2.21 Giving All Kids a Chance to Play: Music Haven

Violist Annalisa Boerner of Music Haven and the Haven String Quartet joins us to discuss the organization's mission to enhance access to chamber music education for the students of New Haven, Connecticut. We chat about how the organization works to connect the work their students are doing in the studio with the world beyond their practice, and how they work to counter the violence and hostility of society through community-building. We speak about the ways in which the organization is currently striving to improve inclusivity in employment and programming, and how they manage to provide learning opportunities 100% tuition-free to students in need.

Featured in the New York Times and on NPR, and sought after for both their command on the concert stage and their mastery as teachers, Haven String Quartet has been described as “exquisite” by the NH Register.

Its four members represent the world’s top conservatories and bring outstanding chamber music performances to New Haven neighborhoods and throughout the region with a full season of concerts, recitals, educational workshops, and performances for diverse audiences in public spaces.

The Quartet serves as the permanent quartet-in-residence and teaching faculty for Music Haven, and  spearheads the organization’s tuition-free strings program for youth, which has been recognized as a top 50 after-school arts program in the country by the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities for six years. Each member of HSQ teaches a full studio of 15-20 Music Haven students in private lessons, group classes, studio classes, chamber groups, and an advanced chamber orchestra.

The transcript for this episode can be found here.

For more information about Music Haven, please visit their website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.