and the Watchdog Early Learning and Development Centre in Hong Kong. 

The Beautiful Mind Charity Ltd. / Hong Kong 

Contact Person. Kyung Joon Lee 

Email. keijoon@netvigator.com 

Tel. 852.2545.9951 

Fax. 852.2545.9952 

Mobile. 852.9747.5114 

Address. 9/F, EIB Centre, 40 Bonham Strand, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong 

Beautiful Mind Charity / Korea 

Contact Person. Seong Min Lee 

Email. smlee@beautifulmindcharity.org 

Tel. 822.772.9961 

Fax. 822.772.9962 

Mobile. 8211.740.1326 

Address. #902 Seoul Center B/d, 91-1 Sogong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, Korea