This President's Day weekend, Laurel's Montpelier Mansion and Historic Site is hosting a concert that offers its audience a chance to honor the nation's first president and support a local charity at the same time.
The mansion's annual George Washington Musicale, held on Sunday, Feb. 15, will feature members of the Musicians of Mercy, a nonprofit group composed of more than 70 musicians in the region who hold concerts to raise money for different causes.
This year, the proceeds will go to Serenity's Door, a Laurel-based nonprofit organization that offers support, including emergency and transitional housing referrals and self-esteem building workshops, to women and children who are victims of domestic abuse.
The concert will feature classical music in honor of George Washington, performed by soprano Marlissa Hudson, violist Robin Fay Massie-Pighee and pianist Dana Kristina-Joi Morgan, all three members of the Musicians of Mercy collective.
The impetus for the group came after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010. MOM founder Massie-Pighee heard about the tragedy and wanted to help, so she recruited fellow musicians to play a free benefit concert at Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore.
Since the group's inception, the Musicians of Mercy have played more than a dozen concerts in the Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area to benefit several different causes, including supporting victims of gun violence, police-community relations, Howard County's Foreign-Born Information and Referral Network for immigrants to the area and the Habitat For Humanity International Disaster Corps.
The George Washington Musicale has been held annually since the country's bicentennial in 1976. According to Montpelier museum educator Holly Burnham, the concert does not always feature a charity component.
While planning for this year's event, however, museum director Mary Jurkiewicz reached out to the Musicians of Mercy after seeing them play and reading an article in the newspaper about them. She "thought they would be a good fit for the musicale," Burnham said.
The concert will be held at the mansion and will begin at 2 p.m. Admission costs $10 for Friends of Montpelier and $15 for non-members. Free-will donations to Serenity's door will be collected at the event. Reservations required; call 301-377-7817.