The Healing Heart of Lushootseed (2023)

Feeling heartbroken by the tragic events of September 11th, 2001, Vi Hilbert, an 83-year-old elder from the Upper Skagit Indian tribe in the Pacific Northwest, asked the spirit, “What can one person do to heal a sick world?” The answer she received was music. The Healing Heart of Lushootseed, a short documentary film tells the extraordinary story of how a diminutive great grandmother gathered support for her most ambitious project yet, to heal the heart of the world through music. On May 20th, 2006, Seattle’s Benaroya Hall was filled to capacity for the world premiere of The Healing Heart of the First People of this Land, an orchestral work in four movements, by Canadian composer Bruce Ruddell, performed by the Seattle Symphony and mezzo soprano Jenny Knapp, conducted by Maestro Gerard Schwarz. Vi believed the Symphony should be performed around the world. The Healing Heart Project seeks to fulfill her vision.