Costa Rica’s Minister of Culture and Youth bringing passion for conservation to York University
TORONTO, March 27, 2013 − Costa Rica's Minister of Culture and Youth, Manuel Obregón, a jazz pianist and composer known internationally for integrating piano and the sounds of nature, will speak about the relationship between culture and conservation at York University on Tuesday.
This special environmental jazz concert and lecture is the inaugural event in the Koerner Speaker Series in Neotropical Conservation. Funded by the Koerner Foundation and hosted by York University’s Faculty of Environmental Studies program, the series will run annually for three years to help raise awareness of the Las Nubes Project in Costa Rica.
Las Nubes, meaning “the clouds” is a rainforest donated to York University by Toronto doctor Woody Fisher in 1998. To help protect the rainforest, York’s Faculty of Environmental Studies worked with Costa Rica’s Tropical Science Centre to create a fund to support research on tropical deforestation, sustainable development and biodiversity.
Felipe Montoya-Greenheck, director of the Las Nubes Project and Chair in Neotropical Conservation at York, will speak about the Las Nubes Project, introduce Minister Obregon and facilitate a conversation with the audience. A reception with the environmental artist follows the event.
Obregón has recorded more than 20 albums. In his work Simbiosis, Obregón takes his piano into the Costa Rican rainforest, where he engages frogs, howler monkeys and songbirds with his musical compositions.
WHO: Manuel Obregón, Minister of Culture and Youth, Costa Rica (with translation)
WHAT: Performance at Inaugural Koerner Speaker Series in Neotropical Conservation
WHEN: Tues. April 2, 2013, 3:30 to 6:30pm
WHERE: Tribute Communities Recital Hall, 120 Accolade East Building, main floor, York University, Keele campus
MAP: Building 92 on the MAP
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Media Contact:
Janice Walls, Media Relations, York University, 416 736 2100 x22101 / wallsj@yorku.ca
