The first session of Elders Empowering Elders featured the wonderful musical partnership of Claire Klein Osipov and Wendy Bross Stuart, it was held on Friday 20 November 2013, jointly with the Sholom Aleichem Seniors of the Vancouver Peretz Centre.

Claire and Wendy explained the influence that music has exerted on their lives – its strong influence on everything they have done in general – and how their involvement with music has been an empowering force.

They followed this explanation with a beautiful recital which certainly demonstrated the power of music, and how it can act as a common language to stimulate and inspire us in our senior years.

Claire and Wendy attracted a record attendance, and the positive and most enthusiastic response of the audience was clearly expressed in the evaluation forms.

We learned that Music is a common thread that unites us all and it knows no boundaries or borders. It is a language that all cultures share, and it manages to transcend cultural conflict.

Music builds self-confidence and self-value, and Musical Empowerment creates a space in which people from diverse backgrounds can help and learn from each other.