Connecticut Hospice Arts Department releases its New Live Music CD called," A Breath of Life". All the music on this 16 track CD are live recordings from the Connecticut Hospice, the Nation's First Hospice celebrating its 30th Anniversary. "A Breath of Life" captures music celebrating the lives of patients and families of the Connecticut Hospice featuring live performances by staff and volunteers of the Arts Program. Only $20.00 includes Shipping

Order By Mail
If you would like to order your copy today by mail
please Click Here to download the Mail-in Order Form

Order On-Line
If you would like to order your copy today for Only $20.00 On-Line
Click the PayPal Button Below.

Since 1974 the Connecticut Hospice has cared for patient and their families as their cope with a terminal diagnosis. Since 1980 the Connecticut Hospice Arts Program, the first of its kind in the United States, has been integral in enhancing the lives of patients and family members. Artists, musicians, poets, therapists and teachers facilitate creativity and emotional healing through the arts, both at our In-Patient Hospice Hospital, and in Home Care across the state.

Live music has always been an essential part of our program, and is offered almost daily, in one form or another, to our patients and families, staff and volunteers. Music not only has the power to provide distraction from physical pain and discomfort, but it also provides a means for relating to others, a basis for reminiscence and life review, enjoyment, emotional comfort, relief from anxiety, and release in the last hours of life.

Imagine a crazy quilt, lovingly stitched together, the fabric a myriad of shapes and textures. These disparate forms are unified by two things. First the imaginative paths of stitching in a kaleidoscope of colors. This is the music- many different styles and performers, but all having the ability to bind us together in a moment. The second is what lies underneath the quilt – the precious life being warmed and nurtured. It is the reason for the quilt’s creation.

That is the reason this CD came into being. The music made at the Connecticut Hospice is to nurture and celebrate precious lives, and on the occasion of our 30th Anniversary we felt it was time to capture some of the specific moments of music we witness every day. This collection of songs is a sampling of some of those moments of music, recorded over a period of a year, and performed by some of the musicians who are staff members and volunteers at the Connecticut Hospice.

Warms thanks to all who helped – to the musicians, (included many others unfortunately not represented here), who give their time and talent to the enriching of all our lives; to the recording engineers, who patiently guided us through new territory; to the administration, who championed all these efforts, with both moral and fiscal support; to a dear friend, the late Henry Weber, who gave us the piano played on some of these tracks, and played weekly with us and for us as a music volunteer; and most of all, to the patients and their families who celebrated their lives with us.

Katherine Blossom Mascagna
Arts Director.
Branford, 2004.

Baldwin Middle School Select Chorus
directed by Jan Shames
This chorus, consisting of 6th Graders from the Baldwin Middle School in Guilford, CT, visits our Hospice once a year. The children dress in formal attire and their concert is always lively and varied. It never fails to move the patients and families who attend (and the CT Hospice staff and volunteers!)

Katherine Blossom Mascagna
Arts Director at the Connecticut Hospice, whose love of all forms of music has been deeply enriched by the opportunity to play for patients and families.

Marcy Conway
Marcy is a full-time Staff Musician. She brings her beautiful voice, wise musicianship and her gentle presence to bedsides here in-patient and across the state.

Tim O’Neill
Tim is better known as half of a pair of dueling pianist brothers who play across the United States and whose 19 CD’s have sold over a million copies. Until his recent relocation to Minnesota, he was best known and treasured here for the inspiring and relaxing music he played as a weekly volunteer.

Ralph Papp
Ralph is a Social Worker at the Connecticut Hospice who kept his singing voice under wraps for some time. Once revealed to the Arts Department, however, his talent has not been allowed to sit idle, and he now performs regularly in seasonal recitals and Hospice events.

Proof of the Pudding
This is one of the famed Yale Singing Groups, which, by our proximity to their campus, we are lucky enough to enjoy on occasion, along with their male counterparts, the Sons of Orpheus and Bacchus.

Reverend Charles Woody
Woody, as he is known to all, is a Hospice Chaplain. He brings songs of inspiration to patients and family members when they need to hear them most.

1. Under the Star (2:18)
Katherine Blossom Mascagna,
Lever Harp & Marcy Conway, Guitar

2. Up the Lazy River (2:33)
Marcy Conway, Vocal, Guitar

3. Siyahamba (2:54)
Baldwin Middle School Select Chorus,
directed by Jan Shames

4. The Gentle Maiden (2:58)
Tom O’Neill, Piano

5. Shine on Me (2:50)
Baldwin Middle School Select Chorus

6. Blue Skies (1:36)
Marcy Conway, Vocal, Guitar

7. It Don’t Mean a Thing (4:04)
Proof of the Pudding, Yale Singing Group

8. The Shearin’s No’ for You (2:24)
Katherine Blossom Mascagna, Lever Harp

9. Seize the Moment (5:11)
Baldwin Middle Select Chorus

10. Oye la Musica (2:46)
Baldwin Middle School Select Chorus

11. Bei Mir bist du schon (2:55)
Proof of the Pudding

12. My Lagan Love (4:29)
Katherine Blossom Mascagna, Lever Harp, Vocal & Marcy Conway, Guitar, Vocal

13. Amarilli (2:55)
Ralph Papp, Vocal, & Katherine Blossom Mascagna, “Harpsichord” Piano

14. On Eagle’s Wings (5:35)
Reverend Charles Woody, Vocal, & Fred Imbimbo, Piano

15. I Once Loved a Lass (2:20)
Katherine Blossom Mascagna, Lever Harp, & Marcy Conway, Guitar

16. The Water is Wide (4:10)
Tim O’Neill, Piano, & Katherine Blossom Mascagna, Lever Harp

Recorded by Ira Sakolsky, Riverway Studio
Recorded by Bob Nary, Doc Rock Studio
Recorded by Jon Russell, Presence Studio
All songs mixed by Ira Sakolsky, Riverway Studio