International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative to Mark 25th Anniversary

Aleksey Igudesman, alongside members of Ilumina Music, will perform at the benefit concert on May 30 in Strasbourg, France

The International Pernambuco Conservation Initiative (IPCI) was first founded in 2000 to advance the case for the conservation and sustainable use of Caesalpinia echinata, Brazil's national tree — which has been the material of choice for violin bows for the last 250 years.

To celebrate its quarter-century anniversary, IPCI will host a benefit concert on May 30, 2025, at the Salle de l’Aubette in Strasbourg, France. The performance will feature violinist Aleksey Igudesman, alongside members of Ilumina Music, a Brazilian social development initiative that provides hundreds of young musicians from South America with musical opportunities.

The evening will also serve as the launch for a new project that will see the IPCI collaborate with Pau Brasil's Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe indigenous community, which is based near the most fruitful source of Pernambuco trees. The project will help to combat groundwater depletion through targeted reforestation.

Because of the unsustainable nature of current Pernambuco processes, IPCI members have pledged not to purchase any more of the wood until various practices have been implemented to address the issue.