If you are already acquainted with the American Music Research Center, then you probably know the sad news that the AMRC lost a dear friend and supporter Don Campbell to cancer on June 12. Don was a world-famous authority on the transformative power of music, a dynamic teacher and lecturer, and the author of The Mozart Effect, Healing at the Speed of Sound, and more than a dozen other books. He served on the advisory board of the AMRC for over ten years and made major contributions to many of our undertakings in that period.
Plans are already being made on several fronts to honor Don Campbell–
- The Franco-American Organ Association of Paris is about to commission a ten-minute work–by Denver-born composer David Conte–to be premiered at a memorial concert in late 2013 in Europe.
- The AMRC has announced a conference entitled Your Brain Needs Music! also scheduled to take place in fall of 2013 (see the AMRC website for further details).
- The Don Campbell Collection–a gathering of his books, papers, and a set of valuable letters written by his teacher Nadia Boulanger–has been established at the University of Colorado Boulder Library.
An endowment fund to preserve Don’s materials as well as promote ongoing activities along the lines he advocated has already received several thousand dollars in donations.
If you wish to become involved or make a contribution to any of these efforts–the commission, the production of the memorial concert CD, the AMRC conference or the library endowment–please contact Tom Riis at 303-492-7540 or AMRC office coordinator Eric Hansen at 303-735-3645.
For those who have already made donations in Don’s honor and memory, thank you very much!
