WRITTEN BY CRYSTAL SANDS
The Bangor Symphony Orchestra and its conductor, Maestro Lucas Richman, have been doing more than spreading joy through music this year; they have been using their talents to make the Bangor community a better place. From the Paths to Dignity Project to serving meals and playing music at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, the BSO is doing good work in the Bangor area and beyond.
Founded by Richman and BSO concertmaster Mitchell Newman, the Paths to Dignity Project works to use the arts to raise awareness about the homelessness crisis in America, but it does more than that. Paths to Dignity uses music to connect with the unhoused and provide an opportunity for them to explore music in a way that supports their mental health.
“The project has touched people in ways we could not have anticipated, including inspiring people to get back into expressing themselves through music,” Richman said. “Some of the unhoused have been musicians at some point in their lives and being involved in the project has revived a spark in them. We have also had people tell us they feel inspired to make the effort and get into housing.”
While the Paths to Dignity Project is a national program, Richman and Newman have spent a lot of time on the project in the Bangor area. Richman says they work to adapt the programs in each city to the needs of that city. In Bangor, one of the Paths to Dignity programs involved Richman working with HEAL (Health Equity Alliance) in Bangor to bring a four-week song writing workshop to the Health Equity Alliance Resource and Testing Center, where people who are homeless come to receive medical care. The song writing workshop encouraged people to write poetry and set it to music.
Through Paths to Dignity, Richman and Newman have also presented a violin concerto, composed by Richman and performed by Newman. The Paths to Dignity concerto for violin was performed with the Bangor Symphony Orchestra in April.
Beyond the Paths to Dignity project, Richman and the Bangor Symphony Orchestra have been doing good works in our community in a variety of ways. This year, the BSO donated a grand piano to the Wabanaki Public Health and Wellness Center and hosted a concert blending classical music and traditional Indigenous styles of music. And, twice each year, the Bangor Symphony Orchestra donates food, makes dinners, and plays music at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter.
If you would like to connect to the music the BSO brings to our community, there are opportunities coming up in 2025. Richman says a fundraiser for Dignity First in Bangor is in the works to raise funds for the unhoused in Bangor, and there will be more programs through HEAL. For example, Richman says a drumming circle with HEAL is on the horizon.
In January, the BSO Masterworks series continues with Mozart, and in March, the BSO will be playing side-by-side with young musicians in our area, performing Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance” with the Bangor Symphony Youth Orchestra. The BSO offers a number of tickets to each concert to those who are unsheltered. For more information about those tickets, contact Josh D’Alessio at the Health Equity Alliance in Bangor.
For 129 years, the BSO has been bringing beautiful music to the Bangor area, and they have been working to make our community a better place. Richman and members of the BSO are doing good work throughout the Bangor area, making connections and raising awareness about homelessness, mental health, and more.
“The services in Bangor are wonderful,” Richman said. “When you add the universal language of music, it adds a spark to the humanity and interaction between the housed and unhoused.”
