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Ostrow's CD to Benefit PKD Research
Lisa Ostrow loves a good challenge.
She graduated cum laude from Harvard with a degree in Slavic Languages. She hiked the harsh, exposed 45-mile West Coast Trail on British Columbia’s Vancouver Island. And recently, she released a debut CD, Unconditional, that quickly climbed the iTunes Easy Listening charts.
Lisa has done all these things with one significant footnote -- she has been blind since birth
“I’ve always found challenges intriguing,” Lisa said. “I want to push myself. I was fortunate to grow up with parents who decided that blindness wasn’t a disability, it was just a nuisance.
The Boston-area resident faces other challenges as well. Her 13-year-old identical twin daughters, Jennie and Laura, both have Polycystic Kidney Disease. In support of finding a treatment for PKD, Lisa plans to donate all proceeds from her CD to the PKD Foundation.
While Lisa has been making music for almost her entire life she began learning piano at age 7 she says that she wouldn’t have publicized her music without a cause behind it. Donating the money made from the CD was a natural choice for her.
“I just felt convinced that there should be a good cause behind the CD,” she said. “Obviously, PKD is near and dear to me, and I wanted to do what I could to help.”
A Life With No Conditions
Lisa says she named the album Unconditional to reflect the unconditional love she has experienced in her life. She also says that it represents her philosophy of not letting conditions dictate her actions.
“That’s how I’ve chosen to live my life,” she said. “There should be no conditions and there’s nothing that can’t be done. No one can put conditions on what you can do. Only you can do that.”
She has tried to pass on this belief to her daughters, who also must face their own struggle with PKD. During Lisa’s pregnancy, doctors noticed some problems with the girls’ kidneys. They were officially diagnosed with PKD around four months of age.
Lisa says Laura and Jennie are closer because they share PKD, and they even hold one another accountable for their health.
“They definitely look out for each other,” she said. “They even police each other! They’ll get on each other about dietary things, like sodium intake. I think they’re fortunate to have one another.”
Meeting Another Challenge
Growing up, Lisa was surrounded by musicians. Her father was a clarinetist and commanding officer for 35 years in the Canadian Armed Forces Music Branch. When she was 10, she began study at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Canada, where she progressed through the rigorous program, winning several awards and performing on television broadcasts.
“I guess music was just destined to be a part of my life,” she said.
When the musical challenges weren’t enough, Lisa decided to enroll at Harvard. She had always had an interest in languages, but the Harvard faculty said they had never had anyone enroll in the Slavic Languages program who was totally blind. So Lisa worked on her own to learn Russian Braille, and successfully completed the program with honors. Musically, she was a member of the renowned Harvard Collegium Musicum chorus and a featured soloist at Boston’s Symphony Hall.
In other words, exceeding expectations is nothing new for Lisa.
A Family Affair
Unconditional features 16 songs, all chosen by Lisa and her co-producer, and arranger, Patrick Dreier. In addition to Lisa’s own talents on vocals, she has included her family in the recordings. Jennie and Laura sing back-up on one of the songs, “Once Upon A Time”, along with 16-year-old daughter Alina and Lisa’s husband, Peter.
“I really wanted to bring our family into some of the songs,” Lisa said. “It was good to have us all sing some of those messages together.”
The songs are covers, most of which are not as well-known to many people. Each song, in some way, deals with the theme of unconditional love.
“These are all such beautiful songs with good messages,” she said. “Many people won’t have heard them, but I wanted to get them out there for people to hear.”
Those positive feelings are reflected in Lisa’s general attitude. Having dealt with her own challenges in life, she says her daughters have adopted the same approach.
“They’re doing well. They’re positive,” she said. “The glass is half-full for them; it’s a matter of finding a way around those obstacles and not succumbing to them. This is just one more challenge we’re going to meet.”
Given Lisa and her family’s history, there’s no reason to doubt them.
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For more information about Lisa, and to hear samples of her music, visit her website at http://www.lisaostrow.com/
You can purchase her CD by clicking here.
Posted March 14, 2008
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