Soprano Danielle de Niese will help raise awareness of the needs of refugees and those displaced by conflict as an IRC Voice.
Working with the International Rescue Committee, the Australian-born performer will travel to Tanzania in September to learn more about the organisation’s child protection work, focussing on child labour. She also plans to visit refugees who have resettled in San Francisco later in the year.
De Niese worked with the IRC in April this year, inviting refugees from the organisation’s Leaders-in-Training programme to attend a performance of The Enchanted Island at the Metropolitan Opera followed by a backstage tour.
Read: The art of conflict
She said: ‘I am honoured to be able to use my voice to help raise awareness and support for some of the world’s most vulnerable, both the challenges they face and their incredible resilience and determination to build a better future for themselves and for their families.’
David Miliband, president and CEO of IRC said: ‘Not since the World War II era have so many people been displaced by conflict worldwide. That Danielle de Niese has chosen this moment to raise her voice on behalf of the people we assist at the IRC speak volumes to her character and her sense of mission, passion and commitment to the protection of some of the world’s most vulnerable.’
Based in the New York, the International Rescue Committee was founded in 1933 by Albert Einstein. It works in 40 countries to support refugees by providing health care, shelter, clean water, sanitation and learning programmes. The IRC also helps resettle thousands of refugees in the US.
Image: © DECCA / Chris Dunlop
