Spirit and Place Festival event features panel discussion on healing power of music

Indianapolis, Nov. 8, 2017 – The famed Indianapolis Children’s Choir (ICC) will perform and a panel of experts will participate in a discussion about the healing power of music on Thursday, Nov. 9, at the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.

Held in conjunction with the 2017 Spirit & Place Festival in Indianapolis, the event will take place in the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation Concourse at Eskenazi Health beginning at 6:30 p.m.

The concert and panel discussion will demonstrate how music is a powerful influence in our lives and provides a powerful healing influence. Research indicates exposure to music, when combined with traditional medical care, yields better health outcomes. Music has proven to be effective in treating a wide variety of conditions, from stress and depression, to addiction and pain management, to healing and recovery after surgery.

The panel discussion focusing on the power music has over our lives will feature Marianne Tobias, founder of the Marianne Tobias Music Program  at Eskenazi Health, ISO Musicologist, ISO concertmaster Zachary DePue and Malaz Boustani, M.D., founder and director of the Aging Brain Center at Eskenazi Health. The panel discussion, moderated by Eskenazi Health chief medical officer, David Crabb, M.D. will be followed by a special performance by the ICC, featuring a song performed jointly with Zachary DePue.

Now in its 27th season, the ICC has grown to become one of the largest children’s choirs in the world. Founded by Artistic Director Henry Leck, the ICC serves over 3,000 central Indiana children from pre-school age through high school. ICC nurtures and inspires student achievement through quality music education and the pursuit of artistic excellence in choral music performance, envisioning a future where excellence in choral singing is valued and supported for all children in the community – bridging cultures, ethnicities and economic backgrounds.

The winner of the NUVO Cultural Vision Award and the Indiana Achievement Award, the Spirit & Place Festival reaches 20,000 people annually through dozens of "never-seen-before" programs. Artists and authors, entrepreneurs and neighborhood organizers, storytellers and scholars come together with singles and couples, families and friends in a true community conversation.

Together, Eskenazi Health, the Marianne Tobias Music Program, ICC, and the panel of experts will demonstrate the power of music to transform lives with a backdrop of the inspiring environment of Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.

This free event is part of the Marianne Tobias Music Program at Eskenazi Health, which brings music to patients, visitors and staff at Eskenazi Health. Tobias helped to establish the program, including donating a concert grand piano that resides in the main concourse of the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital.

To learn more about the Marianne Tobias Music Program, and to find a list of upcoming concerts, please contact the Eskenazi Health Foundation at 317.880.4900 or visit www.EskenaziHealthMusic.com.

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For nearly 160 years, Eskenazi Health has provided high-quality, cost-effective, patient-centered health care to the residents of Marion County and Central Indiana. Accredited by The Joint Commission, nationally recognized programs include a Level I trauma center, regional burn center, comprehensive senior care program, women’s and children’s services, teen and adolescent care programs, Eskenazi Health Midtown Community Mental Health, and a network of primary care sites located throughout the neighborhoods of Indianapolis known as Eskenazi Health Center. In partnership with the Regenstrief Institute, Eskenazi Health conducts groundbreaking work that informs health information technology around the globe. Eskenazi Health also serves as the sponsoring hospital for Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services. As the public hospital division of the Health and Hospital Corporation of Marion County (HHC), Eskenazi Health partners with the Indiana University School of Medicine whose physicians provide a comprehensive range of primary and specialty care services. In December 2013, Eskenazi Health moved to its new main campus and opened the brand new Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital. The new modern and efficient facility is Central Indiana’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Gold health care campus and offers unique features like a one-of-a-kind sky farm and extensive art collection. Eskenazi Health Foundation was the recipient of $40 million gift from Indianapolis couple Sidney and Lois Eskenazi to assist with building the brand new hospital facilities. HHC recognized this generous gift by naming the new hospital and health system in the Eskenazis’ honor.

CONTACT: Tom Surber
Phone: 317.880.4793
Cell: 317.402.9327
Pager: 317.310.6589
E-mail:  thomas.surber@eskenazihealth.edu