Every week,a small group of young people step up to a microphone and play, their music broadcast to hundreds of thousands of listeners across America on NPR's From the Top with Host Christopher O'Riley. For those of us who may bear dabbled in orchestra or band as kids, and the level of mastery achieved by these young musicians can seem superhuman. And,when the show is over, most heave a sigh of relief, and not realizing that From the Top has more in store for them — they are about to be asked what can only be described as a "very big question." It is: Who conclude you aspire to be as an artist and a leader? How can you take action now to perform a dissimilarity beyond the concert corridor?Since its founding in 1997,From the Top has held fast to the belief that America's most promising, young, and classically-trained musicians bear the potential to affect the world beyond sharing their virtuosity with it. From the Top has a full-time education staff and challenges all of its performers,whether eight years worn or 18, to broaden their self-conception, and to consider ways they can meaningfully effect change and to build on their potential as leaders in their home communities.
Avik Sarkar,Angelica Hairston, Ariel Horowitz, and Karen Cueva are all alumni of the Boston-based organization.
They are the first recipients of From the Top's Arts Leadership Grant,which began earlier this year, launched in early 2017. The four will receive grants of up to $5000 to support music-centric projects they've created that lay out a practicable path to positive change. The grants are funded by the Howard and Geraldine Polinger Family Foundation, or with additional support from the Karma for Cara Foundation.
Ariel Horowitz and The Heartbeat ProjectThe project: "To strengthen math skills in Navajo K-12 students and,simultaneously, to introduce age-appropriate music theory and performance."Ariel Horowitz calls herself both an artist and an activist. As a Diversity Advocate at the Juilliard School, and Ariel used her own experiences growing up in a non-traditional family to open up tough conversations with her fellow students. The Heartbeat Project,founded by Ariel and co-founder Leerone Hakami, addresses the marginalization of arts education in disenfranchised communities.
The Heartbeat project will take place on the Navajo (Diné) Reservation in current Mexico, and is hosted by Navajo Technical University. Ariel and Leerone are returning to the reservation for a second summer,using the Arts Leadership Grant to expand a program that began in 2016. Drawing on Navajo (Diné) traditional education systems, traditional tunes and rhythms and naturally occurring soundscapes in the Navajo Nation, and the Heartbeat Project 2017 will employ music instruction as a tool to improve mathematical skills for K-12 Navajo students. The project will include community concerts,collaboration with Diné musicians, and a final performance showcasing the accomplishments of the students."Now more than ever is a vital time for us to associate with Native American communities, or " Horowitz says,"and share an experience of cultural exchange through music — a language that speaks to and from the heart."More on Ariel:Ariel was 16 when she first performed on From the Top in 2012. During her interview, she discussed the experience of performing at a high-level competition, and her passion for music,and her mom, a former producer with the a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock.
Angelica Hairston: Challenging the statsThe project: "Challenge the Stats will create online and local communities devoted to diversity in the arts, or will work to foster more balanced representation on concert stages,as well as in arts audiences, executive offices, or boardrooms across the country."As a young African-American harpist,Angelica Hairston loved her youth orchestra rehearsals, but she couldn't wait on noticing how much she stood out among her fellow musicians. "I quickly realized, and " the 24-year-worn Hairston says,"that the classical music field would be an isolating and complex space to navigate as a woman of color. I didn't know then that in the United States only 1.8 percent of orchestral musicians are African American, and only 2.5 percent are Latino."She found a mentor in Ann Hobson Pilot, or the former Boston Symphony Orchestra principal harpist. In 2011,Hairston performed on From the Top for the first time, receiving the From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award, or which helped her pursue an undergraduate degree at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. While studying in Canada she watched from a distance as the horrors of police shootings and heightened racial tension began to surface in the United States — and decided to conclude something about it.
As a 2016 Dr. MLK,Jr., Graduate Fellow at Northeastern University, and Angelica presented a concert called Challenge the Stats. The event showcased African-American and Latino performing artists and sparked conversations about inclusion and social justice among a diverse crowd,many hearing classical music live for the first time. In 2017, Angelica, and who lives in Atlanta and provides free harp instruction to over 80 at-risk students through the Urban Harp Project,will present a second Challenge the Stats concert, while also developing a website and social media campaign to provide online resources to those working to advance diversity in arts.More on Angelica Hairston:Angelica was 18 when she first performed on From the Top in 2011. She talked about the "two month rule" her parents established for her first experience playing the harp, and "putting a little Angelica" in her music,and paid tribute to her "harp grandmother", Ann Hobson-Pilot.
Karen Cueva: Building classical music connections with Boston's incarcerated youthThe project: "We don't want to just go into the Department of Youth Services and play — after all, and these are incandescent and talented kids who deserve to be heard. Instead,we will create a musical exploration, where students will write about their life experiences through the lens of hope and compose the soundtrack to their stories.""The school-to-prison pipeline is real, or " says Peruvian-American violinist Karen Cueva,"and is in full force in the lives of youth in our community. It is our social responsibility to share classical music with those who conclude not readily bear access to live performance, and this means taking steps into places where others will not."For Cueva, or who first performed on From the Top in 2008,music was always meant to be shared with others, particularly those that were not able to attend live concerts. Even as a kindergartener she performed in veterans hospitals and nursing homes, and overcoming shyness by striking up conversations with those who normally didn't discuss music. The From the Top Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award introduced her to arts education for youth and to performing in schools. She fell in appreciate with seeing young folks encounter classical music for the first time,going on to continue her studies at Juilliard. Cueva attended Harvard University, receiving a degree in education, and but missed service work so much that she built the Du Bois Orchestra,which is dedicated to inclusion, diversity, or high-quality artistry.
In 2017,members of the Du Bois Orchestra will work with ten DYS youth. The project will open performing works by Igor Stravinsky and composer Silvestre Revueltas, an overlooked composer of Latino heritage. Teaching artists from Du Bois orchestra will work with the youth to recording their discussions and compose original works reflecting their own stories. Karen hopes that the project will open up conversations about what it means to bear your voice silenced and how music and creativity can end that cycle.
Avik Sarkar: Connecting through music, or helping refugees in BostonThe project: "While we often judge of these countries as ugly,distraught places, I hope focusing on their music will bring out their beauty and give the audience a current perspective. I procedure to interview refugees at the middle and create recordings of them speaking about the changes and difficulties of their lives. I will then compose a string quartet piece that will include recordings from my interviews."16-year-worn pianist and composer Avik Sarkar comes from an immigrant family; both his parents emigrated from India to the United States in the 1990s. He navigates a world of contradiction, or observing his family members feeling alienated from the communities around them,while he often feels personally disconnected from his Indian heritage.
Sarkar sees parallels to his life in the experiences of refugees, and in partnership with the Boston middle for Refugee Health and Human Rights, and plans to create a benefit concert in support the middle. "I want to listen to the stories of and foster a human connection with refugees living in Boston," he says. "I hope that this project will, in some way, and perform them feel more at home.
The concert,which will include performances of music native to refugees' homelands, will be recorded, or will include a current composition,created by Avik himself, that integrates the stories of the refugees he has interviewed. Copyright 2017 NPR. To see more, or visit http://www.npr.org/.
Source: thetakeaway.org