Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind Presents: Laurie Rubin, Mezzo-Soprano

Mezzo-soprano Laurie Rubin will showcase her vocal mastery in a benefit performance for the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind. The annual luncheon will be held on Wednesday, February 13 beginning at 11:30a.m. at the beautiful Rancho Las Palmas, Rancho Mirage. Tickets are only $100.00 and can be purchased by calling 619-435-8226.

Attendees will also be treated to a special dance performance titled “Dancing from our Hearts” by Valerie Mahabir Academy of Ballet & Performing Arts Desert Youth Ballet.

An opera singer, author, jewelry maker and keeper of her beloved guide dog Popeye, Laurie Rubin is a renaissance woman who has pushed through many glass ceilings.

“People are so terrified to hire me. They are afraid I will fall into the orchestra pit,” says Rubin, who will perform songs from her recent album and read from her memoir, Do You Dream in Color? Insights From a Girl Without Sight. The title of the memoir comes from an encounter with a young fan seeking an autograph after a concert in New York.

“I’ve always thought of myself as a normal person,” she says. “But from the eyes of someone else, what they see is someone very different and isolated. They think I wouldn’t go to movies, or wouldn’t be interested in makeup or making jewelry,” a craft she picked up after a family friend who designs jewelry told her it was all a matter of touch.

Rubin, 33, who has been blind since birth, learned the lesson of being treated differently at Oberlin College, when she discovered she had not been accepted into an opera program because the director feared she would not learn the music as quickly as others.

“You’ve got to be better than the others. You’ve got to have something so compelling about your singing that they would justify going out of their way and working past their own fears to hire you,” said her voice teacher at the time.

Since graduating from Oberlin, Rubin has performed at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall in London, the Parcol Auditorium della Musica in Rome and the Lincoln Center.

“Communicative Power” and “Compelling Artistry,”

…New York Times, Anthony Tommasini, Classical Music Critic

The mission of the Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind, which began operations in 1991, is to improve the quality of life of blind people by providing them with safe mobility, independence and self-confidence through the faithful assistance of guide dogs. The Center is a registered non-profit organization supported almost entirely by donations and bequests from individuals, foundations and companies that believe in our humanitarian work.

For more information on Israel Guide Dog Center for the Blind to sponsor a puppy, or to make a donation please call 619-435-8226. Visit their website www.IsraelGuideDog.org.