Education United States Project #49604

Music Lessons for Vulnerable Communities!

by Musicians for the World Inc

Project Report | Jan 25, 2023
More Violins Make Their Way to Haiti!

By Jesus Saenz | Co-Founder

Last semester, we were contacted by Joanna Katzen, a musician from Athol, Massachusetts.

Joanna was able to collect several violins from a website called Freecycle and wished to donate them to some of our Haitian students. A fellow co-founder, Kelley, and I picked up these violins when in MA giving a presentation at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. The stars aligned perfectly to make this connection!

Due to the tumultuous situation in Haiti, these instruments are still being held in Haitian customs; however, once they make their way out of the government offices, these violins will be shared with Symphonik Ecole de Musik, Ecole Musique de Jerusalem, and Ecole Musique de Delouis, three music programs that provide music education to underprivileged children in Haiti. We know that these instruments will change the lives of many young, aspiring musicians in Haiti.

This story made its way to an Athol local newspaper after Ms. Katzen was interviewed! We have shared the article link below featuring her interview. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, donors, supporters, and the MFW family, and we are looking forward to many more lives being changed because of your generous help.

Links:

https://www.atholdailynews.com/Violins-for-children-in-Haiti-49028942

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Jan 20, 2023
Collaborating with World Renowned Music Programs

By Kelley McGarry | Co-Founder

TON Masterclass

Over the past two years, Musicians for the World has maintained partnerships with The Orchestra Now (TON) at Bard College and the University of Maryland through their String Pedagogy Class.

In collaboration with TON, we organize a series of masterclasses led by TONers specializing in various different instruments per semester. These educational events are open and directed to our Musicians for the World (MFW) community, resulting in participation from music students from various music programs and regions of the world.

Our partnership with the University of Maryland’s (UM) String Pedagogy Class has connected talented graduate students studying string pedagogy to MFW’s student community. Thanks to this exchange, our students have the opportunity to receive one-on-one music instruction for an entire semester. In addition to our students learning a great deal, it is also a fantastic experience for growth and exposure for UM students who are gearing up to join the workforce.

We are happy to announce that this semester we will be starting a new partnership with the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (BCB) Double Bass String Pedagogy class. This new partnership will impact several double bass students around the world while improving the teaching skills of students attending the BCB, one of the leading music schools in the world.

These partnerships are a perfect representation of what we are and what we do - we are a team of passionate musicians trying to help those who don’t have access to equal opportunities, all while creating connections across the globe through virtual music education. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, donors, supporters, and MFW family, and we are looking forward to many more connections to come.

TON Masterclass poster

University of Maryland Partnership

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Sep 23, 2022
A Kenyan Musician Whose Dream Came True

By Kelley McGarry | Co-Founder

Adrian arriving to Boston!

We met Adrian Atonya back in 2020 in a MFW masterclass with the Nairobi National Youth Orchestra violinists. We were blown away by his playing and signed him up to play in one of our first every Masterclass Series with violinist Anton Polezhayev in December of 2020.

Anton was impressed by Adrian’s level, especially considering he was self taught and had only played for 4 years, and began offering him free, private lessons through MFW.

After some lessons with Anton, Adrian won the scholarship award with our educational partners, Concert Festival, and competed in their Spring 2021 International Competition - he was awarded Grand Prix winner (a special thanks to Concert Festival for giving our students the opportunity to enter your competitions free of charge)!

Fast forward to October of 2021: Adrian played in another one of our Masterclass Series for Boston Conservatory at Berklee professor Saul Bitran. Impressed by Adrian’s performance, Professor Bitran prompted the idea of Adrian studying with him at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Adrian later told us that his dream was to study at BoCo - a few years prior, he had actually filled out the entire application, then stopped due to the request for an application fee.

Obviously we said, “ok, let’s do this thing” and proceeded accordingly. We immediately contacted the Boston Conservatory at Berklee for assistance in the fees and began planning for Adrian's application and audition repetoire. This time around, Adrian’s fees were waived thanks to the kindness of Dean Michael Shinn, President Kathy Young and the admissions office. Step one, down! His application was in, got approved and he was all set for an online, live audition.

Now, I would like to fast forward to the very best part: Adrian did not only get into BoCo, but he was awarded the Presidential Scbolarship which covers tuition, a meal plan, housing, an iPad, and more! He is currently in Boston now attending his dream school!

We are so proud, so happy, and so grateful. This is undenyable proof that great talent is everywhere in this world and great things can be accomplished with support. This incredible talent of a violinist went from an unfulfilled application to receiving the most rare and generous scholarship provided by a prestigious conservatory of music, all because we came together. The power of community is stronger than anything else, and we're so grateful you're here with us.

Links:

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