Music is key to charity

Two local charities are hitting the right notes, blending good music with good causes. On Thursday, the band Fiasco is playing at Bangkok Blues in Falls Church in support of No Greater Sacrifice. The mission of the organization is to help children of deceased military personnel by raising funds for the children’s college tuition.

Fiasco is made up of professionals from the District who moonlight as rockers for a reason. You’ll find a Senate committee staff director, a Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, a D.C. assistant attorney general and a teacher. In other words, more pinstripes than leather pants and ripped T-shirts.

“Playing a gig is indescribably fun - we get to pretend to be rock stars every couple of weeks. And combining that with raising money for a worthy charity is just the perfect storm. Those men and women made the ultimate sacrifice for this country, and we wanted to do our part in supporting their families,” says Mark Greenblatt, the drummer for Fiasco who works as the minority staff director for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation.

Two more bands, Blue Book Value and Moving Parts, also will play at the 7 p.m. show. A $10 donation is suggested.

On Feb. 7, it’s youngsters who will be taking the stage. The Lyceum in Alexandria is hosting a fundraising recital featuring music students from the Levine School of Music and the Washington Conservatory of Music. Admission to the 8 p.m. concert is free, but donations are being requested for the Washington Scholarship Fund, an organization that helps disadvantaged young musicians pursue their talent through education.

The recital will feature a local pianist and violinist playing works by Frederic Chopin, Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Jenny Shore, 14, is a home-schooled ninth grader. She studies piano with Mikhail Volchok, a master piano teacher at Levine School of Music and a member of the piano faculty at the University of Maryland. Jenny has been playing and composing music since she was a toddler and has been recognized with awards for composition and performance.

Godfrey Furchtgott, 15, is a 10th-grader at the French International School and studies violin with Zina Gendel at the Washington Conservatory of Music. Godfrey has been studying violin for 11 years. He also studies piano with Sana Lebedev.