Heart strings: A Highland Park community string orchestra`s last concert of the season will be special to the musicians and to a Highland Park family. When the Highland Park Strings perform at 4 p.m. today at Highland Park High School, they will be playing with Eugene H. Abrams in mind. Abrams, a strong supporter of Chicago`s performing arts and friend of the Strings` conductor, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Assistant Concert Master Francis Akos, had attended Strings concerts faithfully before his death last year. Wife Marcy, who wanted to do something special in Abrams` memory, is picking up approximately half the concert`s cost.
”My husband had three loves in his life: His family, helping young people achieve their dreams and music,” Marcy said. Abrams, who taught at the University of Wisconsin and Oakton College, had devoted his life to helping young adults. The concert, which features a promising young musician, seemed perfect to Marcy.
The concert soloists include saxophonist Eric Gargrave, a 1991 winner of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra`s Illinois Young Performers competition, along with Lyric Opera violist Rami Solomonow.
General manager and founder Lawrence Block hopes the donation will set a precedent. This is the first concert in the Strings` 13-year-history to have semi-sponsorship. Concerts, given five times a year under park district auspices, are free. Concertgoer donations offset 15 percent of the season`s more than $20,000 cost.
Park district officials say that the money is well spent but that they are feeling the same budget crunch as other taxing bodies limited by the state`s recently imposed tax cap. They will be looking to the Strings for fundraising help in the future. And the Strings` founder wants to oblige.
”We are hoping the idea of a semi-sponsorship might grow a little. We would like it to attract others who might similarly want to honor or memorialize someone in a way that benefits our community,” Block said.
