Two centers for the arts in Colorado will team up to host a free music therapy retreat for veterans this spring.
The Soldner Center for Arts and Innovation and Music Therapy Retreats is offering the Music Therapy Retreat for Veterans, May 15-17 at The Soldner Center in Aspen, Colorado.
Stephanie Soldner, the center’s founder and executive director, said the retreat is an opportunity to give back to those who served.
“We’re hopeful that we’re able to honor the veterans in the Roaring Fork Valley by inviting them to participate in this amazing music therapy retreat,” Soldner told The Aspen Times.
The inaugural retreat will also serve as a tribute to ceramic artist Paul Soldner, a World War II veteran, who died in 2011. Organizers hope to bring Soldner’s spirit of healing through art to another generation of veterans.
A press release from The Soldner Center said, “His legacy — shaped by courage, curiosity and healing — anchors this retreat’s mission to use creative expression as a pathway to wellness.”
Workshop Details
Aspen Musician Mack Bailey, a decorated singer-songwriter, will lead the retreat, bringing together five veterans and five local musicians and songwriters for the workshop. Bailey, a board-certified music therapist, formed Music Therapy Retreats in 2019 as an escape from his own journey through depression and trauma.
Every veteran taking part in the retreat will be gifted a free guitar, along with Zoom lessons from Bailey.
“These are people who have literally put their lives on the line, and we need to give them support in any way we can,” Stephanie Soldner said. “Music is an incredible, universal language and can be very healing. So, for us to be able to offer this as something we can do for our local vets seems like something we should absolutely do.”
Concentration Camp Inspires Retreat
Inspiration for the retreat came from a powerful moment Soldner experienced in World War II.
Serving as a medic for Gen. Patton’s Third Army, Soldner’s division aided in liberating a concentration camp in Mauthausen, Austria, on May 5, 1945. Soldner, a talented photographer, documented the gripping visuals of what he witnessed on camera. One day, while clearing barracks at the camp, he was stunned to find beautiful charcoal wall drawings left by a prisoner.
“He was so moved that someone would be called to create in such dire circumstances, that moment changed the course of his life,” his daughter Stephanie said.
Seeing those drawings motivated Soldner to switch his career aspirations from doctor to artist.
Edmond Goergen, the prisoner/artist, was a resistance fighter who miraculously made it out of the concentration camp alive. He eventually published his drawings in 1975, releasing a book called “Dessins de Mauthausen.” Goergen died in 2000, never meeting Soldner, the artist he inspired.
Following the war, Soldner built a very successful career in contemporary ceramics. He developed the American Raku concept, created the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colorado, and served as a valuable mentor for artists. In addition, Soldner constructed his dream home and studio with his wife, Ginny, which became The Soldner Center, an Aspen non-profit.
Connecting Music with Art
Earlier this year, Stephanie Soldner, like her father several decades ago, was inspired after hearing songs from a workshop she attended hosted by Bailey. That formed the catalyst for working with Bailey to organize the veterans’ retreat.
Bailey’s Music Therapy Retreats help veterans across the country, hoping they can “reframe their military experiences” and alter how their brains process memories of trauma.
“Music helped reframe my story, and now we work with veterans to help them transform their lived experiences into healing through sound, song and community,” Bailey said.
George DeShields, who attended a past retreat and participated in the Wounded Warrior Project, said Bailey’s workshop gave him another tool and a way to deal with everyday thoughts.
“With the music, I was able to share my story and hear it back as a song that I can use as a reminder that things really are ok,” DeShields said. “The gift of the guitar also gives me something I can hold on to put my hands on, to remind me that others care. And being able to make music helps take my mind away.”
Veterans wishing to attend must pre-register at soldnercenter.com/music-retreat and pay for their own travel fees.
