With his musical performance, Martin Haselböck, Austria’s most famous organist, enthralled 900 guests in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral as part of this year's beneficial event of the H. Stepic CEE Charity. In the course of the event donations in the amount of € 35,000 were gathered. All proceeds from the charitable event are to be transferred to more than 800 children in Bosnia, in order to supply them with school packages. Thanks to this initiative these children are now able to attend school and thus, their access to education is enabled.
On 9 October 2014, a charity concert organised by the H. Stepic CEE Charity took place in the incomparable atmosphere of Vienna’s St. Stephen’s cathedral. Martin Haselböck led through the evening and enchanted the audience with some of the most acclaimed and demanding works of organ literature from Bach to Liszt as well as Widor. The reason for hosting the charity concert was the H. Stepic CEE Charity’s latest activity focusing on the project School packages for socially disadvantaged children in the returning areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) and its employees supported the H. Stepic CEE Charity with this activity. All proceeds of the evening will go directly to the children of the project, who, with the support of the charitable association, now have a chance to visit school on a regular basis. More than 800 school packages with notebooks, pens, drawing pads, water colours, and maps for geography lessons or scissors are to be given to the children thanks to the donations of the evening in the amount of € 35,000.
Famous organist guarantees interest of audience
Martin Haselböck, who received numerous honours and awards, including the Austrian Cross of Honour for Science and Art, the Prague Mozart Prize, the Hungarian Liszt Prize and lately the Grand Decoration of Honour for services to the Republic of Austria, immediately agreed to support the good cause when the H. Stepic CEE Charity approached him. “Education is of crucial importance for the future of those children. Therefore, I am very pleased to support this project with today’s concert, which enables many children in Bosnia and Herzegovina to visit school on a regular basis”, said Haselböck about his charity performance. Moreover, he thanked the H. Stepic CEE Charity for its commitment towards the project. Following studies in Vienna and Paris and receiving numerous prizes and fellowships, he gained an international reputation as an organ soloist, working with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Riccardo Muti and many others.
“We are very pleased to have signed up such an acclaimed organist with my friend Martin Haselböck, who is essentially responsible for the great interest of the audience. His commitment to the good cause enables children in Bosnia and Herzegovina to have a better future. With our charity and the Austrian-Bosnian association “MEDO” we support children in the returning areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who would otherwise not be able to visit school and take part in the daily lessons. With the proceeds of the concert we are not only able to continue the project, but can also support additional pupils to visit school”, said Herbert Stepic, founder and chairman of the H. Stepic CEE Charity.
More than 800 school packages for socially disadvantaged children in the returning areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Besides sponsoring books for the school libraries, the Charity also provides the pupils with the respective learning material. “We have now been supporting this project for two years and have managed to distribute 1,300 school packages during this time. The charity concert has enabled us to distribute further more than 800 school packages to the children in need in the region. Education offers new perspectives for these people and increases the chance for a better life. Furthermore, every child should have access to education. This way we have the possibility to design a better future for the school children in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, said Irhad Fazlic, an employee of Raiffeisen Bank International, who volunteers as project responsible and commits his time to support the school children in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Many guests and employees of RBI, who support this project, came to visit the concert in the exceptional venue of St. Stephen’s Cathedral, to enjoy the music and, at the same time, help the good cause. Further guests included among others (in alphabetical order):
Christoph Dichand, Editor Kronen Zeitung
Karlheinz Dobnigg, CEO of Raiffeisen BANK d.d. Bosna i Hercegovina
Toni Faber, Dean of St. Stephen’s Cathedral
Andreas Hämmerle, CFO Libro
Wilhelm Kovsca, KPMG
Eva Marchart, CEO Raiffeisen Centrobank
Tanja Milasinovic Martinovic, Bosnian ambassadress
Michael Müller, CEO Raiffeisen Bank Austria d.d. in Croatia
Johannes Porak, Board Member of UNIQA International AG
Alexander Richard, Columbus Reisebüro
Photos: Harald Humml & Georg Köldorfer
