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The Children's Music Campaign NYC (CMCNYC) is a groundbreaking project that aims to galvanize the state of music education in public schools across New York City. Our mission is to raise awareness of the crucial role that arts education provides in a child's development, building self-confidence and essential skills such as focus, determination, teamwork, and the pursuit of excellence.
On May 22, 2008, PS46, PS157X, and PS131Q joined forces to present a festive concert at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. In performance, these children celebrated the essence of Simple Gifts through music, with world premieres of commissioned works by two of New York's leading young composers, Nico Muhly and James Blachly.
CMCNYC engaged filmmaker David Smith in documenting the preparatory process leading up to the children's sparkling debut at Carnegie Hall. View the three resulting videos here.
In an effort to affirm the power and fundamental value of music, our ultimate objective is to establish a strong legacy of effective music education and to inspire an active involvement from the school communities and citizens of New York City, and beyond. CMCNYC is supported by The Academy—a program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and The Weill Music Institute in partnership with the Department of Education of New York City.
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 | Cellist Claire Bryant has appeared as a soloist with the Kuopion Symphony Orchestra of Finland, the National Symphony of Honduras in Tegucigalpa, the San Francisco Conservatory Orchestra, and the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra. An active chamber musician, she has collaborated with Donald Weilerstein, the Peabody Trio, Roger Tapping, Maria Lambros, and members of the St. Lawrence, Orion, Mendelssohn, and Pacifica string quartets. She is a founding member of the TETRAS Quartet, a string quartet dedicated to the study, performance, and promotion of repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries. She is the founder, producer, and artistic director of the acclaimed chamber music series With Strings Attached, which has raised over $10,000 for arts education in her native state of South Carolina. Claire received her Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School. As part of her fellowship program, Claire teaches in the Bronx at the Grove Hill School, PS 157X. |
 | Clarinetist Carol McGonnell is a founding member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble, a dynamic ensemble that works primarily with French Spectral composers. Other groups she has performed with include the Flux Quartet, the Zankel Band, and Ensemble Modern. In her native Ireland, Carol has performed as soloist with the National Symphony, as well as the RTE Concert and Ulster orchestras. Festival engagements include the Pan Music Festival (Seoul), Izmir Music Festival (Turkey), West Cork Chamber Music (Ireland), Plovdiv Festival (Bulgaria), the International Electro-acoustic Festival (Shanghai), and Marlboro Music Festival. Carol has curated for the Kilkenny Arts Festival and is curator of Music at Museums in association with the National Gallery of Ireland. As part of her fellowship program, Carol teaches in Harlem at The Tappan School, PS 46. |
 | Winner of the prestigious William Petschek Piano Debut Recital Award, keyboardist Elizabeth Joy Roe has appeared as recitalist, orchestral soloist, and chamber musician at such venues as Lincoln Center, Zankel Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and Steinway Hall in New York; the Seoul Arts Center in Korea; Salle Cortot in Paris; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; the Ravinia Festival in Chicago; Salón Dorado in Buenos Aires; the Banff Centre in Canada; and the Fourth World Piano Pedagogy Conference. Elizabeth made her New York concerto debut in November 2005 under the baton of James Conlon, performing the Britten Piano Concerto at Alice Tully Hall. In 2003, she replaced John Browning on short notice in subscription concerts with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Roe earned her Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School as a full scholarship student of Yoheved Kaplinsky. As part of her fellowship program, Elizabeth teaches in Queens at The Abigail Adams School, PS 131Q. |
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 | The Abigail Adams School, 170-45 84th Avenue, PS 131Q, Queens
Mission Statement: The Abigail Adams School is a multi-national, multi-cultural, collaborative school community that is driven by the mission of "Excellence For All" children. Our mission is predicated on the belief that all children can achieve mastery; all children can attain the New Standards. The prevailing philosophy of this mission statement, in conjunction with a standards-driven staff, a child centered administration and an involved parent body has produced an educational climate that is conducive to learning and achieving. The Abigail Adams community will produce children who have effectively developed the educational skills, social skills, civic skills and technological skills to be productive members of society in the twenty-first century. |
| Grove Hill School, PS 157X, 757 Cauldwell Avenue, Bronx
Mission Statement: Our mission as educational advocates at P.S. 157 is to give each and every child a strong academic foundation with which he/she can pursue scholastic excellence. In addition, it is our belief that students' should also be exposed to the arts, i.e. art, dance, etc. With this in mind, we offer our students not only academics but a program of art and dance as well. It is our belief that ALL children can learn. We are convinced that our commitment, sincerity of purpose and dedication to the needs and interest of children, will enable us to provide an atmosphere saturated with enrichment and achievement which will prepare our students for the next step in their educational journey. |
 | The Tappan School, PS 46, 2987 8th Avenue, Manhattan
Mission Statement: The Tappan School Family strives for excellence. We are dedicated to the premise that every child will succeed. We will immerse the children in a child-centered environment that nurtures, supports, and encourages the development of intelligent and well-rounded individuals. We will create a safe learning environment where the rights of each individual are protected and respected. We hold the belief that our children are unique, special, gifted, and talented. We believe in collaboration with those in the home, school, and community. |
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 | Born in Vermont in 1981 and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Nico Muhly graduated from Columbia University in 2003 with a degree in English Literature. In 2004, he received a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where he studied composition under Christopher Rouse and John Corigliano.
Muhly's orchestral works have been premiered and commissioned by the American Symphony Orchestra, The Juilliard Orchestra, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Orchestra (It Remains to Be Seen, a commission celebrating their 40th anniversary in 2006), and the Boston Pops (Wish You Were Here, 2007), as well as a new work (Step Team) for the Chicago Symphony MusicNOW.
In 2005, the Clare College Choir broadcast Muhly's evensong canticles live on BBC3; that same year, New York's Saint Thomas Church commissioned and performed his Bright Mass with Canons, a work that has entered its regular repertoire. With designer/illustrator Maira Kalman, Muhly created the "finely wrought" (New York Times) cantata on Strunk & White's writing style guide The Elements of Style; the work premiered in the New York Public Library, landing the composer on New York Magazine's "Best" list of 2005.
Muhly's film credits include his scores for Choking Man (2006) and Joshua (2007); he has also worked extensively with Philip Glass as editor, keyboardist, and conductor for numerous film and stage projects. Recently, Muhly conducted excerpts from Einstein on the Beach for a new ballet by Benjamin Millepied at the Opéra de Paris. In October, 2007, the American Ballet Theater will premiere Muhly and Millepied's collaboration From Here on Out, a commission for their 2007-2008 season.
He has also lent his skills as performer and conductor to other musicians, including Björk (Medúlla, Drawing Restraint 9, Volta), Bonnie "Prince" Billy (The Letting Go), and Antony, of the group Antony and the Johnsons. His work with Antony has included performances in Arnhem, Leeds, and New York City; in February 2007, the pair worked together on a new Shakespeare setting for The Sonnet Project, a program curated by Gavin Bryars for Opera North and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Muhly looks forward to the release of such collaborations as Ekvílibríum, the highly anticipated solo debut of Icelandic musician Valgeir Sigurðsson, and All Is Well by American folk singer Sam Amidon. Sigurðsson will be releasing both discs on his own label Bedroom Community, which he inaugurated by producing Muhly's first album, Speaks Volumes (2007). In the months leading up to the latter's American release, Muhly was invited to present concerts of his chamber music at both Carnegie Hall and the Whitney Museum. Future recording projects include a second record, titled Mothertongue.
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 | A native of New York City, composer James Blachly has been recognized by Chamber Music America as "vigorous and assured." He is particularly at home writing for voice, and has worked with many of New York's finest vocalists on his songs and choral works. During his 2007 residency at the Carolina Chamber Music Festival, his "Variations for Harp and String Trio" was hailed as a "complicated yet beautiful work." He studied with Robert Cuckson at Mannes for his Master of Music degree, and currently studies part-time with Charles Wuorinen.
Blachly's works have been championed by the Ikarus Chamber Players, who have commissioned several of his pieces, and perform them regularly in New York as well as Canada and Iceland. A member of the Trinity Choir and a substitute Gentleman of the Choir at St. Thomas Fifth Avenue, Blachly is well-versed in the choral tradition. His composition residency at St. Michael's Episcopal Church during the liturgical year of 2007 produced four anthems and a piece for solo organ, as well as several service pieces which have been performed regularly.
Blachly is particularly dedicated to music education, and is thrilled to be a part of the Children's Music Campaign NYC project. In the fall of 2007, James was the musical assistant to the Berliner Philharmoniker's education team during The Rite of Spring Project as part of Carnegie Hall's Berlin in Lights festival. He has written incidental music for The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall, and is also a writer for WMI's KidsNotes. Blachly served as Thomas Cabaniss's assistant at the 92nd Street Y's Music Unlocked project, and currently works with Jon Deak on the Very Young Composers project of the New York Philharmonic. Most of all, he loves working with kids, and has had a terrific time collaborating with the creativity of these young minds! |
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