Partnerships with Jacobi Medical Center, Sing Sing Correctional
Facility, and Administration for Children’s Services, Among Others,
Highlight Carnegie Hall’s Efforts to Provide Musical Engagement for
Audiences in Healthcare Settings,Correctional Facilities,
Homeless Shelters, and Senior Service
Organizations
This season, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute (WMI) continues to serve a broad range of audiences in New York City through its Musical Connections program, providing a wide variety of live music experiences to people coping with challenging social, physical, and emotional circumstances in New York City healthcare settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and senior service organizations. The program, now entering its third year, also offers targeted professional training to a roster of specially-selected musicians, equipping them to perform in these unique settings.
In the new season, Musical Connections will reach over 8,000 people who have limited access to live music, presenting 182 concerts in 34 locations, with eleven creative and songwriting workshops, and extended residencies at both Jacobi Medical Center and Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Musical Connections programming is created by Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute in partnership with the host organization’s staff, government agencies, and the diverse roster of musicians who participate in the program. Highlights of the 2011–2012 Musical Connections season are listed below. For a complete list of locations served by Musical Connections, and a full roster of Musical Connections performing artists, please click here.
2011–2012 PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS:
Musical Connections at Sing Sing Correctional Facility
Sing Sing Correctional Facility has been a Musical Connections partner since the program began its pilot phase in 2009. Since then, the collaboration has grown in size and scope. This season, from October 2011 to May 2012, Musical Connections will present at least one concert or creative workshop each month for Sing Sing residents. Composer and teaching artist Daniel Levy will be in residence throughout the year, continuing work he began with workshop participants last year. Through multiple workshop sessions, Mr. Levy will help participants hone their musical skills, develop improvisational skills, create arrangements of music, and even compose their own works for performances by Musical Connections musicians.
A number of different artists and ensembles will join Levy to help create compositions, and culminating concerts will be presented in one of the facility’s chapels and also in Sing Sing’s large auditorium, which accommodates up to 400 people. One particular highlight will be a WMI “Community Sing” presentation on February 4 featuring R&B vocal ensemble Take 6, which will invite the audience, drawn entirely from Sing Sing’s residents, to participate in the concert and make music with the award-winning group.
Select 2011–2012 Highlights at Sing Sing:
- October 14: Haitian singer Emeline Michel with guests from the Balkan ensemble Slavic Soul Party!
- November 11: Classical music from David Rosemeyer, Camille Zamora, and the Toomai String Quintet
- December 9: Latin music from Chris Washburne& the SYOTOS Band
- February 4: “Community Sing” with Take 6
- March 2: Sospiro Winds
- May 11: Jazz from the Charlie Porter Quartet with vocalist Lee Ann Westover
Musical Connections at Jacobi Medical Center
WMI and the Jacobi Medical Center quickly developed a strong relationship in the pilot season of Musical Connections, and the programming expands dramatically in 2011–12. Musical Connections ensemble the Toomai String Quintet will be in residence at Jacobi throughout the year, presenting monthly performances in public spaces of the community hospital as well as in a variety of in- and out-patient wards across the campus. This residency will reach a variety of constituents at the hospital—patients, patient families, staff, and the surrounding Bronx community—and will present music in many areas of the hospital’s campus, developing the idea of a “Musical Hospital.”
Toomai will be joined throughout the season by other Musical Connections roster artists for collaborative concerts that will also tie into health messaging concurrently being promoted by the hospital. Performances in the public Rotunda are specifically targeted to reach the surrounding Bronx community and to change views of the hospital from a place of emergency to a place of wellness. A special Grand Rounds concert in the spring will focus solely on engaging the staff. Due to its success last year, Musical Connections will repeat a songwriting workshop for teens living with HIV/AIDS, who will work with professional composer and teaching artist Thomas Cabaniss and ensemble Nos Novo on the creation of new songs to be performed at a final concert.
Mr. Cabaniss will also pilot a new Lullaby Project at Jacobi, working with singer Emily Eagen for three sessions in the fall and with Eagen and the Toomai String Quintet in the spring. The artists will work with six pregnant teens in the Women’s Health Services at the hospital to write lullabies for their babies, reinforcing the bond between mother and child and addressing attachment issues that often arise with teen pregnancy. Musical Connections will also present twice-weekly performances in the oncology department of the hospital from October through June, given by cellist Saeunn Thorsteindottir and flutist Elizabeth Janzen, both alumni of The Academy. Performances will take place in the outpatient chemotherapy suites as well as in dayrooms and at bedsides for in-patients.
Select 2011–2012 Highlights at Jacobi Medical Center: - October to June: Oncology Department performances by Saeunn Thorsteindottir and Elizabeth Janzen
- November 12: Rotunda concert by Falu for hospital constituents and surrounding community
- Fall 2011 and Spring 2012: Lullaby Project with Pregnant Teens
- February 1 to May 16 : Songwriting Workshop with HIV/AIDS Patients
- Spring (exact date TBD): Grand Rounds presentation with Tom Cabaniss, Dr. Kendra Haluska, and James Shipp
Musical Connections in Juvenile Justice Facilities
WMI’s partnership with the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) continues this season, with four creative projects in secure juvenile facilities in New York City. Each project brings together eight to twelve facility residents and artists on the Musical Connections roster to create original material that draws on the life experiences of the participants, giving them a powerful way to express themselves and offering them a voice within their community. Songs will be composed and mixed using sounds from their surrounding environment, original poetry, and music provided by the professional musicians. The songs will be performed at the facility at the end of each project for an audience of peers and family members as well as staff and counselors.
Select 2011–2012 Highlights at Juvenile Justice Facilities: - December 1 to 16: Musical Connections returns to Crossroads Juvenile Facility in Brooklyn for the first of two creative workshops this season; this workshop will be led by members of Found Sound Nation and Indian vocalist Falu and her band.
- January 11 to 27: Musical Connections also returns to Horizon Juvenile Facility in the Bronx for two creative workshops; the first, with Found Sound Nation, Charlie Porter Quartet, and vocalist Emily Eagen.
- March 9 to 12: Latin music group Chris Washburne & the SYOTOS Band will lead the second set of creative workshop sessions at Crossroads.
- May 25 to 29: The second set of workshops at Horizon will feature Balkan ensemble Slavic Soul Party!
Musical Connections will also work with ACS to provide pathways for at-risk youth to pursue their musical talents in alternative situations to secure detention, with two creative choral workshops piloted in non-secure group homes for teenagers. In these projects, professional musicians from the Musical Connections roster will bring participants from two group homes together to learn and perform a variety of music—from popular to classical to original songs—with choral director David Rosenmeyer. Teens will be encouraged to develop their vocal skills and think creatively in order to write their own songs to be performed for family and friends at a final concert.
In additional highlights this season, members of Ensemble ACJW—the performance arm of The Academy—will be joining the Musical Connections roster, performing in multiple Musical Connections venues across New York City. WMI also continues its Musical Connections work with the AHRC, Beth Abraham’s Institute of Music & Neurologic Function, Hudson Guild, the Diana Jones Senior Center, and many other settings across New York City.
About Musical Connections
Musical Connections provides free interactive performances, creative projects, and artist residencies in homeless shelters, correctional facilities, healthcare settings, and senior service organizations. In the 2011–2012 season, Musical Connections will reach 8,000 people who have limited access to live music through programming created by Carnegie Hall in partnership with host organization staff, government agencies, and first-class musicians from diverse musical genres.
Professional development is an integral part of Musical Connections, and specifically-designed workshops offered to the artists prepare them for the unique nature of this work. The program is committed to participant engagement and expression, and it connects people facing challenging social and emotional circumstances with each other and their communities.
The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall
The Weill Music Institute creates broad-reaching music education and community programs that play a central role in Carnegie Hall’s commitment to making great music accessible to as wide an audience as possible. Woven into the fabric of the Carnegie Hall concert season, these programs occur at Carnegie Hall as well as in schools and throughout neighborhoods, providing musical opportunities for everyone, from preschoolers to adults, new listeners to emerging professionals. With access to the world’s greatest artists and latest technologies, the Weill Music Institute is uniquely positioned to inspire the next generation of music lovers, to nurture tomorrow’s musical talent, and to shape the evolution of musical learning itself. The Weill Music Institute’s school and community programs annually serve over 170,000 children, students, teachers, parents, young music professionals, and adults in the New York metropolitan area and across the US, with more than an additional 100,000 people taking advantage of WMI’s online music education resources.
For more information, please visit: www.carnegiehall.org/education.
* * * * Generous support provided by MetLife Foundation.
Supported, in part, by Ameriprise Financial
Special thanks to Council Member Dan Garodnick and Speaker Christine Quinn for making events in their Council Districts possible.
| OPPORTUNITIES FOR COVERAGE:
Members of the media who are interested in attending programs should contact Samantha Nemeth at 212-903-9753 or snemeth@carnegiehall.org.
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