"Donna Stoering is a visionary social entrepreneur...."
"Thank you for being a conduit for transformation and elevation of the human spirit. We need this now more than ever! You are to music what Mother Teresa of Calcutta was to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying....." Michelle Anton, nationally respected consultant and former producer of Oprah
"Your plans to use music as a tool for community building and conflict resolution are an inspiration to not only our listeners but also to me - thank you!" Program host/interviewer for 1-hour special about DS on the BBC Radio, UK
Donna Stoering is an award-winning musician, educator, media producer/host and social entrepreneur. A former Marshall Scholar (who fortunately studied both music and sociology at university) she has served as Artistic Ambassador for both the U.K. and USA to countries worldwide. She discovered during those travels that musicians of all cultures were struggling to keep both their families and their village traditions alive, and while they believed in the power of music, they themselves felt powerless to ever gain the opportunities to share their own music cultures on global media.
While still based in London and pondering those situations for so many master musicians around the globe, Donna founded the global music-service organization Listen for Life (ListenForLife.org) which has now grown to include volunteers in over 60 countries, impacting the lives of over 10 million individuals worldwide through projects, productions and programs that use music in innovative ways to address the specific issues, challenges and opportunities in each community. The global headquarters of Listen For Life is now in California, USA where it is an award-winning 501c3 organization, and Donna continues to travel as a project creator, keynote speaker, concert and festival producer, TEDx presenter, guest artist teacher, concert pianist, recording artist and television presenter for music-based programs on international networks, while serving as Executive and Creative Director of LFL.
Listen For Life has now celebrated 23 years of determined, generous service to communities and musicians alike, despite national and global economic downturns and financial challenges where Donna and her husband sold their homes and stock shares to continue important projects when committed sponsors had defaulted. Honoring her countless hours of persistent, dedicated and donated time for Listen For Life musicians and projects worldwide, Ms. Stoering has been presented with a variety of awards from both national and international organizations.
Donna says that she feels her personal mission is twofold:
1) to help all people to become aware of music's unique power to heal our bodies, minds, and spirits (and to learn how to use it to achieve those aims) and
2) to help other musicians by inspiring and empowering them to use their gifts in the service of others - whether that is the creation and distribution of special music-medicine resources for patients (and exhausted nursing staff) worldwide during the Covid pandemic, or sound healing treatments for Veterans and refugees; preserving at-risk music cultures through award-winning global media programs; gathering the master musicians of four warring Middle Eastern countries to perform together as new friends onstage at Carnegie Hall while addressing the UN about music's place in conflict resolution; or creating/producing unique cross-cultural music festivals and online music-education series.
Donna knows that most musicians truly want to make a difference but don't always know how to begin, so she tries to provide the organization, the impetus, and the training, as well as the networking contacts, advertising partners and corporate sponsors to help. Funding is the only constant obstacle, but it doesn't stop the efforts or the process. (Donations to Listen4Life Foundation are always deeply appreciated and easy/secure to make at https://www.listenforlife.org/donate.html )
Below are two clips from very early days of Donna's social entrepreneur activities, where she is describing (on Brazil TV) her thoughts on the purpose of music as a vehicle for change, and (on Comcast) her vision for Listen For Life to perhaps be the engine for that vehicle.
Now, many years and successful projects, productions, products and performances later, you can view news about the current goals and activities of ListenForLife at their website, ListenForLife.org, and on all of their social media platforms.
"Your plans to use music as a tool for community building and conflict resolution are an inspiration to not only our listeners but also to me - thank you!" Program host/interviewer for 1-hour special about DS on the BBC Radio, UK
Donna Stoering is an award-winning musician, educator, media producer/host and social entrepreneur. A former Marshall Scholar (who fortunately studied both music and sociology at university) she has served as Artistic Ambassador for both the U.K. and USA to countries worldwide. She discovered during those travels that musicians of all cultures were struggling to keep both their families and their village traditions alive, and while they believed in the power of music, they themselves felt powerless to ever gain the opportunities to share their own music cultures on global media.
While still based in London and pondering those situations for so many master musicians around the globe, Donna founded the global music-service organization Listen for Life (ListenForLife.org) which has now grown to include volunteers in over 60 countries, impacting the lives of over 10 million individuals worldwide through projects, productions and programs that use music in innovative ways to address the specific issues, challenges and opportunities in each community. The global headquarters of Listen For Life is now in California, USA where it is an award-winning 501c3 organization, and Donna continues to travel as a project creator, keynote speaker, concert and festival producer, TEDx presenter, guest artist teacher, concert pianist, recording artist and television presenter for music-based programs on international networks, while serving as Executive and Creative Director of LFL.
Listen For Life has now celebrated 23 years of determined, generous service to communities and musicians alike, despite national and global economic downturns and financial challenges where Donna and her husband sold their homes and stock shares to continue important projects when committed sponsors had defaulted. Honoring her countless hours of persistent, dedicated and donated time for Listen For Life musicians and projects worldwide, Ms. Stoering has been presented with a variety of awards from both national and international organizations.
Donna says that she feels her personal mission is twofold:
1) to help all people to become aware of music's unique power to heal our bodies, minds, and spirits (and to learn how to use it to achieve those aims) and
2) to help other musicians by inspiring and empowering them to use their gifts in the service of others - whether that is the creation and distribution of special music-medicine resources for patients (and exhausted nursing staff) worldwide during the Covid pandemic, or sound healing treatments for Veterans and refugees; preserving at-risk music cultures through award-winning global media programs; gathering the master musicians of four warring Middle Eastern countries to perform together as new friends onstage at Carnegie Hall while addressing the UN about music's place in conflict resolution; or creating/producing unique cross-cultural music festivals and online music-education series.
Donna knows that most musicians truly want to make a difference but don't always know how to begin, so she tries to provide the organization, the impetus, and the training, as well as the networking contacts, advertising partners and corporate sponsors to help. Funding is the only constant obstacle, but it doesn't stop the efforts or the process. (Donations to Listen4Life Foundation are always deeply appreciated and easy/secure to make at https://www.listenforlife.org/donate.html )
Below are two clips from very early days of Donna's social entrepreneur activities, where she is describing (on Brazil TV) her thoughts on the purpose of music as a vehicle for change, and (on Comcast) her vision for Listen For Life to perhaps be the engine for that vehicle.
Now, many years and successful projects, productions, products and performances later, you can view news about the current goals and activities of ListenForLife at their website, ListenForLife.org, and on all of their social media platforms.
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