Concerts for Hope brings positive message to CCWF

Beautiful strains of music transformed the CCWF Main Gym into a heavenly space as Eric Genuis’ Concerts for Hope performed for CCWF on May 8 and 9.

Genuis founded the nonprofit Concerts for Hope in 2016 to bring live music to audiences who rarely get to enjoy it. The concerts are a soul-filling experience where producer and elite musicians intersperse performance with personal stories to deliver a message of compassion, redemption, and hope.

“I love that they see us, that they took the time and came in here,” said resident Moy Ellis. “I’m glad to be a part of something breathtaking…it took me to a place of musical peace.”

Genuis’ original compositions fuse his own modern, emotive style with classical elements. He is also a pianist who has recorded several CDs with the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra, and he has scored music for independent films.

Genuis said he travels with an ensemble of musicians from around the world, making multi-day excursions with his own stage and sound equipment. His ensembles — whose members vary depending on availability — perform for celebrities, carrying his message of compassion to the wealthy. Then they pay it forward by blessing prisons and youth detention facilities around the country.

The evening of the May 9 performance featured pieces for trio and quartet, performed with violin, cello, operatic vocals, and piano.

The positive impact was obvious in residents’ rapt attention, tears, and murmurs of “Mhm, that’s right.”

Lean and energetic with light eyes, a lavender shirt, and close-cropped hair contrasting with his black dress suit, Genuis captured the room with his brief introduction. Then the gym was transformed as the lights dimmed and our minds followed the spotlights to become immersed in the lively expression of the musicians.

“Music is such a powerhouse in our culture… We’ve never, ever had such ready access to music, and our kids are so inundated with (popular) music,” Genuis said to the audience.

Genuis explained how music industry leaders sell music, feeding songs over and over into young minds until people aspire to what’s advertised: money, status, and sex appeal.

Both girls and boys start to internalize that their very worth lies in superficial things, rather than in their strength, creativity, compassion for others, and unique abilities, he said.

“His presentation really made me think, ‘What am I putting into my body, through my eyes and my ears, and how is that affecting how I view the world and how I feel about it?’” resident Krysten Webber said of the performance.

Between pieces, Genuis shared more of his story. While his daughter’s Down syndrome requires special care and patience, she also embodies perfect, uninhibited human compassion.

He recalled a visit to a senior facility, where his young daughter spotted an elderly woman sobbing. Without hesitation, she went to the woman, crawled into her lap, pressed her forehead against the woman’s, and started to cry with her. This was, he said, the purest empathy. He explained that people with Down syndrome don’t have the negative judgment of self or others that the rest of us battle.

Genuis implored the audience to hold onto a belief in second chances, and he lives this belief by sharing his compassion with the incarcerated. But first, he had to learn forgiveness and redemption for himself when his 25-year-old son Gabriel took his own life.

The audience cried while Genius described learning of Gabriel’s death after he’d stayed an extra night on a tour. He relayed how the “arrows” of self-condemning thoughts began to strike his mind.

“If I hadn’t decided to stay an extra night, I would’ve been there; if only, if only,” he said.

This mental spiral only leads to self-sabotage, even self-harm, he said, and what good are we to anyone while we’re stuck in that space?

“Just because a thought comes to your mind, it doesn’t become part of your story,” Genius told the crowd. “Stop the little lies. No more shame, no more blame, no more guilt, no more lies.”

This phrase is his mantra and a perfect segue to his next piece, “Redemption.”

He encouraged all mothers and parents never to give up on their kids, and even if they can’t talk to them regularly or at all, to keep letters or a journal for their children’s future selves. When they feel their mom forgot about them or didn’t care, the letters will show the truth of love.

Genuis wrote the deeply touching finale as a love song for his daughter, whom he never gave up on. It is titled, “Here I Am.”

Residents can enjoy Genius’ concerts on their own, as they are also available on GTL tablets in the Edovo app. Search Edovo for “Eric Genuis.”