'Only let me make my life simple and straight like a flute of reed for Thee to fill with music'.Tagore

 

 

Following our two concerts in Reno to benefit the local new Family Assistance Center, our trio was invited to give another fund raising concert at the St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans, for the Mount Carmel Academy for girls, devastated by hurricane Katrina. At the same time we would accompany the lovely girl's Chorale in the performance of Sister Claire Sokol's well beloved 'Canticle of Love', composed in honor of St. Therese of Lisieux.

After the concert Sister Mary Margaret, (pictured on the right), our flutist went to Georgia to visit her childhood friend and fellow musician and her husband, members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. While at their home, Mary Margaret became seriously ill and died on Sunday, October 19th, one week after performing in New Orleans. This was totally unexpected and of course, a great shock to us and to all her sisters, both here in the Carmel of Reno and her original Carmel home, the community of Barrington, where she had entered and spent many years.

In the narrative which accompanied the Desert Dawn Trio concerts, Mary Margaret has left us an intimate glance into her own spirituality and its intrinsic connection to her music, for she saw music as an expression of the inner journey of our lives. Speaking of the composers she said:

"Their passion and creativity touches our own passion and creativity. We who perform and you who participate through listening are united with each other and with these masters of musical expression. This exchange is a beauty and a radiance of God's living presence among us. Our oneness becomes a praise of God."