About Us

What We Do

Vision Statement

Swan Songs ® envisions a world where the end of life is honored through music.  

Mission Statement

Swan Songs fulfills musical last wishes™ by organizing private concerts for individuals with a terminal illness or nearing the end of life. At no cost to the family, a favorite style of music or regional musician is brought directly to the home or care facility. Committed to supporting live music in the community, Swan Songs compensates its musicians for each performance.  

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Statement:

Swan Songs is committed to a diverse, equitable and inclusive environment to ensure we meet our mission of providing personalized concerts for individuals with a terminal illness or nearing the end of life. We acknowledge and respect the differences in language, ethnicity, spirituality, and personal identification of the communities we serve. 

Musical Last Wishes Concerts

Swan Songs creates a sense of connection for individuals near the end of life by gifting them private concerts and supports live music in a community by compensating artists for the concerts. These intimate "musical last wishes" concerts are held in healthcare facilities or private homes, and are often attended by family, loved ones, and caregivers. Swan Songs maximizes the impact of the concerts by engaging musicians who match each recipient's favorite style of music, songs, or instruments.  From opera to Mariachi, bluegrass to the blues, each concert is unique and deeply meaningful for everyone present.

While musical last wishes concerts are the primary program, Swan Songs also offers two additional opportunities to include music in the end-of-life experience.

Gift of Song ™

The “Gift of Song” is a song written by a professional songwriter based on someone’s life, customized to reflect their personal story and unique contribution to the world. For those who are facing the end of their time here, hearing their life journey in a song can bring dignity, comfort, and closure. Those who are left behind will have something more than a memory; listening to a song inspired by the colorful details of someone’s life keeps them close to the heart for generations to come. 

The Gift of Song program in Austin is a partnership with Texas songwriter and founder of Portrait Songs, George Ensle.   

Swan Songs Writing Sessions ™

The “Swan Songs Writing Sessions” program in Austin pairs a loved one who is terminally ill or nearing the end of life with professional songwriter and artist, Darden Smith. Together, they collaborate to capture the individual’s story and uniqueness in song. 

Family or friends can also be involved, rendering the songwriting experience as both a celebration and tribute, one preserved in lyrics and melody that can be sung and shared with others for years to come. 

What We Do  |  Who We Are   |   Stories

Swan Songs founder & CEO Christine Albert and co-founder Gaea Logan

Swan Songs founder & CEO Christine Albert and co-founder Gaea Logan

Our history

In 1992, Austin, Texas musician Christine Albert was asked to sing at a small gathering of the friends and family of John Swann, a formerly vibrant 40-year-old man who was facing an early death from a brain aneurysm. Months later she sang in the hospital room of a cancer patient who loved to hear her sing French songs. He died a week later.

The honor of being invited to sing at these powerful moments in people’s lives was humbling and inspiring. At the same time a good friend of Christine’s and a gifted psychotherapist, Gaea Logan, was supporting a friend through his final transition and she recognized the compelling need to make music more available to patients nearing the end of life.

And so, the idea was born to create an organization to act as a liaison between the healthcare and music communities. Through MusicAid, as the initiative was known then, the two women organized a number of concerts over the next several years. They also received support from and collaborated with Craig Hella Johnson and New Texas Festival, which later became the acclaimed Conspirare.

In 2005, Ms. Albert felt called to create more structure around the mission and Christine, Gaea, Craig Deats, Dr. Tim Dziuk, and Susan Kolliopoulos - the founding board members - formed a 501(c)(3) organization, adopting the name Swan Songs to capture the spirit of the mission and in memory of John Swann, whose love of music inspired this work.

Thank you to the many individuals who have helped bring this vision to life.

  • Craig Deats

    Craig Hester

    David Hughes

    Terry Lickona

    Cindy Lind

    Jeff Nash

    Judy Osborn

    Joe Stallone

Our progress

Today Swan Songs receives an average of one request per day and the mission has naturally and gracefully evolved. Most requests are for a genre or style of music as opposed to a specific favorite local artist. The requestor trusts the Swan Songs staff to match the request with the right professional musicians. With four full-time staff members and over 30 volunteer Concert Liaisons to help facilitate, concerts can be turned around within hours, often bringing music to recipients just before they pass.  

In late 2019 the Swan Songs staff and Board of Directors began exploring the possibility of replicating the mission – in response to the often-asked question “how can we start Swan Songs in our community?” After several years of meetings, discussions, decisions, and hard work, the “Swan Songs Affiliate” and “Swan Songs Program Provider” models were developed.

At this time, our first affiliate, Swan Songs Portland, OR, has been established, is building their organization’s infrastructure, rallying community support and training with Swan Songs in Austin. In September 2024 they fulfilled their first request for a musical last wishes concert - and surprisingly, the request was for Mariachi music!

Dougherty House Hospice, the in-patient hospice facility for Avera Health, based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, is a Swan Songs Program Provider, organizing Swan Songs concerts exclusively for their patients.

Conversations are taking place with other communities and the necessary infrastructure is being put in place in Austin to support more locations. Step by step, this initiative is being undertaken slowly and thoughtfully. Please submit a message via the Contact Us page, for more information.

Stories

What We Do  |  Who We Are   |   Stories

  • On January 13, 2024, Swan Songs arranged four musicians to celebrate my mother. We had requested Big Band/Swing/Glenn Miller music. My mother was born in Belgium and during World War II lived for five years under Nazi occupation as a teenager. The radio and Big Band music was her lifeline to the world. She has danced to it her entire adult life and it brings her great pleasure. She called it "My Music." Oh my, what a grand time they provided for us. We were all joyous at how well she rose to the occasion, alert, and inspired by the music. It did the family a world of good to see her in a happy state. All the musicians - Jimi Lee, Jamie Hilboldt, Kevin Hall and Josh Hoag - were so talented, pleasant and approachable with the family, plus so kind to my mother. Swan Songs volunteer Concert Liaison, Peggy Miller, was a wonderful facilitator and seamlessly kept things on track. I am forever grateful to Swan Songs. The organization has some new fans for life. This service is such a blessing to our community.

    ~ A family member

  • What an honor to be allowed into a family for this brief moment in time and to play a role at this transitional point in their life.  This kind of experience adds awareness and gratitude to our life.

    ~ A volunteer

  • Our thanks to everyone who made this outstanding performance possible. Communication was great throughout the process -- and the performance was outstanding.

    ~ A family member

  • I gotta tell ya. I love those gigs so much. They are literally the most important shows of the year for me. Thanks for having us!

    ~ A musician

  • I want to thank you so much for the Swan Songs concert for our patient on February 23rd. It was AWESOME! The patient has some dementia, but also has some cognition left, too. As soon as Chris Ryback, the accordion player, began to play, the patient immediately started crying tears of joy and recognition; he was an accordion player himself. The tears soon dissolved into smiles and clapping. The patient would sometimes "conduct" the music, and the musicians followed him. He could even sing a bit. The patient spent part of his childhood in Germany. The high point of the concert was when Chris and the guitar player began to play a particular song, the patient sang every word -- and on pitch! His wife was moved to tears and laughter seeing her husband so happy. Chris was so perfect -- he intuitively knew when to draw out the patient, and when to follow the patient's lead. You'd think he'd done this as his job for 20 years. The guitar player was also excellent. What Swan Songs does is SUCH a blessing to people at the end of life.

    ~ A hospice professional