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Roger Benedict: Concert for Life

A musician’s plan to raise awareness of suicide prevention. Three years ago my godson Alex took his own life, aged 24. He was a wonderful young man who had so much to give and so much still to experience. Along with all his friends and family I was left wondering what I could have done to help prevent his death. I started to read about suicide and was shocked at the statistics; suicide is the biggest cause of death for people aged 15-45 and accounts for twice the number of deaths as road accidents. Deaths by suicide have reached a ten-year peak; this equates to almost 7 deaths by suicide every day in Australia, and it is estimated that for every completed suicide as many as 30 people attempt. These are our friends, our colleagues, our neighbours, people from literally all walks of life. So many lives are wasted. I realised we need to start talking about suicide much more openly, and learn how to better support those at risk. Concert for Life from ∑ ∞ on Vimeo. I hatched a plan. September 10, 2015 is World Suicide Prevention Day so I decided to organise a concert on this day to…

August 21, 2015
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Editor’s Letter: August 14, 2015

It may not be Christmas just yet, but presents are definitely in the air. No, it’s not Christmas just yet, but while most of us are to be found hunkering down against the winter blasts, presents are definitely in the air. Yes, it’s the time of year when PRs lose what little hair they have left and arts companies across Australia are to be found frantically wrapping up their next year’s seasons before gifting them to a culture-hungry public. And although noticeably fewer organisations this year are launching with a champagne-popping, canapé guzzling media bash (a sign of small annual surpluses and cash-strapped, Brandis-threatened times), there’s still plenty of optimism in the air. Last week saw the Sydney Symphony Orchestra first out of the traps waving Lang Lang, Ashkenazy’s Beethoven and a concert version of Porgy and Bess under our noses. In a nicely curated programme their was a strong sense of commitment to new music and the announcement of Brett Dean as Artist in Residence was the icing on the cake. This week the Queensland Symphony Orchestra are dangling not just Lang Lang in front of us but a second helping of Maxim Vengerov, as well as an impressive line up……

August 14, 2015