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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
New Rochelle, NY, United States, 04/15/2007 - On Monday, May 7, 2007 opera superstar Renee Fleming and her sister, jazz vocalist Rachelle Fleming will appear together in a special benefit concert at New Rochelle High School to support the city's middle school and high school chess teams.
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Two magical voices will be featured in a benefit concert unlike any other when the Fleming sisters perform at New Rochelle High School on Monday, May 7 at 7:30 pm Internationally acclaimed opera superstar Renee Fleming and jazz vocalist Rachelle Fleming will perform in a special one-night-only event at New Rochelle High School to raise money for New Rochelle’s middle school and high school chess teams. The sisters will be performing in the high school’s intimate "House IV" Theater.
Audience members will have the opportunity to meet the Fleming sisters at a special reception and art exhibition, featuring the work of David Tobey, after the concert. Tickets for this very special event cost $200 and are available by calling the PAVE office, 914-576-5643. Seating is limited, and tickets are being sold on a first come, first served basis. Checks can be made payable to IEYMS-SO and sent to: PAVE Office, New Rochelle High School, 265 Clove Road, New Rochelle, NY 10801.
The sisters are performing to benefit a cause near and dear to their brother Ted’s heart. A teacher at Isaac E. Young Middle School, Ted Fleming has been coaching the chess team for several years. “The elementary schools in New Rochelle, especially Columbus and Ward, have strong chess teams and get a lot of support,” says Fleming. “But chess at the two middle schools and the high school hasn’t been as well funded. My goal is to be able to hire Grand Masters to help these kids grow as chess players and be able to compete on the national level.”
Fleming points out that chess has become increasingly popular with college recruiters. During the past decade, a growing number of public colleges have developed major chess programs with paid coaches and scholarships for star recruits to burnish their academic reputations. According to the U.S. Chess Federation, scholastic chess has grown enormously in the past several years: Last spring, the SuperNationals (the combination of the three spring national tournaments into one and held every four years) “attracted over 5,300 players from kindergarten through the 12th grade from all over the United States, the largest scholastic tournament ever held!"
Ted Fleming sees chess as a path to higher education for some of his students who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend college. To that end, he reached out to his sisters for help to raise the money needed to hire first-rate instructors.
In addition to the concert, artist David Tobey, son of the late internationally known painter, illustrator and muralist Alton S. Tobey will be exhibiting his art in the Museum of Arts & Culture at the school from May 1st until May 7th, and will be donating 40% of any sales during the event to the secondary chess program. He is also donating 100% of the sales price of “Chess,” a painting created especially for the benefit, to the programs.
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