Greater Green Bay Community Foundation selects the Griffon to receive grant
Midsummer’s Music’s resident string quartet, the Griffon, was recently awarded a generous grant from the Irene Daniell Kress Fund of the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation for its work with older adults and B Double Sharp program recipients for the 2021 grant period.
The quartet offers B Double Sharp presentations for patients who suffer from Alzheimer’s or dementia as well as their caregivers. The events are intended to create a welcoming atmosphere in which people can share their observations and feelings about the journey of memory loss. People with early memory loss and their caregivers gather on a regular basis to connect with others who are facing the same questions and concerns while building a support community.
“Midsummer’s Music and the Griffon String Quartet are so very grateful for the funding to support outreach and work with seniors in Green Bay,” said Midsummer’s Executive Director Allyson Fleck. “We have had incredible engagement with our seniors, especially patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia, as well as their caregivers. Many times, a caregiver will tell us following a program that their loved one had a great day thanks to our music performance and interaction. We are enriching and enhancing the quality of life for this very special community. The Griffon members are energetic and have a wonderful way of presenting themselves and the great music they play. This grant will help sustain and expand our important work with older adults in Green Bay!”
One of the most vibrant and engaging quartets of their generation, the Griffon String Quartet was formed in the fall of 2018 as a collaboration between Midsummer’s Music, the Fine Arts Institute at East High in Green Bay, and St. Norbert College in De Pere. The quartet is a groundbreaking project to enrich the lives of children and adults throughout northeast Wisconsin through concerts, workshops, and music education outreach. Extraordinary musicians who have performed with orchestras and ensembles around the globe in the finest halls from Carnegie Hall and Brazil’s Teatro Municipal de São Paulo to Japan’s Suntory Hall, and won prestigious music competitions and awards, they are equally dedicated to music education and inspiring the next generation of music lovers. Each member of the Griffon String Quartet has advanced degrees and significant professional experience, both as educators and performers, and the ensemble has been recognized for “their youthful vigor, which is absolutely infectious!”
Midsummer’s Music was co-founded in 1990 by Jim and Jean Berkenstock, long-time Door County summer residents and principal orchestral players with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. What began as two concerts among friends has become one of the Midwest’s most anticipated chamber music series, bringing thousands of chamber music enthusiasts from around the globe to the magical Door County Peninsula.