Accolades from Beaver Creek Institution Chaplain

We have enjoyed a stellar event at prison! Yes, classical music has gone behind bars to reach into the inner depths of many men who are incarcerated. And this has happened because of a fairly new foundation called Looking at the Stars, an initiative based on the hope that a quality performance of such world class music can have a profound affect upon the hearts souls and minds of such men, many of whom have never had or taken the opportunity to be moved and inspired by such a musical experience.

Yes, on two separate occasions at both the minimum and medium sites of Beaver Creek Institution during the approach to Christmas when many of “those on the inside” are especially lonely or sad or downhearted, some beautiful and really breathtaking music in the form of a Toronto Symphony Orchestra string trio, captured the attention of two  ‘sold-out’ audiences and transported us to another place. I was there and can attest to the attentiveness of the auditors as they were caught up in a musical odyssey that set them free, so to speak, for the duration of the concert. It was personally enjoyable and uplifting, and as someone working towards what is called ‘the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders’, I can witness to the rapture that many of the men felt and expressed in their own testimony after the event. Yes, it was an odyssey as you can imagine with music from such luminaries as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Vivaldi – just exceptional.

All the best,

Douglas Parrett
Aumonier catholique / Catholic Chaplain
Établissement de Beaver Creek / Beaver Creek Institution
Service correctionnel du Canada /Correctional Service of Canada
Gravenhurst, Ontario