This Friday! Chicago Alumni Perform to Support the Orphans of Japan

Calling all Chicago fans! This Friday, violinist Kelly Talim (Show #246) and her brother Kai will be co-hosting the “Walk with Children 2012” benefit concert to help the Japanese children who were orphaned by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. They created the following video announcement (with Kai speaking) to spread the word:

Kelly and Kai will be joined by current students, alumni, and friends of the Academy at the Music Institute of Chicago, a number of whom are From the Top alumni: violinist Clayton Penrose-Whitmore (Show #191), pianist Kate Liu (Show #238), performers of Quartet Al Dente (Show #251), cellist Mariel Werner (Show #167), cellist Ben Fried (Show #200), and cellist Alexander Hersh (Show #209).

The performance will take place this Friday at 7:30pm in the Nichols Concert Hall. “Walk with Children” T-shirts will be for sale to help support the cause, in addition to ticket sales and donations. They hosted a similar event last year, and managed to raise $2,000 towards the cause! Kelly shares her hopes for this year’s event:

“As our second benefit concert, we hope to gather more people and increase awareness of the ongoing recovery of Japan. As long as schools are rebuilding and children live in devastation, we need to continue supporting the orphaned children.”

How can you help? Visit their website to learn more about the event, or visit the Facebook page to join the discussion.