Concert to benefit a local church

Violinist Jaime Jorge to visit Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — Violinist Jaime Jorge returns to town for a benefit concert at 7 p.m., Feb. 16, at the Wallenstien Theater on the Big Bend Community College campus. The concert is a benefit for Jorge’s international Christian ministry and for the Moses Lake Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Admission is free, but donations will be accepted.

The Adventist congregation is building a new church, said congregation member Judy Twigg, and the church’s portion of the proceeds will be used to pay some of the costs of construction. Jorge uses the rest for charitable activities, both in the U.S. and around the world.

The congregation sold its previous building in 2006 and started construction on its current building soon afterward. That construction is still ongoing, Twigg said, and there’s been progress since Jorge’s benefit concert in Moses Lake in 2018.

Jorge is a Cuban-born, classically trained violinist and a devout Christian. His family practiced its faith, which wasn’t acceptable in the communist and officially atheist society of Cuba. His family moved to the U.S. when he was 10, according to his website.

He studied music as a teen, and his mom wanted him to become a musician, the website said. But originally he wanted a career in medicine and was accepted at the University of Illinois medical school. He left medical school in his second year for a career in music and Christian ministry.

He has recorded 17 albums, many of them collections of classic hymns and inspirational music. Since 1999, he has been an adjunct professor in the Fine Arts department at Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina. Jorge also maintains an extensive touring schedule.

His charitable ministry supports Christian outreach efforts in Cuba and other communist countries, including concerts. The ministry supports orphans in India and provides musical scholarships for students in the U.S. Jorge also is working on projects to provide access to musical training for disadvantaged children in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.