Year of concerts for Langley seniors

The fine arts will soon play a larger role in a number of retirement homes in B.C., including Langley and Maple Ridge. 

A year-long concert series created through a partnership between Retirement Concepts and Health Arts Society was recently announced in Robson Square, Vancouver.

More than 250 seniors who live in Retirement Concepts sites, along with members of the public, were on hand for the Vancouver concert and the announcement of the new musical series.

It has been dubbed the Retirement Concepts Concert Series: Music that is So Nice to Come Home to. 

There will be close to 200 concerts delivered to 20 sites (nine or 10 concerts each) in the coming year according to Retirement Concepts’ communications and engagement manager Jami Brown.

“We’ve teamed up with Health Arts Society,” Brown said. “They have done concerts in our sites before.”

Brown noted it was a process of figuring out what the retirement community organization wanted to do in relation to the arts in the sites, because there is already a large interest in so many aspects of fine arts by residents.

“We also want to engage with the communities [where sites are located],” said Brown. “To demystify the concept of what a retirement home is and it’s also a great opportunity for us to invite some community stakeholders into our sites to enjoy a concert. It’s a win win on all sides.”

Kick-off concerts will be in September. Langley Seniors Village will have its first concert on Sept. 16 at 1:30 p.m., while Maple Ridge Seniors Village will have its first concert on Sept. 17 at 1 p.m.

The subsequent concerts at each location will vary between being open to the community and smaller events for residents and their families.

Health Arts Society has done a number of retirement home concerts and as Brown said, the performers enjoy their audiences of seniors. The seniors it seems, get just as much out of it.

“They [the seniors] thoroughly enjoy the entertainment,” Brown said. “These are professional musicians... and the residents love it.”

Brown sees it as something of a “coming out” party for Retirement Concepts in relation to the communities. The organization’s vice president of operations, Rowena Rizzotti, agreed.

“We are thrilled to work with Health Arts Society on bringing first class entertainment to Retirement Concepts residents and the surrounding community,” Rizzotti said. 

“It’s amazing the power music has,” Brown noted. “We can see that things like the fine arts can contribute to the lives of seniors.”

More information about specific concerts can be found at www.retirementconcepts.com.