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News : Bahamas Information Services Updates Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM


COB Professor Performs at International Harmony for Peace Concert
By Office of Communication, The College of The Bahamas
Apr 16, 2015 - 3:07:40 PM

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Classical pianist and Associate Professor of Music at COB Dr. Paul Shaw.

When classical pianist and Associate Professor of Music at The College of The Bahamas Dr. Paul Shaw brought the awe-inspiring work of Claude Debussy and Sergei Rachmaninoff to life in Kioi Hall in Tokyo, Japan, it was more than a display of remarkable skill.

Dr. Shaw and the other acclaimed musicians who performed at the Harmony for Peace Foundation’s Peace Concert in March, held to commemorate the 70th anniversary since the end of the Second World War, were using music to promote peace, friendship and understanding among cultures, nations and generations.

The concert also featured the founder of the Harmony for Peace Foundation, harpsichordist Yasuko Mitsui, a native of Hiroshima, Japan, and artists representing China, France, Great Britain, Kazakhstan, Russia, and South Korea.

The Peace Concert in Tokyo was the third event of its kind in which Professor Shaw has participated over the years. His first was at Carnegie Hall and that concert was organised to coincide with the United Nations Conference on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

“Musicians are getting together from various countries to show that we can collaborate, we can work together and if we are friends we are less likely to point weapons at each other,” explained Dr. Shaw.

“The person who founded Harmony for Peace - Yasuko Mitsui - said that we are actually creating a better world for our children so she insists in all of these peace concerts that the established artists perform along with young people at the concert.”

The performances drew unrelenting applause from the more than 600-strong audience in the prestigious Kioi Hall.

Dr. Shaw acknowledged the significance of efforts to end global violence such as the Peace Concerts held by the Harmony for Peace Foundation.

“The more peaceful we are, the happier we are. I think a lot of time, energy, and resources are wasted on fighting, whether it’s producing weapons or dissipating our energy in anger. I think we should turn our resources towards positive things and the world would be much less bankrupt,” he said.

He reasoned that “music is a natural bridge”.

“Everybody loves music. We might have different tastes in music, but music is a universal language, not only in that it speaks to our emotions and shows our humanity, but everybody has some branch of it that he or she loves. So, it’s something that we all have in common. That in itself helps to bring us together,” Dr. Shaw said.

Professor Shaw explained, with much enthusiasm, that he has already begun preparations for a Bahamian version of the Peace Concerts under the auspices of the Harmony for Peace and Hope Foundation. That concert would also prominently feature the talents of young performers.

According to Dr. Shaw, young people play a significant role at these Peace Concerts as they represent the future and hold the potential of realising a world in which violence and war no longer have a place.

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