A Prodigy Playing For A Cure

17-Year-Old Violinist Has Raised More Than $1.4 Million For Medical Research

(CBS)  Host Charles Osgood brings some good news, about a violin prodigy whose music just might cure disease - but not the way you think.

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"I get a huge rush out of performing," says Jourdan Urbach, "and I can tolerate the practice because I know it leads up to that."

The seventeen-year-old violin prodigy is undeniably a brilliant musician, and has been since he was a little boy - playing, for example, at Lincoln Center at age 11.

But now, during his concerts, he's pulling at strings connected to the heart and the purse.

"Music is designed to be heard, but it's also to be used to raise funds that are crucial to research for cancer, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy," he said.

But how much money can one prodigy raise? The answer is an astounding $1.4 million for neurological and other medical disorders … so far.

"Many times prodigies are one-sided," said conductor David Bernard. "All they know about is music."

Bernard has known Urbach since 2003 when they performed a benefit concert at Lincoln Center.

"One of the amazing things about him is that he's both very talented but also he's very accomplished, not just at music or at academics but also at philanthropy," he said.

It all began when a doctor mentioned that he could help sick children by playing for them.

Jourdan started a non-profit charity called Children Helping Children, or CHC.

Today, Jourdan is the charity's major fundraiser. His "Concerts for a Cure" bring in thousands of dollars for medical research.

But when CHC started, the concerts (like Jourdan himself) were much smaller.

He was just 7 years old.

"We would play in the playrooms and we'd go room to room for those kids who weren't ambulatory, and we play in intensive care unit," he said.

"For what ages of kids?" Osgood asked.

"From young toddler through teens."

"Did they seem to enjoy the music?"

"Well, absolutely," Urbach said. "I remember one girl in particular. I was very young. It was my first year doing the concerts in the playroom. And she got wheeled in with all sorts of monitors and IV flows going in. And she was in a catatonic state.

And I began play and about five minutes into the piece, monitors started beeping. Alarms going off. She had moved, which is something she had not done since her surgery."

"You're touching them one at a time."

"Absolutely. Performing for one little girl in an intensive care unit is just as satisfying as playing the main stage at Carnegie Hall."

And he would know. He's played there twice, just recently headlining a sold-out benefit concert for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.

"The fact that you know that even before you've played a single note, you've raised however much money you have, that makes it all the more important for me that I do my very best to let those people leave with the feeling that they just had an incredible concert."

And they did. Jourdan received a standing ovation and, his mom says, was approached with recording offers.

At his home on New York's Long Island, he can play anything with anybody.

But he never loses sight of his true goals:

"What I'm trying to do with Children Helping Children is to create a youthquake, a ripple effect of youth all across the world who are going to use their talents - whatever they may be - to help raise money to eradicate neurological disease."

"That's quite a tall order," Osgood said.

"Absolutely. I specialize in those."

[dbstevens]

God Bless this wonderful boy. It''s people like him who will save the world. In my book, this is a Superhero...someone with amazing abilities who is saving the world!