To attend these Friday concerts is of great significance to me, as well as to many other patrons of the arts that attend on a regular basis. I am transposed to another realm of inner reality! The synthesis of being present at live performances, to listen to and watch the musicians, is a deeply artistically moving and educational experience for all!
One is carried above the mundane and stresses of everyday Vancouver city life!
We are collectively enriched by the OFL concert series that Gene Ramsbottom volunteers tirelessly to organize and publicize and cosponsor. He contacts musicians, schedules, publicizes, produces, introduces and synchronizes the concerts with Jennifer Sorko and her team of volunteer docents at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Gene's dedication, passion and commitment to presenting and performing music at the OFL, as well as other musical venues, is to be marvelled at! No other musician in Canada has created a cultural legacy to be proud of. Without his initiative and immense giving back to the community the series would not exist.
Devoted to community outreach he also conducts and performs with the Terrace Symphony on a regular basis and donates his professional services to the WestCoast Symphony as its principal clarinetist. He also donates his time in Limerick, Ireland to support the Summer Music on the Shannon Festival which provides a professional musical setting for children and young performers in County Clare, Ireland.
According to Oliver Sacks, the neurobiology of music is necessary for human beings to flourish. Music enhances mood, cardiovascular function, athletic performance, math and language skills, spatial-visual ability, and tranquility of being. Living at a time when life is so fast and demanding, these concerts provide us with a cultural hearth, where we can sit and contemplate music and the inner realms of emotion and imagination that is evoked. I think the OFL concert series envisioned and created by Gene Ramsbottom, allows us to stop and enjoy pure aesthetic beauty, helping us metamorphosize as better human beings!
Created by Gene Ramsbottom as a Centennial Project for Vancouver’s birthday in 1986, the Out for Lunch concert series, hosted and supported by the Vancouver Art Gallery since its inception, has brought thousands of local and international musicians to the attention of Vancouver audiences.
Sponsored by Gene Ramsbottom