Cultural Programs

Albert Schweitzer Music Award

In September, 2002, the Foundation presented the 2002 ALBERT SCHWEITZER MUSIC AWARD to Metropolitan Opera soprano Anna Moffo "for a life's work dedicated to music and devoted to humanity." Called "the most prestigious music award," the Schweitzer Award was previously presented to Isaac Stern, Katherine Dunham, Van Cliburn, Mstislav Rostropovich, Leonard Bernstein, John Denver, José Carreras, Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, and Anna Moffo.

Click here for more information.

The Virgil Fox Recording Fund

In 2000, the 20th anniversary of the death of the great American organist, Virgil Fox, Anchor-International Foundation created a new cultural program: the Virgil Fox Recording Fund. The initial gift of $5,000 was made by Floyd Watson, and additional money has since been donated.

The purpose of the fund is to provide small amounts of money needed to help preserve The Fox Legacy. The first project funded was the re-mastering of tapes made in San Francisco in 1976, the week before Fox was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Two concerts, "The Bach Gamut," were recorded at that time in St. Mary's Cathedral; but by 2000, the tapes had deteriorated and needed to be brought back to audio life. In February, 2003 the first of two "Bach Gamut" CD's will be released by Reference Recordings, a small, high-quality label. A royalty from each CD sold will be returned to the Virgil Fox Recording Fund for future grants.

Additionally, research was funded into the cataloging of seventeen years of tapes made while Dr. Fox was Organist of the Riverside Church in New York City; and negotiations are underway to eventually release some of that rich trove of religious and secular music making. Further, "lost" masters have been identified that were made in the 1960's; and commercial companies owning those masters are being encouraged by the Fund to re-release these historic recordings.

An April, 2003 publication, All The Stops by Craig Whitney, Assistant Managing Editor of The New York Times, makes clear the importance of The Fox Legacy to the organ in America in the 20th Century. Only two organists are discussed as defining the century, and Fox represents "the lion's share." Virgil Fox was a devotee of the great Bach scholar and organist, Albert Schweitzer, and was a co-founder of the Albert Schweitzer Music Award in 1975.

Also see The Virgil Fox Legacy.

Organ Legacy Recording Project

The Foundation recently announced a new Project to preserve, on highest currently existing quality recording materials, the unique and individual sounds of ranks of pipes in historic organs that are still playing, but whose longevity is theatened by time and taste changes.

More information will be forthcoming in the Fall of 2008.

Medical Programs

The Foundation continues to pursue the medical programs mandated in its charter. These programs include new therapeutic and preventive medicine programs appropriate to Russia, as well as educational programs to train physicians and health workers and inform the public about techniques to promote nutritional control, physical exercise, and better coping and motivational mechanisms. Toward this end, the Foundation intends to continue its commitment to produce educational materials, books, videotapes, seminars, teaching plans, training programs, and the local organizing of health support groups in St. Petersburg.

Since 2001, the Foundation's primary medical program has been an ongoing clinical trial measuring new methods for weight management (for which the Foundation provides medical oversight). This program began as a preventive cardiology program for recovering coronary patients (and others) whose health problems indicated the need for a changed "lifestyle." The program merges nutritional, exercise, and stress reduction programs into a single discipline that focuses on motivating permanent change. Among other things, for example, the program trains people in methods (based on the "system" of Konstantin Stanislavski) that are used by actors to create (or change) "character." The noted cardiologist Alexander Shaknovich has called the program (which is useful for obesity, smoking cessation, exercise motivation, etc.) "a magic bullet" that can motivate people to live healthier lives. In 2003, the medical director of the American Health Foundation (Institute for Cancer Prevention), Richard Rivlin, MD, began referring patients to the program that could not be helped in any other way. Since the program began in 1998, the success ratio with persons who have officially enrolled in it has been 100%.

Program Update: June 2008

The foundation was recently named to receive a bequest of $350,000 from the estate of John Sherman, who was one of Virgil Fox's earliest and most dedicated fans.

Part of the money will be used to support the Virgil Fox Legacy (see below), and part will be used to continue the experimental weight management program begun in 1991 by Dr. Rivlin.

A clinical trial to confirm the foundation's findings so far is therefore currently being organized under Dr. Rivlin's direction at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

Anyone suffering from an eating disorder who is interested in participating should email shermanprogram@anchor-international.org.