As reported in the May issue of the Unification News, True Parents founded the Artists Association for World Peace in Brazil on True Parents Day. At that time Father instructed David Eaton, artistic director of the New York City Symphony, Gloria Criscioni, the famous singer from Paraguay, and soprano ___ to begin a concert tour in order to network with other artists and to begin the process of "creating a moral revolution in the arts."

In order to initiate the activities of AAWP, World CARP has been sponsoring an inaugural concert tour of the New York City Symphony Chamber Ensemble on university campuses. The tour began on May 16 in California with two concerts at Cal State L.A., two concerts at the University of California at Berkeley and a concert at Cal State Hayward.

Subsequent concerts have taken place in Chicago and New York City and the tour will conclude with performances in Washington, DC and the University of Bridgeport.

The NYC Symphony Chamber Ensemble, in its current form consists of soprano ___, violinist Makiko Morimoto, pianist Rikako Asanuma and guitarist Isamu Nakashio. A main premise of this tour is to present a wide variety of music representing many cultures and many hearts. The ensemble has been offering a variety of compositions including works by Tchaikovsky, Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, Franz Schubert, the English Renaissance composer John Dowland, Franz Lehar, Fritz Kreisler, Ludwig van Beethoven and many others.

In addition, the group has been performing art songs from Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Italy, and the United States. At The New York City performance the NYCSCE was joined by the Judeo-Spanish folk music ensemble Alhambra. It just so happened that Gloria Criscioni from Paraguay was in New York and she made a guest appearance and sang O Solo Mio to a standing ovation.

During the course of each concert, David Eaton is giving a short presentation on the goals, vision and future activities of AAWP. One hope of this new organization is to create a worldwide network of artists who will be willing to utilize their talents in a responsible fashion.

Alluding to the situation in Nazi Germany in the 1930s, Mr. Eaton told of the plight of the twentieth century German composer Paul Hindemith. When Adolph Hitler was rising to power, Hindemith was considered Germany's most talented composer. He refused to join the Nazi Party at a time when many of his colleagues were using Nazi influence to further their careers.

As a result of rejecting the Nazi ideology, Hindemith soon found his music in official disfavor which led to his fleeing to Switzerland. He eventually settled in the United State where he continued to compose, write and teach.

For Hindemith, music had "moral and ethical power," and thus composers needed to use that power with what he called "...the severest sense of moral responsibility." He correctly recognized (as did Hitler) that art had a tremendous ability to influence those who came in contact with it and therefore creative artists must exercise a degree of personal responsibility when creating. In many ways, AAWP espouses Hindemith's view of art and artists.

Another premise of the tour is to begin a talent search in order to provide young artists an opportunity to perform and document their performance. Future tours will include an audio/video team that can provide talented performers the opportunity to further their careers by offering to record their performances.

In all likelihood, the tour will resume in the autumn as students return for fall semester. Based on the response of the inaugural tour the NYCSCE, World CARP and AAWP seem to be a powerful trinity that has displayed great potential towards accomplishing God's will in the arts.

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