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By: Jen Russon

Friends of Music, a South Florida organization that has donated over a quarter of a million dollars to public middle and high school music programs throughout Broward County, draws massive audiences each year to their pops and classical concerts.

As part of this season’s 2019/2020 lineup, the organization will present an evening of piano classics in Coral Springs, with the special distinction of one of the performers being a child prodigy.

Simon Molina and his 12-year-old son, Juan Diego Molina, are in world-famous company.

Sandra Greenland, a Coral Springs-based piano teacher who helped organize their performance, said past Friends of Music concerts include The Unites States Army Band, who performed at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts last spring.

Greenland added she is excited to see Molina, founder of Amadeus Music and Arts Academy in Weston, perform with his prodigious son.

“Simon started his music school in Venezuela and fled for political reasons before founding his school in Weston. I think he brought some of the teachers in his studio with him from Venezuela,” said Greenland, who hopes the concert makes enough in proceeds to send aid to Venezuelan relief organizations.

Billed as an evening with Latin flair, the event features classical songs by master composers like Chopin and Schubert, but with accents from Venezuela where Simon Molina trained in his craft.

Friends of Music rely on concerts like Molina’s to continue their significant funding of county-wide music programs in South Florida. Managed by dedicated volunteers since 2003, the program has enabled nearly 1,600 local students – many of them from Coral Springs and Parkland – to learn from and perform alongside career musicians like Molina.

The Molina’s concert is Saturday, October 26, at 7:30 p.m. and will be held in the sanctuary at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church on 1400 Riverside Drive. Tickets are $5 for students, $15 for teachers and parents of students, or $25, call 954-752-5620 or 954-752-0653 or email at llhncs@aol.com Friends of Music.