London (Top40 Charts/ Saratoga Performing Arts Center) Can music change the world? Greek concert pianist Panos Karan will travel 5,000 miles along the Amazon River to make sure it does. Panos formed Keys of Change, to introduce the world of live classical music to people in remote villages along the Amazon River who might never otherwise have such an opportunity. Panos KaranBeginning 1st March 2011 Panos will carry a portable keyboard and embark on the first of three adventures down the Amazon. The idea for this project came from the desire to share the empowering effects of music with people that never had a chance to listen to our music before, who at the same time have no preconceptions about it. Panos Karan says about this ambitious project: "Our generation of musicians has reached unprecedented refinement and virtuosity in musical performance, having been taught in specialist schools and conservatoires, by specialist professors, with the aim to share this music in specialist concert halls for specialist audiences. Music, however, and its benefits can be felt by everyone, not just professionals and specialists. A Bach Prelude and Fugue or a Rachmaninov Piano Concerto belong in the Amazon Rainforest as much as on the glamorous stage of Carnegie Hall. Somewhere along those lines the idea emerged to travel as far as it takes to find people that are not infected by the travesty that our classical music can only speak to a specialist few." Keys of Change founder, 28-year old Panos Karan, was educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He made his professional debut performing at the Southbank Centre at the age of 19. Other notable appearances have included two solo recitals at Carnegie Hall, Hermitage Theatre (St. Petersburg) and the Athens Megaron Concert Hall. In 2009 he recorded Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Orion Symphony Orchestra. Keys of Change was established in August 2010 with the aim of advancing the lives of children and young people in remote communities around the world through music and education. The Condor Trust for Education, our partner in Ecuador, provides financial support to children in South America, who are desperate to attend secondary school but whose families cannot afford to send them to school. Keys of Change is working together with The Condor Trust for Education in Ecuador and aims to support several children in the Amazon so they can continue their education in secondary school.
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