Sorley women raise money through song
Playing piano for charity isn’t a new feat for mother-daughter team Rebecca and Allegra Sorley.
On Sunday, Aug. 8, University of Indianapolis Associate Professor of Music Rebecca Sorley and daughter Allegra showcased their musical ability in the Ruth Lilly Performance Hall at the University of Indianapolis Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center to raise money for the International Children’s Heart Foundation (ICHF).
According to the ICHF Web site, the ICHF is an organization dedicated to providing life-saving operations for children with heart defects in developing countries where there are no properly-trained surgeons.
The Web site also states that most families are told to send their children to other countries for these surgeries, which cost money most families will never see. The ICHF is able to operate on these children due to donations they receive.
Allegra, a sophomore piano performance major at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University said she and her mother were inspired to hold a benefit recital for the ICHF because of Allegra’s long-time best friend Alexandra Miller.
“Alex was born with a congenital heart defect. Because she was born in the United States with the access to qualified doctors and medical technology, she is alive,” Allegra said. “Currently, she is 19 years old. The ICHF is able to give children a chance at survival—a chance to turn 19 years old.”
This is not the first time Rebecca and Allegra have performed a benefit recital in honor of Miller.
“In the past, Allegra and I did a benefit for the American Heart Association in honor of Alex,” Rebecca said. “This year, Alex is working to help out the International Children’s Heart Foundation and so we decided to join in the effort. Her dad, Charles Miller, works for the organization and was instrumental in organizing this event.”
Choosing Ruth Lilly Performance Hall as the location for this benefit recital seemed the best choice to Allegra.
“My mom has worked at UIndy for many years, which is mainly why we chose it,” she said. “UIndy, however, is also a convenient location in Indianapolis where the local community could attend as well as many individuals who were personally invited.”
For this recital, Rebecca and Allegra played together on one piano for certain selections and two pianos for other selections.
Some selections for one piano included a set of variations by Schubert, a Mozart Sonata and a Brahms Hungarian Dance. Selections for two pianos included “Scaramouce” by Darius Milhaud and a suite of pieces by Richard Rodney Bennett, which included “Samba Triste,” “Country Blues,” “Ragtime” and “Finale” in a rock style.
The Sorleys hoped to raise $2,500 dollars at the recital. According to Rebecca, that is the amount of money needed to provide a life-saving heart surgery for one child or infant in a developing country.
“Parents in third world countries have virtually no chance of saving their children’s lives without this surgery,” Rebecca said, “but doctors donate their time, and with this money, travel to the site and perform surgery.”
Allegra believes that considering the number of people who attended the recital, they raised a great amount of money.
“There were 50 to 60 people in attendance,” she said. “Even though this may not seem like a particularly large audience, we were still able to raise $1,900 dollars.”
This amount, however, was only the money they were able to raise on-site, and Rebecca said she hopes to raise more from Web site donations at babyheart.org.
