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QuinTango's Greatest Rhythms From the Americas to Europe
Now Include Alexandria, Virginia

Internationally acclaimed music group QuinTango transported last Sunday's crowd at the Lyceum to another place and time... where the tango ruled! Alexandria Mayor Kerry Donley, Virginia State Delegate Brian Moran, Councilman David Speck, and other local business leaders joined a visiting French delegation and Alexandria patrons of the arts in being swept away to QuinTango's rhythmic incisiveness and sweeping melodies. The concert was interspersed with historic and musical anecdotes in English and French, expanding the traditional Buenos Aires-Paris musical connection into a new triangle that will soon include Alexandria.

"Creating new ties between the arts and education is one of our goals," says Dr. Mary Radnofsky, president of The Socrates Institute, a non-profit organization and sponsor of Sunday's concert. "With QuinTango, we now have the opportunity to develop these ties internationally from a musical perspective, so I have begun to design a new interdisciplinary program for local schools that will include the development of different kinds of music across political and cultural borders."

Dr. Radnofsky, who volunteers on the city's Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee, adds that "QuinTango's mesmerizing music is confirmation that the powerful partnership of art and education has no equal when it comes to bringing people together, so it is with great pleasure that The Socrates Institute coordinates such events with our sister cities."

Proceeds from the concert and reception will benefit The Socrates Institute's educational programs, such as those which produced the impressive 12-foot mural on display for the evening, "Visions of Alexandria: Past, Present, & Future," painted by Alexandria children to celebrate the city's 250th anniversary this past year. The current educational program,"Vision and Invention" will run through the end of 2000. A new program, entitled "The Music of Their Lives," is scheduled to be offered in Alexandria and its sister cities early next year.

Other plans for the Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee include travel to Caen with the Socrates "Visions" mural to help celebrate Bastille Day in our French sister city. The mural will be on display at Caen's city hall during the week of the July 14 celebrations. Future exchanges between Caen and Alexandria include youth internships, college student exchanges, and homestay visits.

CyberEthics Project