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Celebrating a year of innovation and new partnerships

With Special Guest
Rachel Barton Pine Hear her astonishing violin playing “up close and personal” and get a glimpse of the person behind the extraordinary talent. Come prepared to witness incredible fiddle playing and have a lot of fun in the process!

Ars Viva Benefit Dinner

The 2008 Ars Viva Award for Excellence
Presented to Sel Kardan

President & CEO of the Music Institute of Chicago

Sel Kardan

Arts administrator and musician Sel Kardan received his Bachelors and Masters degrees in viola performance from the Peabody conservatory of music. He has performed in recital and as a chamber musician throughout North America and Europe. Mr. Kardan is a former faculty member at Shenandoah University, the University of Maryland, and the Peabody Preparatory. He was instrumental in the development of the Heifetz International Music Institute where he served as Executive Director. He was most recently Executive Director of the Shriver Hall Concert Series in Baltimore, Maryland where he doubled the number presented events, established annual educational residencies and lecture series, and expanded programming to include jazz performances. Mr. Kardan has served as a panelist for the Maryland State Arts Council, and is a frequent adjudicator and presenter at competitions and conferences. He is a trustee of the Solti Foundation US in Chicago. Since, 2005, Mr. Kardan has served as only the fifth president of the Music Institute of Chicago.

Rachel Barton Pine

American violinist Rachel Barton Pine has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s most prestigious orchestras, including the Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Baltimore, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Iceland Symphonies, and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Her 11 critically acclaimed albums for the Cedille, Dorian, and Cacophony labels include “Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos” with Carlos Kalmar and the Chicago Symphony, and “Scottish Fantasies” with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. She holds top prizes from the J.S. Bach (gold medal), Queen Elisabeth, Paganini, Kreisler, Szigeti, and Montreal international competitions, and has twice been honored as a Chicagoan of the Year. Her charitable activities include serving as a trustee of the Music Institute of Chicago and president of the Rachel Elizabeth Barton Foundation. She plays the Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu (Cremona 1742), known as the “ex-Soldat,” on generous loan from her patron.

Surprise appearance by Ludwig van Beethoven
and the Ars Viva WINE Bottle Orchestra!!

Benefit Committee

Joan T. Brakefield
Kathryn Y. Brown
Roger D. Burgis
M. David Cain
Wyn Cain
W. Allen Davies
Eliza Davies
Mary Jo Deysach
Marty Finger
Sherm Finger
Joyce Fox
R. Gerald Fox
Barbara Greis
Alan Heatherington
Gayle Heatherington
Charles Kraemer
Lynda Kraemer
Herbert Krueger
Judith Krueger
Francis Lynch
Tricia Melzer-Swaydrak
Richard Monahan
Rosemary Monahan
Cynthia Morehead
Richard Morehead
Linda Quigley
Robert Quigley
Robert G. Shaw
Howard A. Stotler