A singing circle at Amsterdam's Concertgebouw offers support for people with dementia

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Megan Worthy still recalls singing in a choir in the Australian capital, Canberra, as she was growing up.

Now, as a rare form of early-onset dementia chips away at her vision and other brain functions, the 58-year-old is transported back to her musical youth as she and her daughter, Bronte, sing together with other people with neurological conditions in an Amsterdam concert hall, the Concertgebouw.

“It’s pretty brutal,” Worthy said of her rare neurological condition. “I’m starting to lose everything, you know, and this is really rewarding and seeing all these people, yeah, it did make me have a lot of memories.”

She was taking part in a so-called “singing circle” run by opera singer Maartje de Lint at the landmark concert venue for seniors with what she calls “vulnerable brains,” many of whom have a form of dementia or Parkinson's disease.

Millions of people have some form of dementia, a progressive loss of memory, reasoning, language skills and other cognitive functions. People can experience changes in personality, emotional control, even visual perception. Alzheimer’s is the most widely recognized type, but there are many others, with their own symptoms and underlying biology. Small strokes, for example, can impair blood flow to the brain and trigger what’s called vascular dementia.

The singers in Amsterdam, who each pay 20 euros ($23.50) to attend, are arranged with their carers in a circle of chairs under a ceiling hung with 14 crystal chandeliers in the venue's ornate Mirror Hall.

“We always say, music is like vitamins,” said Selien Kneppers, 78, who once managed a Dutch boogie woogie and blues band and now regularly attends the singing circle.

Roving around the middle, often dropping to one knee and reaching out her hands to connect with a singer, is De Lint. She and other singers in her organization crisscross the Netherlands and Europe, leading singing workshops.

Singing, De Lint says, is a way of keeping the brain active and bringing family members and their loved ones closer together.

“So we give people perspective," she says before one of her singing sessions in Amsterdam. "It’s like actually a training for the brain, for the body, to get more resilient and understand the perspective that you still have.”

The hour-long session clearly has an emotional effect on the singers and their carers. Helpers regularly hand out paper tissues for people to dab away tears. One man tenderly reached out a hand to touch the face of the woman next to him as they sang songs ranging from Elvis Presley's “Love Me Tender” to Frank Sinatra's “Fly Me to the Moon" and “Amazing Grace.”

Neurobiologist Brankele Frank, who is not connected to De Lint's project, agrees that singing can be beneficial to people with dementia or Alzheimer’s or other kinds of neurodegenerative diseases.

Music "speaks to brain areas that haven’t really been degenerated yet," she told The Associated Press. "So, for example, their verbal skills often are compromised, but music speaks to parts of the brain that don’t necessarily need verbal skills. And so it taps into their emotion, their sense of self, their identity.”

Scientists are studying the potential benefits of music for people with dementia, traumatic brain injuries, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. Music lights up multiple regions of the brain, strengthening neural connections between areas that govern language, memories, emotions and movement.

Megan's daughter, Bronte Henfling, said that even getting her mother to a new environment that was not a medical appointment to discuss her posterior cortical atrophy felt good.

“Just hearing everyone come together and sing ... it reminds us that we’re all human and there’s a humanity out there which is really pleasing and nice to be a part of,” she said.

Megan Worthy, with glasses, right, and opera singer Maartje de Lint, left, and others, many of them seniors with a form of dementia, join in the "singing circle" at the Concertgebouw's ornate Mirror Hall in Amsterdam, on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

People many of them seniors with a form of dementia, join in the "singing circle" run by opera singer Maartje de Lint at the Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam, on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Neurobiologist Brankele Frank is interviewed before a session of the "singing circle" run by opera singer Maartje de Lint at the Concertgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam, on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

People many of them seniors with a form of dementia, join in the "singing circle" run by opera singer Maartje de Lint at the Concertgebouw's ornate Mirror Hall in Amsterdam, on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

People, many of them seniors with a form of dementia, join in the "singing circle" run by opera singer Maartje de Lint, at the Concertgebouw's ornate Mirror Hall in Amsterdam on Feb. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

DENVER (AP) — A Frontier Airlines plane hit and killed a pedestrian on the runway of the Denver International Airport during takeoff, airport authorities said, sparking an engine fire and forcing passengers to evacuate.

The plane, on route from Denver to Los Angeles International Airport, “reported striking a pedestrian during takeoff at DEN at approximately 11:19 p.m. on Friday," the airport's official X account wrote.

A spokesperson for the airport said the pedestrian, who jumped a perimeter fence, has died. They said the unidentified person was hit two minutes after entering the airport. The person is not believed to be an airport employee.

“We're stopping on the runway,” the pilot tells the control tower according to the site ATC.com. “We just hit somebody. We have an engine fire.”

The pilot tells the air traffic controller they have “231 souls” on board and that an “individual was walking across the runway.”

The air traffic controller responds that they are “rolling the trucks now" before the pilot tells the tower they “have smoke in the aircraft. We are going to evacuate on the runway.”

Frontier Airlines said in a statement flight 4345 was the one involved in the collision and that “smoke was reported in the cabin and the pilots aborted takeoff.” It was not clear whether the smoke was linked to the crash with the pedestrian.

“The Airbus A321 was carrying 224 passengers and seven crew members,” the airline said. “We are investigating this incident and gathering more information in coordination with the airport and other safety authorities.”

Passengers were then evacuated via slides and the emergency crew bused them to the terminal. The airport spokesperson said 12 passengers suffered minor injuries and five were taken to local hospitals.

Denver Airport said the National Transportation Safety Board had been notified and that runway 17L, where the incident took place, will remain closed while an investigation is conducted. It is expected to open later today.

The pedestrian death came a day after a Delta Air Lines employee was killed while on the job at the Orlando International Airport. In a statement, the airline said the employee was killed Thursday night without providing details of the incident nor the name of the employee.

“We are focused on extending our full support to family and taking care of our Orlando team during this difficult time,” the airline said. "We are working with local authorities as a full investigation gets underway to determine what occurred.”

FILE - A Frontier Airlines jetliner taxis down a runway for take off from Denver International airport on Nov. 25, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)