From January 21-April 28, 2021, Kaufman Music Center presented musical storefronts in Partnership with the Alphadyne Foundation, bringing live music back to New York City at a time when it seemed impossible.
The popup concert series delighted audiences and provided employment to artists severely impacted by the pandemic at a time when we all badly needed the joy and sense of connection and community that only live music can provide.
Musical Storefronts in the news!
The series struck a nerve with both audiences and the media, and was covered by news outlets from 17 countries. The Lincoln Square BID and ILovetheUpperWestSide.com first noted the series, quickly followed by WABC, WNBC, WCBS, Reuters, Forbes, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo News and The New York Times. The Violin Channel announced the series and also ran an interview with Kaufman Music Center Executive Director Kate Sheeran and Alphadyne Foundation Adviser Jay Dweck. Musical Storefronts has attracted international attention with stories broadcast by the BBC, Al Jazeera, ZDF German TV, RAI – Italian National Television, Channel One Russia, France 24, Brazil's TV Globo, Mexico's Televisa, Korean Broadcasting System and Voice of America, The Strad, Tokyo Shimbun and NY Japion. On March 29, Kate Sheeran appeared on the Kelly Clarkson Show to discuss the Musical Storefronts series and the importance of live music. The New York Times recognized the Alphadyne Foundation for their generous grants to arts organizations during the pandemic, which helped make Musical Storefronts possible and assisted artists severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis
"It’s so nice to be able to see the audience, and see their joy. It’s infectious. There’s a lot of healing and hope in music, and unity. Right now with all the isolation and everything that’s going on in the world, I feel like we need a lot more community, we need more to bring us together, and music is a great vehicle and language to do that." – Chrystal E. Williams, mezzo soprano and Musical Storefronts performer
Musical Storefronts provided work to artists severely impacted by the cancellation of live performances in a format that took into account all necessary health and safety measures for both artists and audiences.
Thank you to Milstein Properties for generously donating the performance space that made this concert series possible. Special thanks to Jay Dweck, Steinway & Sons, the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District and Breads Bakery.
While we weren't able to announce the artists in advance in order to control crowd size and maintain social distancing, we hope you'll check out the list below and click through to learn more about the artists and the music they performed!
Musical Storefronts Performances
January
21 & 22 Sean Lee, violin
24 Matthew Lipman, viola & Yi-Fang Huang, piano
26 Chrystal E. Williams, mezzo-soprano & Felipe Hostins, accordion
26 & 27 Bernie Tamosaitis, cello, Sayuri Iida, piano & Alexis Tomasaitis, piano
27 JACK Quartet: Christopher Otto & Austin Wulliman, violin; John Pickford Richards, viola & Jay Campbell, cello
29 & 30 Kobi Malkin violin & Renana Gutman, piano
30 & 31 Molly Carr, viola & Anna Petrova, piano
February
2 String Noise: Conrad Harris & Pauline Kim Harris, violin
2 & 4 Emily Smith, violin; Melissa Reardon, viola & Jia Kim, cello
3 Gil Shaham, violin & Adele Anthony, violin
3 & 4 Charles Yang, violin & Peter Dugan, piano
5 Wilderness Quartet: Rebecca Eckfeld, violin; William Eckfeld, piano; Steven Miller, clarinet & Carole Tilson, cello
5 big dog little dog: Jessie Montgomery, violin & Eleonore Oppenheim, bass
6 Darius Jones, saxophone & Matthew Shipp, piano
9 Conrad Harris, violin & Stephen Gossling, piano
9 Warp Trio: Josh Henderson, violin & viola; Ju-Young Lee, cello; Mikael Darmanie, piano; Rick Martinez, percussion
10 James Ilgenfritz, double bass
10 Wet Ink Ensemble: Alex Mincek, Eric Wubbels, Erin Lesser, Ian Antonio, Josh Modney, Kate Soper, Mariel Roberts & Sam Pluta
11 Margaret Lancaster, flute
11 gamin
12 Clarice Jensen, cello
12 Joseph Kubera, piano
13 Bearthoven: Karl Larson, piano; Pat Swoboda, bass & Matt Evans, percussion
13 PUBLIQuartet: Curtis Stewart & Jannina Norpoth, violin; Nick Revel, viola & Hamilton Berry, cello
14 Pauline Kim Harris, violin
14 Holland Andrews, voice and clarinet
17 Michelle Ross, violin & Amy Yang, piano
19 Lisa Bielawa, piano & voice; Rebecca Fischer, violin & voice; Oriana Hawley, viola & voice & Ilaria Hawley, flute
20 Jesse Mills, violin & Rieko Aizawa, piano
20 Andie Tanning, violin
21 Keiko Tokunaga, violin & Mika Sasaki, piano
21 Caroline Shaw, violin & Orli Shaham, piano
24 Matt Doyle, vocals & Will Van Dyke, piano
24 Gabrielle Stravelli, vocals; Art Hirahara, piano & Pat O'Leary, bass
25 Jeff Kready, vocals & Dan Pardo, piano
26 Attacca Quartet: Amy Schroeder & Domenic Salerni, violin; Nathan Schram, viola & Andrew Yee, cello
26 Adam Tendler, piano
27 Adam Marks, piano
27 Michael Kelly, baritone & Brad Moore, piano
March
2 Rubén Rengel, violin & Ahmed Alom, piano
2 Sophia Bacelar, cello & Noreen Cassidy-Polera, piano
3 Brad Bosenbeck, violin; Monica Gerard, viola & Bernie Tamosaitis, cello
3 Conrad Tao, piano
4 Timo Andres, piano
4 Michael Kuhn, tenor & Thomas Weaver, piano
5 Jordan Bak, viola & Wynona Wang, piano
5 Kamala Sankaram, soprano and accordion & Drew Fleming, guitar
7 Randall Goosby, violin & Zhu Wang, piano
7 Terrence Wilson, piano
10 Tamar Greene, tenor & Dan Micciche, piano
12 Blythe Gaissert, mezzo-soprano & Bénédicte Jourdois, piano
25 Michael Katz, cello & Spencer Myer, piano
25 Darian Donovan Thomas, violin and electronics
28 Brooklyn Raga Massive: Neel Murgai, sitar, overtone singing, percussion, looping & Aaron Shragge, trumpet, shakuhachi, looping & electronics
28 Daniel Khalikov, violin & Milan Milisavljević, viola
30 Eric Silberger, violin
30 Stella Chen, violin & Jinhee Park, piano
31 Monica K. Davis, violin
31 Michelle Jennings, actor-singer & Tom Jennings, piano
April
1 Aakash Mittal, saxophone, flute, clarinet; Shurmila Dhar, vocals; Joey Chang, piano; Kwami Coleman, piano & Vijay Iyer, piano
1 Laquita Mitchell, soprano & Myra Huang, piano
2 Xavier Foley, double bass & Kelly Yu-Chieh Lin, piano
2 Anthony de Mare, piano
6 Roni Ben-Hur, guitar; Harvie S, bass & Victor Lewis, drums
7 Michael Winther, vocals; Joseph Thalken, piano & Art Hirahara, piano
8 Rohan De Silva, piano & Kevin Zhu, violin
9 Mazz Swift, violin & Levy Lorenzo, electronics
9 Farah Alvin, vocalist & Michael Holland, piano and guitar
10 Doori Na, violin & Joseph Lee, piano
10 Harlem Quartet: Ilmar Gavilán & Melissa White, violin; Jaime Amador, viola & Felix Umansky, cello
11 Seth Parker Woods, cello and electronics
11 Karim Sulayman, tenor & Yi-heng Yang, piano
13 Ulysses Quartet: Christina Bouey & Rhiannon Banerdt, violin; Colin Brookes, viola & Grace Ho, cello
14 Phyllis Chen, piano
14 Rohan De Silva, piano & Nathan Meltzer, violin
15 Tango Distinto: Rodolfo Zanetti, bandoneón; Ahmed Alom, piano; Pedro Giraudo, bass & Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone
15 Overlook Quartet: Monica K. Davis & Adda Kridler, violin; Angela Pickett, viola & Laura Metcalf, cello
16 Jonathan Woody, bass-baritone; Margaret Carpenter Haigh, soprano; Adam Young, viola da gamba & Daniel Swenberg, theorbo
16 Trevor New, viola and electronics
17 Sidney Outlaw, baritone & Warren Jones, piano
17 Isaiah J. Thompson, piano; Phillip Norris, bass; TJ Reddick, percussion; Zoe Obadia, saxophone & Felix Moseholm, bass
18 Javier Arau, saxophone; Carmen Staaf, piano; Giacomo Tagliavia, bass & Jonathan Mele, drums/percussion
20 Gabriel Cabezas, cello & Benjamin Beilman, violin
20 Max Tan, violin & Mackenzie Melemed, piano
21 Sterling Elliot, cello & Luis Ortiz, piano
21 Gabriel Martins, cello
22 Dashon Burton, bass-baritone; Lindsay Garritson, piano & Jonathan Suter, guitar
22 Anthony Trionfo, flute & Albert Cano Smit, piano
23 Kathleen Supové, piano and electronics
23 Allison Loggins Hull, flute & Amanda Gookin, cello
24 Britton-René Collins, percussion
24 David Robertson, guitar & Steve Mackey, guitar
25 Rachell Ellen Wong, violin & Andrew Gonzalez, viola
25 Nico Olarte-Hayes, cello & Yi Qun Xu, cello
27 Mariella Haubs, violin & Khari Joyner, cello
27 Adrienne Danrich, soprano & Mila Henry, piano
28 People of Earth: Ivan Llanes, lead vocals and percussion; Gabriel-Globus Hoenich, percussion; Malec Heermans, trombone & Ahmed Alon, piano
28 Briana Elyse Hunter, mezzo-soprano & Eric Sedgwick, piano
Stream a Merkin Hall Performance
