Next month in Toronto, you can hear some spectacular music while supporting a great cause.

Opera 5 Artistic Director Rachel Krehm and her family present a benefit concert to raise funds for St. Michael’s Hospital, where Rachel’s sister Elizabeth passed away on November 17, 2012 at the age of 22. The concert is part of an annual series started by the Krehm family in 2013, in honour of Elizabeth and of the wonderful care she received from the doctors and nurses of St. Michael’s Hospital.

This year’s concert is a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 “Resurrection” at Metropolitan United Church. Kingston Symphony music director Evan Mitchell conducts a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, the Resurrection Symphony, featuring soloists Rachel Krehm and mezzo-soprano Michèle Bogdanowicz. Mitchell leads the Pax Christi Chorale, and an orchestra of players from the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Kingston Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, and faculty at the University of Toronto.

In the past two years, this benefit concert series has raised over $27,000 for St. Michael’s. “As a family of musicians, we believe strongly in the healing and connecting power of music,” says Rachel Krehm. “We held the first memorial concert for Liz in 2013, to mark one year since her passing away. It raised such a significant sum for St. Michael’s Hospital that we decided to make it an annual event. St. Mike’s MS ICU took such good care of my sister during her stay, and we as a family want to support the unit and its staff so that it can continue to offer extraordinary care to patients and their families.”

Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony happens at 8pm on November 16th, and admission is pay-what-you-can at the door (minimum suggested donation is $20). For more info, follow the box office links below, or call 647-248-4048.