Ridgefield Playhouse Presents Free Concert Thursday in Response to Orlando Tragedy

Ridgefield, CT — The Ridgefield Playhouse is hosting a free concert on Thursday, June 23, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the wake of the Orlando tragedy entitled "Our Reply to Violence."

"This concert is in response to the terrible massacre that took place in Orlando, Florida at the Pulse night club. We are doing this free concert to help heal, honor and remember the victims and to let the world know that we will not tolerate evil," Executive Director Allison Stockel said in a statement.

Stockel said they named the concert based off of the quote below written by Leonard Bernstein two days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Bernstein, along with the New York Philharmonic, performed Mahler’s Second Symphony– The Resurrection.

"We musicians, like everyone else, are numb with sorrow at this murder, and with rage at the senselessness of the crime. But this sorrow and rage will not inflame us to seek retribution; rather they will inflame our art. Our music will never again be quite the same. This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before. And with each note we will honor the spirit of John Kennedy, commemorate his courage, and reaffirm his faith in the Triumph of the Mind."

– Leonard Bernstein