Teens to spend their Saturday night in concert for seniors
How would two teenage girls choose to spend a Saturday night? Why, playing music for residents of a retirement home, of course.
No, it's not some sort of joke, but just another testament that Palatine is home to some really good kids.
Nancy and Olga O'Toole, 17-year-old seniors at Fremd High School, are getting together with some friends to give a classical chamber music concert at 7 p.m. April 26 at Tamarack retirement home, 55 S. Greeley St. in Palatine. People in the community also are welcome to attend the concert.
The girls previously organized a concert for the Tamarack residents in February in which 12 people performed: Crystal Qi on violin; Joann Kang on piano and traditional Chinese instrument the Er-hu; Nancy O'Toole on viola and voice; Laura Winkleman on voice; Olga O'Toole on viola; Laura Gong on violin; Sarah Lee on violin; Meghan O'Toole (their 13-year-old sister) on cello; Annie Kuan on piano and traditional Chinese instrument, the Er-Hu; Jamie Price on keyboard; Ashley Witt on harp; and Christina Diba on voice.
"Olga and I have been working at the Tamarack retirement home as servers for over a year now. … We wanted to invite them to come to our music concerts at school, but many of the residents use walkers or are in wheelchairs, so they weren't able to come to our concerts at school. We decided that we would bring the music to them," Nancy said.
"We began with the two of us playing in their little fireplace room. And then we had a small performance at their weekly coffee and doughnuts. Then Nancy and I thought of the idea of a bigger concert. They invited family members to come watch and they enjoyed it so much that we still hear compliments to this day," Olga said.
Performers at the April 26 concert will be the three O'Toole sisters, as well as their brother Adam O'Toole on piano; Obed Chung on piano, Joann Kang on piano; Patrick Kennedy on piano, Annie Kuan on piano, Therese Halm on piano, Yale Cho on violin, Crystal Qi on violin, Christina Diba on voice, Milon Trilling on clarinet, Erin Cho on cello, Hong Qian on violin, Ryoh Shinohara on flute, Sarah Thio on piano, Marla Caballero (the orchestra director at Fremd) on viola; and Amanda Lee on oboe.
The O'Toole girls say they really enjoy performing for the seniors.
"I love the feeling of making so many people happy, by doing such a little thing," Nancy said.
Olga added that they are already planning to have another concert in the summer and also to expand to other nursing and retirement homes in the area.
Karin Shideler, co-manager at Tamarack, said the staff has been encouraging the girls to perform for the residents.
"We feel this is a great thing for our seniors to have involvement with all ages. The fact they're so musically talented adds another dimension. We're really glad that they're here with us," Shideler said .
April 26 is also Tamarack's grand re-opening from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. with tours and a special drawing. A veterans group also will do a special presentation that day.
Learn about Lincoln: The Palatine Historical Society will present "Lincoln Tales Tall and True" by Brian Ellis at their general meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Palatine Public Library 700 N. North Court in Palatine. Ellis steps into character to allow audiences to step back in time and meet Lincoln during many facets of his life, including his childhood, career as a lawyer, and presidency. The meeting is open to the public. Call (847) 991-6460.