Leadership

15-year-old cellist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Matthew Liversedge has always believed that music can be enjoyed by anyone, and wanted to share that view with other high school students in his community. So on the morning of September 30th, Matt and his friend Stephen Wright (violin) visited the Oakdale Christian Academy, a boarding school for high school students, to share this message. They created a program that combined both classical and popular works, tying them together as pieces that inspire their own playing. Matt’s program was part of the school’s daily chapel session, which meets for an hour every morning..

“My primary goal was to help these high-school age students to connect personally with my music by making the performance personal and interactive. I wanted to communicate the enjoyment and pleasure music can bring to an individual by presenting the music as fun and exciting, yet also as something serious and concrete.”

Read more about Matt’s presentations on our Arts Leadership Map!

13-year-old guitarist Thomas Pfefer believes that music is a gift meant to be shared with others. So when representatives from the Volunteers of America Children’s Center in Allentown, PA asked him to present to a group their students, Thomas said he’d love to. He performed a variety of guitar piece, then share more about how the guitar works and why he loves to perform music.

“My goal was to expose kids to classical music. Most of the kids had never attended a recital and I believe that none of them had ever heard classical guitar before. I really wanted to show them how fun and inspiring classical music can be. Beyond the music component, I just wanted to share my passion with them and maybe inspire them to become passionate about something.”

Read more about Thomas’ presentations on our Arts Leadership Map!

18-year-old pianist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Yifan Wu wanted to find a way to reach out to the elderly in his hometown of Flushing, New York. He was introduced to the Korean American Senior Center, and reached out to their event coordinator in hopes of taking part in one of their weekly programs with its members. The event was a combination of music and activities, with staff from the Center engaging the audience through movement and dance.

“This performance showed me that the main point is not how good a performance is, but to bring happiness to your audience. They were all really sweet, and love life and music. At this event, my music brought them happiness, which made me very happy.”

Read more about Yifan’s performance on our Arts Leadership Map!

17-year-old flutist and Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Ryan Norville wanted the youth from his hometown of Fort Myers, Florida to see and experience the power of music. He chose to visit with students from his old elementary school, Tanglewood Elementary School, where he gave two back-to-back presentations for 4th and 5th grade students. He was joined on the program by a friend, flutist Michal Zeleny – another From the Top alum! (Show #226). After performing a variety of solo works and duets, the two spoke about their own experiences and shared ways for the students to get involved with music in their community.

“My goal for this project was to inspire one person, at least one, to really take music seriously and to do something great with it, and to do something for their community.”

Read more about Ryan’s presentations on our Arts Leadership Map!

Anna DeLoi (harp) and Nash Ryder (violin), two arts leaders of From the Top’s Center for the Development of Arts Leaders, will be presenting a benefit concert this Sunday, October 30th at 3pm at the Unitarian Universality Church in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Click here to view the invitation (PDF).

Donations given will directly support MusiConnects, the music education nonprofit they have worked with since January. Read more about Anna and Nash’s inspiring leadership project.

Admission to the concert is free and open to the public. There will be a reception following the performance – a great time to catch up with Anna and Nash and learn more about their music and arts leadership work!

Address: Unitarian Universality Church, 28 Mugford Street, Marblehead, MA

It’s been ten whole years since we’ve heard from alum Andrew Roitstein, a bassist who played on Show 051 in Lenox, Massachusetts alongside his twin brother, flutist Matthew Roitstein.

These days Andrew lives in New York and plays with another From the Top alum, violinist Pala Garcia (Show 068 in Portland, Oregon), in the Toomai String Quintet, the resident string ensemble for Carnegie Hall’s Music Connections program. Through this program, the group plays in hospitals, community centers, and even correctional facilities. They are currently the Ensemble in Residence at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.

“We are working with Jacobi staff to create a ‘musical hospital’,” said Andrew. “We are searching for ways that we can make not only an emotional, but also medical impact through our music.” Andrew’s work with the music hospital is similar to the arts leadership project of another radio show alum. This year violinist Caeli Smith founded Rayos de Canción (Rays of Music) to raise awareness about the power of music to facilitate healing. She traveled to Guatemala with several Juilliard students to put her work into action – read about it on our map!

Andrew on a music outreach trip to Mexico.

Andrew has been a substitute for the New York and Hong Kong Philharmonic orchestras, but a large part of his career is spent working with young people. He is part of the faculty at the New York Philharmonic’s School Partnership Program and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, helping public school elementary students perform, compose, and see great classical music. Andrew’s work with children was greatly inspired by his time on From the Top, which he said really set an example.

“As a professional musician looking back on my experience with From the Top, I think the show really demonstrates how much of a difference one meaningful, high-quality musical encounter can make on a young person,” said Andrew. “Now that I work with young people, I strive to instill that same sense of empowerment in them, whether I am playing an interactive concert, teaching a lesson, or getting a group of Brooklyn public school 3rd graders ready to watch their first NY Philharmonic concert.”