TABLE OF CONTENTS

A NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MUSIC EDUCATION, BROADWAY STYLE

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ROSALIND DEVON, CHAIRMAN, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ANDREA BROWN, PRESIDENT, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL TO EXPAND TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADES

SCHOLARSHIP LUNCHEON HONORS WENDY MOSLER

NEW THEATER WING ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

A NEW LOOK FOR BIRNBAUM MUSIC LIBRARY

LUCY MOSES SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES

FACE THE MUSIC STUDENT NOTES

YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAM STUDENT NOTES

FACULTY NOTES

A NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Dear Friends,

Spring is always a busy time at Kaufman Center, and we are looking forward to all of the performances and special events coming up at Merkin Concert Hall, Lucy Moses School and Special Music School. We are also in the midst of planning the 2012-13 concerts at Merkin Concert Hall, so stay tuned for some exciting announcements!

We are tremendously excited about the expansion of Special Music School into the high school grades beginning in the fall of 2013. The high school extension builds on the success of the 16-year-old SMS and will greatly enhance our ability to provide a high-quality music education to a new generation of musical leaders.

Kaufman Center’s Face the Music new music youth ensemble and the group’s director, Jenny Undercofler, were featured in the New York Times’s Arts & Leisure section on Sunday, March 25. Music critic Allan Kozinn explores how these 74 talented teens and pre-teens have become “a force in the New York new-music world.” We are so proud of Jenny and the kids!

And speaking of dynamic new music, Kaufman Center’s second annual Ecstatic Music Festival was once again a great success, bringing together musicians from across the U.S. and around the world for collaborations that were enthusiastically received by both audiences and the press. You can listen to all of the concerts on demand at EcstaticMusicFestival.com.

As many of you know, at its annual meeting in November, Kaufman Center’s Board of Trustees elected Rosalind Devon as the new Chairman of the Board, and Andrea Brown was elected as the Board’s President. Please read on for profiles of Rosalind and Andrea, who both have long histories with Kaufman Center, and have served in multiple capacities.

Also in November, Bethany Millard completed her service as Chairman of the Board. We are very pleased that she will remain in the leadership lineup as a Vice President of the Board. She has also resumed her previous role as Chairman of the Special Music School Advisory Board, a position she originated as the school was being established in the early 1990s. Phyllis Feder continues in her role as Lucy Moses School Chair, and I am pleased that two long-standing Trustees have assumed new leadership roles: Kara Unterberg (Theater Wing Advisory Board Chair) and Joy Wyatt (Merkin Concert Hall Advisory Board Chair).

It has been wonderful to see so many of you at the Theater Wing Party, the Lucy Moses School Scholarship Luncheon and the Special Music School Musical Evenings! Our annual Kaufman Center Honors Gala took place on April 26 at 583 Park Avenue. The honorees this year were David Israelite, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Music Publishers’ Association, and Ginny Mancini, arts leader and philanthropist. This year we are celebrating Kaufman Center’s 60th anniversary!

And finally, this year’s Special Music School Play-a-thon at the Union Square Barnes & Noble was a great success. On May 5, SMS students raised more than $32,000 in support of the school's music program.

I hope to see you at Kaufman Center this spring!

Lydia Kontos

Executive Director, Kaufman Center

MUSIC EDUCATION, BROADWAY STYLE

Thousands of children in New York have received their first taste of the great Broadway musicals not along the Great White Way, but a little farther uptown at Merkin Concert Hall. They may have sung along to songs from Hello, Dolly or West Side Story, or come on stage to participate in a game inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. Created in 2007, Kaufman Center’s Broadway Playhouse series introduces the next generation of theater fans to the great composers and lyricists of American musical theater. Through mini-musicals, sketches, medleys, sing-alongs and participatory games, kids learn the history and creative process behind musicals by composers and lyricists such as Leonard Bernstein, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rodgers & Hammerstein and Alan Menken.

While these popular Sunday morning concerts are a fixture on the calendars of many New York parents, it’s less well-known that Kaufman Center presents Monday morning Broadway Playhouse performances for school groups at little or no cost, and has developed an innovative, Broadway-themed curriculum. Thanks to a program underwritten by TD Bank, half of the tickets are available free of charge to students at Title 1 public schools, which serve a large percentage of low-income families. Last year, children from six schools attended the Monday performances. In 2012 that number grew to nine, with 1100 enthusiastic budding theater fans from schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan getting to know the musicals of George and Ira Gershwin, Stephen Sondheim and “Yip” Harburg.

Both students and educators have responded enthusiastically to the Broadway Playhouse school program – called “Broadway Schoolhouse” – which reaches many children who would not otherwise have the opportunity to see a musical. “Broadway Playhouse has offered my students a once in a lifetime experience,” says one teacher whose students attended this year. “Many of my students have a true love for music, but due to the cost are unable to experience it firsthand. They left the theater with a new appreciation and understanding of the arts. The shows have opened their eyes to a new source of entertainment that will forever be a part of their lives.” Another teacher explains, “Many of my students are unable to afford food and clothing, let alone tickets to see a live show. They discuss the [Broadway Playhouse] program all the time and are constantly caught singing the tunes while they work.”

Broadway theater is a powerful educational tool, says Sean Hartley, host and producer of Broadway Playhouse. “American musical theater and the Great American Songbook are two of the most highly evolved art forms from the U.S., with jazz being the third,” he explains. “Musical theater is the most potent form of expression because it combines so many elements – visual, music, dance and song. It’s a powerful way of telling a story and captivating for children.” Hartley wants to acquaint children with a vibrant part of their heritage, and also to inspire them to participate in an art form they themselves can be part of by acting, singing, dancing or writing. It’s important for children to get away from their computers and video games and see live theater, he emphasizes. They should meet performers, writers and composers to learn what they do and come away with an understanding of what they themselves could do. “Here’s a whole industry they can enter,” says Hartley. Introducing children to the arts is especially crucial at a time when education is increasingly narrowed down to testable functions. Theater gets kids interested and helps them understand life in a different way than, say, learning math and reading skills, Hartley observes. Kids can be literate, but their imaginations can be starving.

Several of Broadway’s biggest names have enthusiastically endorsed Broadway Playhouse. “I was pleased, astonished and impressed that Sean Hartley and Company had been able to capture the interest and attention of young audiences while acquainting them with some of my work,” says Fiddler on the Roof lyricist Sheldon Harnick. “Since these youngsters are the theater audiences of tomorrow, all I can say is ‘Bravo!’” Charles Strouse, composer of Annie and Bye, Bye Birdie, agrees: “Broadway Playhouse is a valuable and enjoyable vehicle for getting an important segment of our kids (and adults) connected with the theater. It couldn’t be more important to an American tradition.”

Soon after establishing the school program, Hartley realized that the student audiences were quite diverse. While some of the kids knew Broadway musicals, many had never seen one and had no context for understanding, for example, Cole Porter or Rodgers & Hammerstein. “We realized that we needed to support the learning by providing a curriculum guide to prepare kids and contextualize the musicals,” he explains. Together with Broadway Playhouse interns Liz Crone and Lena Park, Hartley developed a curriculum guide that helps teachers prepare their students for the concerts and to enhance their learning before and after. Now in its second year, the guide includes background material on the writers, lyrics and CDs of songs taught in the concerts as well as many activities – including writing original lyrics, designing posters and writing plays – that give children a deeper insight into the creative process. The curriculum guide also introduces a historical context for writers, giving kids a taste of U.S. history. In order to teach “Yip” Harburg (lyricist for The Wizard of Oz and Finian’s Ranbow), for example, it’s necessary to talk about the Great Depression and blacklisting. Teachers have enthusiastically praised the guide. Because recordings and lyrics were sent to her before the show, says one teacher, “I was able to engage and educate my students about the songs that they were going to sing ahead of time.”

Broadway Playhouse player Gabriella Stravelli believes that performance is a valuable educational tool because it encourages children to be more extroverted. “I think it has the same effect as a public speaking class, but it’s way more fun,” she says. “Kids are naturally creative and playful, and musical theater is a perfect tool to allow kids to use those positive natural tendencies.” While the performers have to work a little harder to win over school groups since kids tend to be a bit rowdier when attending performances with their peers rather than their parents, she notes, “This year, I was really impressed by the school groups. They were very engaged and participated fully in the games we played on stage, and they all had lovely comments for us after the show.”

Given the positive response to the school concerts and the clear benefits to the students as well as a long waiting list for tickets this season, Hartley hopes to expand the Broadway Playhouse School Program. This season he introduced free classroom visits to some of the schools, allowing students, whose primary experience of performance is often on TV or online rather than live, to learn about performing and singing in public and gain more skills-based techniques for creating music. Next year, with the support of the Johnny Mercer Foundation, Kaufman Center will launch “Lyric Notes,” a residency program with visiting artists that will give underserved children in Title 1 schools the opportunity to write their own lyrics and gain a better understanding of how songs are actually written. Hartley is also working to raise funds to present an entire week of school matinees at an Off-Broadway house. At an intimate house with about 200 seats, kids will get closer to the performers, he says. He also wants to bring kids into the theater district so they’ll become familiar with the area. In an ideal world, Hartley would like to make sure that every child at New York City public schools had the opportunity to see at least one live musical theater performance every year and received visits from someone from the performances. He would also like every child to participate actively in a musical theater production by singing, dancing, acting or writing. “I guarantee you test scores would go up!” he asserts.

For more information about the Broadway Playhouse School Program, please call 212 501 3366.

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ROSALIND DEVON, CHAIRMAN, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Rosalind Devon remembers first hearing about Kaufman Center as a child, when a composer friend of the family used to talk about a “magical” institution then known as the Hebrew Arts School. Decades later she got to know the Center herself – as a student, faculty member, Board member and, most recently, Chairman of the Board of Trustees. Rosalind’s 30-year history with Kaufman Center is unique, but also illustrative of the many ways in which people participate in the organization’s three divisions, and the passionate commitment inspired by its programs.

Rosalind, pictured above with Theater Wing Director Sean Hartley, first came to Kaufman Center as a Lucy Moses School student, studying guitar and five-string banjo with the late Abe Mandel. An avid singer, she sampled some of the school’s many vocal offerings, taking Sight-Singing and Kaufman Kabaret. “What stands out to me about LMS is the high caliber of the teachers, the warmth and caring,” she says.

For the last 21 years, Rosalind has taught in Kaufman Center’s popular Summer Musical Theater Workshop. In this month-long summer program directed by Sean Hartley, children participate in the creation of original musicals and perform them in Merkin Concert Hall. Rosalind was astonished by the effect the workshop had on the shy students who sometimes initially had difficulty communicating. “I saw such a change in the children,” she says. “By the end of the program, they were on stage singing, speaking up and developing close friendships with their peers. There’s a magic this program has that has made me even more dedicated to the school.” Rosalind loves the wonderful songs written during the workshops and seeing the deep camaraderie and lifelong friendships that develop among the children. “Teaching in the Summer Musical Theater Workshop has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my entire life,” she affirms.

Rosalind grew up in a musical family, and her deep commitment to music education began early. As a child she performed with her father, the cantor of Temple Israel in Long Beach for 55 years. She arrived at Kaufman Center with extensive experience as a music educator, having led choruses in several public schools and taught at the International Preschool for 34 years. She especially enjoyed teaching folk music in many languages by Theodore Bikel as well as songs by the Beatles, Joni Mitchell and Simon & Garfunkel. “The Brazilian songwriter Antônio Carlos Jobim is particularly meaningful to me,” says Rosalind. ”So is Pete Seeger, who wrote a five-string banjo book that I used. He also wrote the music to ‘Guantanamera,’ a song that I’ve taught to several thousand kids!” A fan of international music, Rosalind has studied Ladino music and music of the Middle East and learned to play the dumbek, a goblet-shaped Middle Eastern drum.

Rosalind joined Kaufman Center’s Board of Trustees in 1994 and has also served as Chairman of the Theater Wing Advisory Board. Last November she was elected as Chairman of the Board of Trustees. One of her main priorities as Chairman is to get Kaufman Center the recognition it deserves. She hopes that the new Special Music School High School opening in fall 2013 and popular programs like the Ecstatic Music Festival, now in its second year, will continue to raise the organization’s profile. “Kaufman Center is a beacon of light in this city, a unique institution,” she says.

Read a profile of Rosalind in The Wall Street Journal.

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ANDREA BROWN, PRESIDENT, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Good theater programs for children are hard to find, Andrea Brown discovered. Dissatisfied with the classes her daughter Carrie had tried, she enrolled her then-8-year-old in Sean Hartley’s Musical Theater Workshop at Lucy Moses School. Carrie (now a recent college graduate) loved the program so much she returned year after year, performed in Poppy Seed Players concerts as a Kaufman Kid, and even became a Broadway Playhouse volunteer. Her mother, meanwhile, had gotten hooked. “At this point I was such a fan,” says Andrea. “I walked in the door and never walked out.” What most impressed her about the theater workshop was how individualized it was. “The group included several extremely talented kids,” she recalls. “Sean tailored the program to what each child was prepared to do and gave them room to grow. He allowed those kids who wanted to try composing and writing songs themselves.”

Initially drawn in by Kaufman Center’s theater programs, Andrea joined the Theater Wing Advisory Board. As she got more involved she became aware of other areas, particularly music education at Lucy Moses School, where she observed young children learning in a joyful and nurturing environment. She strongly believes that music education makes a huge difference in kids’ lives. “It gives children a second vocabulary to express their feelings and interests,” she says. “It’s something they can master and be proud of. It increases their creativity in other fields and enhances all aspects of their personality. What’s amazing is that while Kaufman Center is a large institution, it manages to successfully cultivate the talent and interest of individual kids.” She notes that while performing in front of an audience can be potentially frightening for children, at Kaufman Center they’re encouraged to go beyond their comfort zone if they’re prepared to, or step back if they’re not. “Kids discover that performing is not as terrifying as they thought it was,” Andrea says, “and are empowered to try again.”

Not surprisingly for an avid theater fan, Andrea’s two favorite series at Kaufman Center’s Merkin Concert Hall are Broadway Close Up (especially Bound for Broadway, which presents new shows currently in production) and Broadway Playhouse, which introduces young children to classic musicals. The two series are like “bookends,” she explains: One develops new creative talent, and the other develops new audiences. Andrea especially loves the Monday morning Broadway Playhouse performances for school groups because they reach children who might not ordinarily be exposed to musical theater.

A Harvard Law School graduate, Andrea was a litigator with Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles before returning to New York to join a family real estate business where she renovates and manages buildings. She is currently a Trustee of the National Guild for Community Arts Education. She was a Founding Development Committee and Executive Committee member of Gilda’s Club, which provides support to people with cancer, and was a long-time Trustee and Executive Committee member of Temple Israel of the City of New York.

After serving on Kaufman Center’s Theater Wing Advisory Board, Andrea became a member of the Board of Trustees on 2005 and has more recently served as Chairman of the Building Committee. Last November she was elected President of the Board of Trustees. As President, Andrea plans to focus on programs that have strong promise of expansion. “Taking something we do really well and expanding it is exciting to me,” she says. First on her list is the new Special Music School High School slated to open in the fall of 2013. She would also like to increase the number of the very successful Monday Broadway Playhouse school performances.

What struck Andrea from the very beginning was the way she would walk out of every Board meeting feeling excited by all the wonderful things the other members were doing. “Typically, in meetings you look at your watch,” she explains. “At Kaufman Center, you walk out thinking that this was incredibly inspiring and there’s so much more I’d like to do.”

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL TO EXPAND TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADES

Beginning in the fall of 2013, Kaufman Center’s Special Music School (P.S. 859) will expand into the high school grades at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex on New York City’s Upper West Side, with a music curriculum that emphasizes the development of the student as a musician for the 21st century. With the establishment of the high school extension, Special Music School High School (SMS) will be the city’s only K-12 school that teaches music as a core subject.

The school will be unique even among New York’s highly regarded arts high schools in providing talented young musicians the opportunity to pursue serious, pre-professional music studies along with a rigorous academic curriculum. Open to SMS eighth grade graduates as well as students from all five boroughs of New York City, the high school will admit 50 students per grade beginning with ninth grade in 2013-14 school year.

“Kaufman Center’s Special Music School High School will build on the success of the K-8 program and enhance the Center’s ability to provide an unparalleled music education for the next generation of musical leaders,” says Lydia Kontos, Kaufman Center’s Executive Director. “The high school also fills a need for a program that educates musicians for a new paradigm for careers in music.”

“The new high school will update the traditional model of classical music education in order to prepare students for the multifaceted and diverse opportunities available to today’s musicians,” says Jenny Undercofler, Special Music School Music Director. “At a time of rapid change in the professional music world, we are committed to putting our students on a professional music path that will answer the demands of 21st century music.”

In addition to helping students build extremely strong core skills as music makers, SMS High School will prepare them to improvise and compose as well as perform, understand music technology and collaborate with other musicians both in small and large groups while providing meaningful experience working with living composers.

How to apply

Special Music School High School will open in September 2013; applications will be taken beginning in October 2012. Eighth graders from all five boroughs of New York City will be eligible to apply for admission. The application process will include an interview and audition on an instrument. For application information, please call 212 501 3395.

SCHOLARSHIP LUNCHEON HONORS WENDY MOSLER

On Wednesday, March 13, 2012, more people gathered for Lucy Moses School’s Annual Scholarship Luncheon than ever before. This isn’t surprising, considering the event’s honoree, Kaufman Center Trustee Wendy Mosler. Though Wendy has no formal training in music or music education, she has become one of Kaufman Center’s dearest and most valued friends

In 1999, pregnant with her second child Charlotte, Wendy came to LMS to register her then five-year-old son David for Suzuki violin classes. Just three years later she was back to register Charlotte for Dalcroze Eurhythmics and pre-ballet. Even before she joined the Center’s Board in 2004 she was an active volunteer. Wendy describes her passion, “I believe that music and arts education is a gift. It’s gift that lasts a lifetime and one that I would love for every family to at least have the opportunity to enjoy and treasure as we have.”

As a successful businessperson (she is Executive Vice President at Eastgate Realty), Wendy understands the power of relationships. Together with her husband Bruce, she has cultivated and nurtured many potential friends of Kaufman Center. Their work has made it possible for many students without family resources to study at LMS.

Valuing LMS’s active chamber music program, Wendy spearheaded the creation of the Lucy Moses Chamber Orchestra, providing intermediate level players the opportunity to play in a large ensemble. And if you walk through the halls of Kaufman Center this August and hear strains of Copland’s Hoe Downplayed by our enthusiastic youngsters, you can thank Wendy! Her skilled leadership was instrumental in the creation of the Summer String Fest, now thriving in its fourth year.

NEW THEATER WING ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

For more than a decade, Kaufman Center’s Theater Wing has developed new shows for its Poppy Seeds Players series through the “Planting New Seeds” commissioning program. This year, the Theater Wing has created a new Artist-in-Residence program. Instead of commissioning a specific work for hire, residencies support artists as they work on their own independent projects. Theater Wing director Sean Hartley assists the artists in the creative process, reviewing the works and providing input.

The first Theater Wing artists-in-residence are Jill Abramovitz and Jason Robinson. A New York-based actor and lyricist who has performed on Broadway, in regional theater and in several Kaufman Center productions including Broadway Close Up, Jill is developing a show based on The Dogs of Pripyat by Leah Napolin, an adult fable based on stories of pets left behind after the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

Jason has been part of the Kaufman Center community for several years, performing in the Family Matinees and Broadway Close Up series at Merkin Concert Hall. He is also an instructor at Lucy Moses School. As a voice teacher, he found that students were more encouraged to sing and learn music when the repertoire was taken from today’s popular songs. The show he is developing, J-Ro’s Play List, is designed for teens and tweens and uses contemporary pop music as well as songs from Broadway and opera that they might not otherwise encounter. Jason will present an early version as part of this year’s Summer Musical Theater Workshop, and will feature Kaufman Center students as part of the chorus.

A NEW LOOK FOR BIRNBAUM MUSIC LIBRARY

Have you visited our library lately? The Birnbaum Music Library, located on the second floor of Kaufman Center, went through a thorough renovation this past summer. A committee of Board members, some of whom are architects and designers themselves, helped to guide the new look and functionality of the space, and decided that it should be re-envisioned as one that would be welcoming to the entire Kaufman Center community. The installation of movable, compactable shelves increased floor space, and new carpeting, cabinets, benches and work tables have given the room a stylish touch. Brand new double-paned windows brighten the space while conserving energy. These days, the library is used for Special Music School classes and activities during the day, and for meetings and quiet study during evening hours.

Opened when Kaufman Center was still called the Hebrew Arts School, the Birnbaum Music Library originally began with a specific focus on collecting Jewish and Israeli music in scores and on tape. As Kaufman Center has evolved, the library has provided a more comprehensive collection accessed by both instructors and students. Currently, the bulk of the collection consists of standard classical chamber music and solo repertoire, selections that are useful for a student’s study and practice. Built mostly from donations, the library contains a robust collection of string, violin, piano and vocal scores as well as biographies of composers, music history books and a collection of audio CDs. Librarians Robin McClellan and Stephen Cabell have recently begun work on an online library catalog that will digitize the catalog records and make them publicly accessible. Instructions for accessing the catalog can be found at kaufman-center.org/kc/about/library.

The library is open to Kaufman Center students and families on weekdays from 3:30-8:30 pm (except for Wednesdays, when it will be open from 3:30-6 pm) and on Sundays from 9 am-8 pm. The librarians are present on the following days/times, when the collection may be used: Tuesday: 3:30-7:30 pm; Thursday: 3:30-7:30 pm and Sunday: 10 am-5 pm.

LUCY MOSES SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES - SPRING 2012

Concerto Competition winners Elliot Chang (Cello) and Alice Ivy-Pemberton (Violin) performed with a professional orchestra at Merkin Concert Hall on February 12.

Performer Certificate Program student Michael Eliran (Composition) performed his own songs at Rockwood Music Hall on February 4, 2012. Read an interview with Michael in Downtown Magazine.

Joseph Morag (Violin) was a winner in the Concerto Competition of La Guardia High School of Performing Arts and performed with their school orchestra at the winners' concert on March 30, 2012 at 7:30 pm.

Madeleine Vaillancourt (Violin) won first prize in the Metropolitan Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition and will perform as soloist with orchestra the last two movements of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto on Saturday, May 19, at 8 pm at Carnegie Hall.

Stella Wong (Piano) won First Prize at the Piano Teachers Congress Honors Program Auditions and will perform Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Sonata at the Winners Recital.

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES - SPRING 2012

Members of the SMS Vox Nova choral group directed by Emily John took part in a performance of Wagner’s Rienzi with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in January. Read a New York Times review.

Kaufman Center Concerto Competition winners Ethan Brown (Cello, 8th grade) and Alissa Mori (Violin, 8th grade) performed with a professional orchestra at Merkin Concert Hall on February 12.

Joe Jordan (Piano, 7th grade) won honorable mention in Composition at the Music Institute of Chicago’s 2012 Generation Next Winners Concert.

Yali Levy-Schwartz (Piano, 3rd grade) took part in Cremona International Music Academy in Italy, performing five times, including a solo recital, showcases and chamber music piano duets.

Flute students Nadira Novruzov (4th grade) and Eleanor Bent (8th grade) were prize-winners in the New York Flute Club’s 2012 Young Musicians Contest. Sophia Reyes (3rd grade) was awarded an honorable mention.

Flute students Tamar Benami (7th grade) and Nadira Novruzov (4th grade) were selected by audition to perform at the Bi-annual North American Suzuki Conference in Minneapolis. Nadira was also selected to perform in a masterclass with Jeanne Baxstresser, former Principal Flute of the New York Philharmonic.

FACE THE MUSIC STUDENT NOTES - SPRING 2012

Congratulations to Face the Music and the ensemble’s Director Jenny Undercofler on a New York Times feature by music critic Allan Kozinn in the Sunday, March 25, 2012 Arts & Leisure section. See page 5 for excerpts from the article.

Face the Music has recently worked with three exciting guest conductors: Eric Jacobsen, Conductor of The Knights, Brad Lubman, Music Director and Co-Artistic Director of Signal and Michael Riesman, Music Director of the Philip Glass Ensemble. With Mr. Jacobsen they rehearsed Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round, recently recorded by The Knights; with Mr. Lubman they rehearsed Steve Reich’s Double Sextet, recently recorded by Signal; and with Mr. Riesman they rehearsed Philip Glass’s Glassworks. Face the Music also took a tango lesson from Spanish choreographer Mayte Vicens.

Upcoming concerts include Art on the Corner (May 19), Neighborhood Classics at P.S. 321 (June 3), Issue Project Room (June 17) and a shared concert with Philip Glass Ensemble on the River to River Festival (June 20).

YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAM STUDENT NOTES - SPRING 2012

Jesse Murray (9th grade) won First Prize for the performance of a work by an Italian Composer in the Cremona International String Competition on July 23, 2011 (his 14th birthday). He also was awarded an honorable mention in the overall competition and was the only participant to receive two awards.

Concerto Competition winners Alexander Kiladze and Taiga Ultan performed with a professional orchestra at Merkin Concert Hall on February 12, 2012.

Young Artist Program students performed at Steinway Hall on March 19, 2012.

FACULTY NOTES - SPRING 2012

Congratulations to the Lucy Moses School faculty members who performed at the annual Faculty in Concert event in Merkin Concert Hall on January 25, 2012. This wonderful evening featured chamber performances by 23 faculty members, including two world premieres.

Svetlana Smolina (Piano) performed as a soloist at Walt Disney Concert Hall with iPalpiti Orchestra and Maestro Eduard Schmieder, gave two concerts with direct broadcast at Los Angeles Museum of Art for SundaysLive and gave concerts at Mozarteum Wiener Salle in Salzburg and in Florence, Italy.

Emily White (Piano) recently released the The White Peacock: American Collection, Vol. I (Arabesque) a digital mini-release of piano works by Charles Tomlinson Griffes, George Gershwin and Yehudi Wyner. This year Emily was awarded Member Laureate status by the international music organization Sigma Alpha Iota, which is active in sending instruments to developing countries, transcribing scores into Braille and promoting the performance of American music.

Table of Contents

A NOTE FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

MUSIC EDUCATION, BROADWAY STYLE

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ROSALIND DEVON, CHAIRMAN, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

LEADERSHIP PROFILE: ANDREA BROWN, PRESIDENT, KAUFMAN CENTER BOARD OF TRUSTEES

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL TO EXPAND TO HIGH SCHOOL GRADES

SCHOLARSHIP LUNCHEON HONORS WENDY MOSLER

NEW THEATER WING ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM

A NEW LOOK FOR BIRNBAUM MUSIC LIBRARY

LUCY MOSES SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES

SPECIAL MUSIC SCHOOL STUDENT NOTES

FACE THE MUSIC STUDENT NOTES

YOUNG ARTIST PROGRAM STUDENT NOTES

FACULTY NOTES