Cambridge student organises charity concert to raise money for Alzheimer’s research

A charity concert to raise money for BRACE Alzheimer’s Research is to be held at St John’s College, University of Cambridge, on Saturday 23 January. The event has been organised by brilliant young violinist and second-year music student at St John’s, Julia Hwang. 

Internationally-renowned violinist, Julia Hwang, has organised a charity concert to take place at St John’s College, Cambridge, on 23 January, in aid of BRACE – a charity that funds research into Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

The second-year Music student at St John’s was inspired to plan the fundraising event after being appointed as an ambassador for BRACE in 2015, alongside BBC broadcasters Jonathan Dimbleby and Martyn Lewis CBE.

Julia, who won first prize in the prestigious Cambridge University Musical Society Concerto Competition last year, has been performing on the international concert scene since the age of nine and has made many TV and radio appearances. 

At the charity concert, Julia will perform a recital on a 1698 Peter Guarnerius of Mantua, which the violinist has on permanent loan.  Her performance will feature pieces by Beethoven, Lutoslawski and Wieniawski and she will be accompanied by concert pianist Charles Matthews. There will also be an a capella performance by the world-renowned Gentleman of St John’s – an award-winning group formed of choral scholars at the College.

Julia said: “I am really excited to have the opportunity to make a contribution to Alzheimer’s research through this concert.  Being an ambassador for BRACE means a lot to me as the aims of the charity tie in really well with studies into Alzheimer’s disease being carried out by researchers at St John’s College”.

The Master of St John’s, Professor Christopher Dobson, is involved in research into neurodegenerative diseases and will be showing his support by attending the concert on 23 January. Dobson is also Professor of Chemical and Structural Biology at the College and a Director of the Centre for Protein Misfolding Diseases (CMD) in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge.

The CMD conducts research into a family of diseases that are caused by protein “misfolding and aggregation” - when malfunctioning proteins in the body clump together and create toxic clusters.  Diseases falling into this category include Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and type II diabetes - which together form the most rapidly rising causes of illness and death in the developed world.

Other members of the centre from St John’s College include Dr Samuel Cohen and Dr Tuomas Knowles, and, in early 2015, their research made headlines after a breakthrough study identified a molecule able to block the progress of Alzheimer’s disease at a crucial stage in its development.

The molecule, occurring naturally in humans, can play the role of an “inhibitor” partway through the molecular process that is thought to cause Alzheimer’s, breaking the cycle of events that scientists believe leads to the disease.  The research group in Cambridge are now building upon this work by identifying additional inhibitor molecules, which they hope could lead to the development of a drug to prevent or even treat the disease.

There are believed to be 40 million people currently living with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia worldwide. The registered charity BRACE aims to help medical science understand the causes of dementia, find ways of diagnosing it earlier and more accurately, and develop more effective treatments.

The charity concert is to be held at the Old Divinity School at St John’s College on Saturday 23 January from 8pm to 9pm.  Tickets cost £7 or £5 for students.  Tickets can be purchased at the door or reserved in advance by emailing braceconcert@gmail.com with a reservation name and the number of tickets required.

To read more about the work of BRACE go to: http://www.alzheimers-brace.org/

For more information on research into neurodegenerative diseases being carried out by scientists at the University of Cambridge visit: http://www.cmd.ch.cam.ac.uk/  

Find out more about Julia Hwang and her upcoming concerts both in the UK and abroad via: http://www.juliahwang.com/