{"id":15319,"date":"2015-03-10T10:59:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-10T14:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=15319"},"modified":"2015-03-10T10:59:53","modified_gmt":"2015-03-10T14:59:53","slug":"jonathan-beech-memorial-concert-a-beloved-march-tradition-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=15319","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Beech Memorial Concert \u2013 a beloved March tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"

An afternoon of inspiration, gratitude\u00a0& hope<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/span>By Kim Chiomento,<\/strong><\/span> Staff Writer, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

KENNETT \u2013 It was on March 10, 2007 that fifteen year old Jonathan Beech lost a valiant fight against brain cancer.\u00a0 Jonathan was a gifted musician, excelled academically, loved life\u00a0and was deeply adored by his family and friends.<\/p>\n

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The annual concert has become a symbol of inspiration and hope.<\/p><\/div>\n

During his final days, Jonathan\u00a0was deeply saddened that he would never have the opportunity to thank every person who had done so much to help him try to overcome his insurmountable illness.\u00a0 It was during this time of despair a promise was made to him; by his parents Marty and Donna Beech, that a charitable concert would be held annually to do so.<\/p>\n

The promise gave Jonathan a great sense of peace and comfort knowing that\u00a0the chance to thank and give back\u00a0would happen. Jonathan’s mom Donna says, \u201cI believe that he knew in his heart that these annual concerts would be a key factor his dad’s, his brother David’s, and my coping with his absence and striving to go on with life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donna explains, \u201cI continue to meet many other parents who have suffered a similar loss; this concert is one means of extending to them a bit of hope that, yes, we can go on productively after suffering the worst imaginable loss…Jonathan had so much to offer this world, and part of me feels compelled to live life \u2018for\u2019 him, since he died so young. He would have been 23 last Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Beechs are both musicians; and Donna is the 2015 concert director.\u00a0 Marty, a celebrated orchestra director and string teacher in the Kennett Consolidated School Dsitrict for 39 years (now retired), continues to work with youth and embrace music through area performances — recently spotted conducting PMEA’s String Fest and performing in the orchestra pit at KHS’ spring musical, Oklahoma<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Jonathan remains and inspiration to children and their families everywhere<\/p><\/div>\n

When challenged with selecting music for this year\u2019s concert, Marty & Donna remembered a term paper Jonathan had written while in the 7th<\/sup> grade entitled\u00a0 \u2018Ludwig van Beethoven: An Overview of the Life of a Genius,\u2019\u00a0 <\/em>writing...\u201dthere was much more to Beethoven’s life than music. \u00a0His life was filled with emotion, as was his music: tragedy, triumph, and far more.”…..Though he lived a very depressing life, Beethoven created some of the most uplifting music mortals have ever heard…\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>Donna poignantly notes, \u201cThis dichotomy between tragedy and triumph, between depressing life and uplifting music, is something that brain tumor children\/teens fully understand.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result of coming across his term paper, the Beechs believe Jonathan was \u2018telling\u2019 them something; resulting in\u00a0Donna\u00a0choosing Beethoven’s works for this year’s concert.\u00a0 She describes the concert in emotional detail. “Elegy<\/em> in memory of our brain tumor children and teens who have left us too soon; \u00a0Kyrie <\/em>and Gloria<\/em> from Mass in C Majo<\/em>r, as an expression of the faith that will get us through difficult times; and Choral Fantasy<\/em> which runs the gamut of emotion from despair and hopelessness, to peace and acceptance, to a glorious hope-filled finale: \u00a0tragedy to triumph.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, Donna and Marty\u2019s efforts have raised more than $69,000 for charities including Camp Sunshine, Make a Wish Foundation, Nemours\/A.I. Dupont Hosptial for Children, Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, Children\u2019s Brain Tumor Foundation, and Compassionate Care Hospice Foundation.<\/p>\n

The Beechs invite the surrounding community to an afternoon of inspiration\u00a0and\u00a0celebration at the 2015 Jonathan Beech Memorial Concert – Saturday, March 21st<\/sup>, 2 PM \u2013 Kennett High School Auditorium.<\/strong> \u00a0This year’s proceeds benefit The Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia \u2013 Division of Neuro Oncology. \u00a0The family is\u00a0\u00a0deeply touched that Jonathan’s neuro-oncologist, Dr. Michael Fisher, will attend\u00a0and also speak at the concert.<\/p>\n

Suggested ticket donations are $20\/adult, $10\/student; the Beech Family underscores that any<\/em> contribution is welcome; and contributions are tax deductible.\u00a0Concert performers will include Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra, Kennett High School Select Choir, Kennett Middle School Treble Choir, Youth Chorale of Kennett Symphony Orchestra and Delaware Children\u2019s Chorus.<\/p>\n

For more information, please visit the Jonathan Beech Memorial Concert Home Page: www.jonathanbeechmemorialconcert.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An afternoon of inspiration, gratitude\u00a0& hope \u00a0By Kim Chiomento, Staff Writer, The Times KENNETT \u2013 It was on March 10, 2007 that fifteen year old Jonathan Beech lost a valiant fight against brain cancer.\u00a0 Jonathan was a gifted musician, excelled academically, loved life\u00a0and was deeply adored by his family and friends. During his final days, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15319"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15333,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15319\/revisions\/15333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}