Help Can't Wait

To address humanitarian crises around the world, musical organizations at Yale have organized several benefit concerts to raise funds for relief.

Two concerts responded to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011. The Yale Institute of Sacred Music presented Bach Collegium Japan with director Masaaki Suzuki (a member of the School of Music faculty) in a benefit concert on March 26. On March 11, the School of Music presented the Tokyo String Quartet – in residence at the School since 1976 – and guests in a benefit concert in Battell Chapel.

The first Help Can't Wait benefit concert was organized in response to the tsunami and earthquakes in Southeast Asia and the Pacific in 2004. The second, in 2005, devoted its proceeds to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina.

For the "Help Can't Wait" concert in April of 2008, all proceeds were given to major charities providing services to the victims of the earthquakes in China, the typhoon in Myanmar, and the tornadoes in the United States. To ensure that these three disaster areas would be served, benefits were shared by the American Red Cross, Save the Children, and AmeriCares.

For the latest information on Yale's relief efforts, visit relief.yale.edu.