NEW YORK CITY – A memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2025, to celebrate the life and achievements of Dr. Joseph Sonnabend. The pioneering AIDS doctor, researcher and safe-sex educator died in January of 2021 after extensive health challenges at age 88.
April 12, 2025
Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
243 Thompson ( wheelchair accessible entrance )
New York, NY 10012.
2:30 to 5:30pm.
Doors open at 1:30pm
The event will also be livestreamed https://www.youtube.com/live/ArrUB0R0vRY
The public is welcome to attend.
The service will consist of tributes by Sonnabend’s colleagues, friends and former patients, interspersed by music that he composed. The pieces will be performed by a group of distinguished musicians from the United Kingdom, including Charles Mutter, Emily Earl, Idlir Shyti and Morgan Hayes.
The event will draw members of the international AIDS community. Eulogists will include writers, veteran AIDS advocates and activists, and noted medical professionals, including Dr. Rebecca Pringle-Smith, Simon Watney, Rebecca Jordan-Young, PhD, Gregg Gonsalves, PhD, Sean Strub, Bill Hibsher, Ivy Kwan Arce, Richard Berkowitz, Dr. Donald Kotler, Kevin Frost, Eric Sawyer, Jack Waters, Ash Kotak and Miriam Lewis Sabin.
Pioneering AIDS researcher and clinician Joseph Sonnabend conducted some of earliest research into AIDS. In 1983 he founded AIDS Research, the first professional peer-reviewed publication focused on the epidemic. The same year, Sonnabend, working with AIDS patients Michael Callen and Richard Berkowitz, introduced the concept of “Safer Sex” in the booklet How to Have Sex in an Epidemic: One Approach. Sonnabend was co-founder of the AIDS Medical Foundation, the first AIDS research group, now known as the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR). He helped launch the Community Research Initiative, which undertook AIDS clinical trials and co-founded the PWA Health Group, the first AIDS buyers’ club.
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Organizers:
David Kirschenbaum, Simon Watney and Ivy Kwan Arce.
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​https://divineartrecords.com/recording/joseph-sonnabend-instrumental-and-chamber-works/#
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Musician / Collaborators :
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Emily Earl is a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra and Principal 2nd violin of the Fantasia Orchestra, who made their BBC Proms debut in 2024.
She holds a Master of Arts from the Royal Academy of Music and was awarded the J&A Beare Bow Prize when she graduated in 2019. Emily was a semi-finalist in the Royal Overseas League Strings category in 2019, and had concerto performances with Sutton Symphony Orchestra and Kingston Chamber Orchestra in 2022. While studying in Oslo as an undergraduate, Emily worked regularly with the Oslo Camerata and co-produced a chamber festival in her final year. Emily has recently taken up bouldering, and owns an extensive plant collection.
Michael Finnissy was born in Tulse Hill, London in 1946. He is one of the most acclaimed living composers whose works (450 to-dates) are performed worldwide and recorded on many labels. In addition, there are two substantial books about his music. His output is richly varied in both inspiration sources and surface qualities ranging from the textural density of ‘ Sea and Sky ‘ for orchestra to the melodic simplicity of the Christmas carol ‘Telling’. As a pianist he is particularly associated with the commissioning and performing of new British work and his extensive activities as a pianist for dance.
Morgan Hayes’s principal teachers were Michael Finnissy and David Branson. He is now professor of composition at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Career highlights have included a Violin Concerto, Orchestral piece for the BBC proms and a 20 minute piano solo for Jonathan Powell which he played in Bilbao and Darmstadt. As a pianist Morgan has worked for many leading dance companies, playing at the Royal Opera House, English National Ballet and Wayne Mcgregor Company. He met Joseph Sonnabend at one of Gerald Levin’s weekly dinner parties/ soirées in Covent Garden and lived in the same neighbourhood in the last decade of his life.www.morganhayes.com
Charles Mutter was born in 1970, in Sussex. He studied with Anthony Stevenson, Andrew Sherwood, Kenneth Piper (while a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal College of Music), David Takeno (while at Jesus College, Cambridge) and Simon Fischer. As Associate Leader (co-concertmaster) of the BBC Concert Orchestra since 2007, Charles has performed and recorded solo works by Armstrong Gibbs, Beethoven, Bruch, Dvorak, Elgar, Muhly, Sibelius, Vaughan Williams and Weill. During lockdown his home recordings ranged from solo works for BBC Radio 3 to film scores and even the 2021 Oscars!
Idlir Shyti is an Albanian cellist based in London. He studied at the École Normale de Musique de Paris with Anssi Karttunen and the Royal College of Music with Richard Lester. As a soloist, Idlir has performed with ensembles such as Südwestdeutsche Kammerorchester Pforzheim, Southbank Sinfonia amongst others. He is a passionate chamber musician, having appeared at renowned festivals and collaborated with leading artists. His discography includes Intercourse of Fire and Water and Sonnabend: Instrumental and Chamber Music Works.
Andrew Toovey studied composition with Jonathan Harvey, Michael Finnissy and Morton Feldman. His work embraces diverse influences and reflects his passion for 20 & 21st century visual art. For further information please look at the website www.andrewtoovey.co.uk or the extensive collection of recordings on youtube. From about 2017, Andrew taught Joseph Sonnabend composition having been introduced to him by Morgan Hayes.
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