NOTE: Music begins at 7 PM, and there is a pre-show letter-writing event at 6 PM that all attendees are invited to!

Bringing together an ensemble of 19 musicians, string quartet soloists, and conductor Christina Morris, Sound Off: Music for Bail presents an evening of music and discussion at the Church of the Village (201 W 13th St.) in collaboration with queer liberation organization Black and Pink NYC. Featured speaker Jennifer Love Williams of Black and Pink NYC will speak about community advocacy, decarceration, and the need to support re-entering citizens. In addition, Black and Pink NYC will lead audience members in a pre-show letter-writing event, connecting them to currently incarcerated queer individuals in need of support.

In choosing the works and composers for this concert, Sound Off sought to address the question: What does a national anthem mean for people historically treated as second-class citizens? Beginning with an original arrangement of J. Rosamund Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, commonly referred to as the Black National Anthem, the program explores the interlocking history of US racial policies and Black musical traditions through three leading American composers: Jessie Montgomery (“Banner”), Michael Abels (“Delights and Dances”), and Frederick Tillis, whose “Niger Symphony” will be receiving its NYC premiere.

General admission tickets are $20, and proceeds from this concert directly supports musicians and speakers. Free tickets and livestream accessibility will be available at request to remove financial and physical barriers to attendance.

Sound Off: Music for Bail is a POC-led collective of musicians, activists, and thinkers dedicated to combining music performance with educational work that envisions alternatives to the current state of policing and imprisonment in the U.S. Sound Off: Music for Bail’s concert programming during the 2023-2024 concert season is funded by community support and grants from the Surdna Foundation, the YoungArts Foundation, the Copland Fund, the Groupmuse Foundation’s Planetary Music Movement, and NewMusicUSA’s New Music Organization Fund.

RSVP: https://www.groupmuse.com/events/14125-sound-off-music-for-bail-presents-our-anthem-an-orchestral-activation

Sound Off: Music for Bail is excited to host our first annual Potluck Fundraiser on Monday, December 18th from 5-6:30 PM at Broadway Presbyterian Church (601 W 114th Street New York, NY 10025). We've invited performers, artists, and community members to donate performances, art, food, and services in support of Sound Off’s work towards abolition and safer communities for all, but just as importantly, we'd love to invite you to come and join in the work through attending! Meet new friends and bring some of your own.

To RSVP: Click Here

Admission for the gala is $5, payable through a donation to our Fractured Atlas: Click Here

In addition, if you would also like to donate food, items for our silent auction, or even a performance, follow these links:

Food, Drinks, + Utensils: Click Here
Silent Auction Items: Click Here
Performance Interest Form: Click Here

Sound Off kicks off our self-produced mainstage concert series with string quartets by Connie Li (Moving Song), Angelica Negron (Marejada), Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson (String Quartet No. 1, “Calvary”), Steph Davis (Traffic Stop), inti figgis-vizueta (Tea in mi casa), and Shelley Washington (Say), performed at the People’s Forum (320 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018) on November 10 at 7 PM. Our featured speaker for the evening is Tatiana Hill from the NYC Office of the Community Liaison, coming to discuss the history of stop-and-frisk in New York, and how the NYC Office of the Community Liaison is a powerful tool for communities to respond to violence caused directly by the state of policing in our city.

Tickets are $15, with free admission available upon request for low-income audiences and families impacted by the prison-industrial complex. We use Groupmuse as our ticketing platform. Click here to purchase tickets or for more info.

COVID safety protocol — The People’s Forum does not currently have a mask requirement, although they are strongly recommended to protect our immunocompromised + traveling community members. If COVID cases rise in NYC, Sound Off will implement measures as necessary to ensure public safety.

Musician bios:

Born and raised in the Bronx, NYC, Aurora Mendez is a versatile violinist, educator, and advocate for innovation in classical music. Aurora's passion for her craft has transcended borders as she has graced international stages through participation in prestigious music festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein, Orchestra of the Americas, Next Fest, Marrowstone, Monteux, and Spoleto Festivals. Her orchestral engagements include performances with the New Haven and Harrisburg symphonies, as well as serving as guest concertmaster with City Lyric Opera.

As an educator, Aurora has taught and worked with students across Latin America, Europe, and the US. Formerly an Orchestra of the Americas Global Leader Fellow, Aurora participated in international
residencies in Chicago and El Salvador where she collaborated with music schools and youth orchestra organizations. Currently, she holds positions on the faculty at the NJSO Youth Orchestra, Music Mentors Collaborative NYC, and serves as the Strings Teaching Artist in Residence at SOPAC.

A firm believer in bridging the gap between the classical music world and contemporary audiences, Aurora has been a featured speaker at renowned international conferences, including SXSW
and the Karajan Music Tech Conferences. In 2023, Aurora partnered with Capital District Latinos as the co-founder of the West Hill Concert Series. This groundbreaking initiative aims to provide the local community with high-quality, culturally relevant chamber music performances and wellness workshops imparted by leading mental health professionals.

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Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, violinist Celina Farmer has performed throughout her home state with ensembles such as the Juneau Symphony, the Anchorage Opera, the Alaska Chamber Singers, as a tenured Violin 1 player in the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, and as a Soloist and Concertmaster of the Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra. Celina annually tours with members of the ABCO to bring classical music to rural communities across Southcentral Alaska.

Celina’s collegiate studies began at the Eastman School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Professor Renée Jolles. Celina also holds a Master of Music from DePaul University, where she studied with Professor Janet Sung and performed as Concertmaster of the DePaul Concert Orchestra and the DePaul Baroque Ensemble. Another significant part of Celina's education was her time spent at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she earned her High School Diploma and spent three formative years studying with Paul Sonner.

As a passionate educator, Celina teaches in both the traditional style and with the Suzuki method, completing Suzuki Teacher Training with Every Child Can and Violin Books 1-5 under the mentorship of Rolando Freitag. Celina strives to foster meaningful connections with all of her students and teach musical skills that will allow them to succeed in all aspects of life.

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25-year old first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, educator, and composer-arranger from Uniondale, NY, now based in New York City. Jay is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, a section member of the Hartford Symphony, substitute violist with the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra and the Memphis, Virginia, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and has been invited to play with the New York Pops, the American Composers Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, PROTESTRA, ChamberQUEER, NOVUS NY, and the Metropolis Ensemble. They appeared in the official collaborative music video for Major Lazer & Marcus Mumford’s single Lay Your Head On Me, released as a fundraiser for COVID-19 research efforts, performed with Nigerian artist Burna Boy in his Hollywood Bowl debut, and joined Audra McDonald this past December on Carnegie Hall’s Great Artists series.

A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs, the YoungArts Foundation, the Music Teachers National Association and a recipient of a 2019 Juilliard Career Grant, Jay is indebted to the Virtu Foundation and the American Viola Society for their past support through instrument and bow loans. Festival performance credits include Juilliard’s FOCUS Festival, the Queens New Music Festival, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Music Academy of the West, Orpheus@Mannes, and the Cabrillo, Spoleto, Thy, Aspen, Texas, Manchester, and Pacific Music Festivals. They have served as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, instructed at the Stony Brook University Chamber Strings Camp, and currently teach at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Viola Intensive and on a substitute basis at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division.

After taking their first viola lesson at age 14 at the Mannes Preparatory Division, Jay graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy at 16 studying with Renee Skerik with their highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award, received their BM in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on full scholarship, and received their MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellowship under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Other important mentors include Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Lina Bahn. Away from the instrument, Jay writes, and was a finalist in the 2021 Mississippi Review & Meridian poetry prizes. Their poems can be found in the Cincinnati Review, Poetry Online, and Barrelhouse, among other places, and they enjoy reviewing concerts at Represent Classical.

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Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Angelique Montes began her cello studies at the age of 5 at The Suzuki School for Strings in Manhattan, NY. Her debut solo performance was in 2010, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time, she attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts where she worked with renowned artists such as: Midori, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jan Vogler, Prazak String Quartet, the Marsalis family, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Montes later attended the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Amir Eldan. While at Oberlin, she soloed with the Oberlin Arts and Science Orchestra, and received honors awards as a member of the Adelphe Piano Trio. Montes went on to study with Matthew Zalkind at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and Alan Rafferty at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where she received her doctoral degree.

During her summers, Angelique attended Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, Interlochen Summer Arts, National Youth Orchestra of the USA, National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Credo Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival.

Her debut album, “Refraction” was released the summer of 2022, and can be found on all streaming platforms, as well as BandCamp.com for digital and physical purchase. The album highlights solo cello pieces by black composers as well as electroacoustic music.

In addition to cello and music, Angelique enjoys baking/cooking, listening to podcasts, playing ping-pong, and drinking tea.

In preparation for Sound Off: Music for Bail’s November 10 7 PM string quartet show at the People’s Forum supporting Tatiana Hill from the NYC Office of the Community Liaison, Sound Off will have two open rehearsals from 11 AM - 2 PM and 3 PM - 5 PM, as well as a 6-7 PM performance at Word Up Community Bookshop (2113 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10032). Musical selections will be taken from our program for the next day’s concert, and Sound Off head Jay Julio will speak about Sound Off’s history, mission, and future. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $15 at the show via cash or card (tax-deductible via our Fractured Atlas link). No RSVP is required to attend rehearsals. RSVP here for the show.

COVID safety protocols — Word Up requires masks to be worn while inside. We appreciate your understanding of what it takes to keep our community safe, and musicians’ particular needs in an uncertain profession.

Musician bios:

Born and raised in the Bronx, NYC, Aurora Mendez is a versatile violinist, educator, and advocate for innovation in classical music. Aurora's passion for her craft has transcended borders as she has graced international stages through participation in prestigious music festivals including the Schleswig-Holstein, Orchestra of the Americas, Next Fest, Marrowstone, Monteux, and Spoleto Festivals. Her orchestral engagements include performances with the New Haven and Harrisburg symphonies, as well as serving as guest concertmaster with City Lyric Opera.

As an educator, Aurora has taught and worked with students across Latin America, Europe, and the US. Formerly an Orchestra of the Americas Global Leader Fellow, Aurora participated in international
residencies in Chicago and El Salvador where she collaborated with music schools and youth orchestra organizations. Currently, she holds positions on the faculty at the NJSO Youth Orchestra, Music Mentors Collaborative NYC, and serves as the Strings Teaching Artist in Residence at SOPAC.

A firm believer in bridging the gap between the classical music world and contemporary audiences, Aurora has been a featured speaker at renowned international conferences, including SXSW
and the Karajan Music Tech Conferences. In 2023, Aurora partnered with Capital District Latinos as the co-founder of the West Hill Concert Series. This groundbreaking initiative aims to provide the local community with high-quality, culturally relevant chamber music performances and wellness workshops imparted by leading mental health professionals.

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Born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, violinist Celina Farmer has performed throughout her home state with ensembles such as the Juneau Symphony, the Anchorage Opera, the Alaska Chamber Singers, as a tenured Violin 1 player in the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra, and as a Soloist and Concertmaster of the Anchorage Bowl Chamber Orchestra. Celina annually tours with members of the ABCO to bring classical music to rural communities across Southcentral Alaska.

Celina’s collegiate studies began at the Eastman School of Music, where she earned her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Professor Renée Jolles. Celina also holds a Master of Music from DePaul University, where she studied with Professor Janet Sung and performed as Concertmaster of the DePaul Concert Orchestra and the DePaul Baroque Ensemble. Another significant part of Celina's education was her time spent at Interlochen Arts Academy, where she earned her High School Diploma and spent three formative years studying with Paul Sonner.

As a passionate educator, Celina teaches in both the traditional style and with the Suzuki method, completing Suzuki Teacher Training with Every Child Can and Violin Books 1-5 under the mentorship of Rolando Freitag. Celina strives to foster meaningful connections with all of her students and teach musical skills that will allow them to succeed in all aspects of life.

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25-year old first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (they/them) is a multi-instrumentalist, educator, and composer-arranger from Uniondale, NY, now based in New York City. Jay is the Assistant Principal Violist of the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra, a section member of the Hartford Symphony, substitute violist with the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra and the Memphis, Virginia, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras, and has been invited to play with the New York Pops, the American Composers Orchestra, the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, PROTESTRA, ChamberQUEER, NOVUS NY, and the Metropolis Ensemble. They appeared in the official collaborative music video for Major Lazer & Marcus Mumford’s single Lay Your Head On Me, released as a fundraiser for COVID-19 research efforts, performed with Nigerian artist Burna Boy in his Hollywood Bowl debut, and joined Audra McDonald this past December on Carnegie Hall’s Great Artists series.

A prizewinner in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs, the YoungArts Foundation, the Music Teachers National Association and a recipient of a 2019 Juilliard Career Grant, Jay is indebted to the Virtu Foundation and the American Viola Society for their past support through instrument and bow loans. Festival performance credits include Juilliard’s FOCUS Festival, the Queens New Music Festival, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, Music Academy of the West, Orpheus@Mannes, and the Cabrillo, Spoleto, Thy, Aspen, Texas, Manchester, and Pacific Music Festivals. They have served as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, instructed at the Stony Brook University Chamber Strings Camp, and currently teach at the Interlochen Center for the Arts Viola Intensive and on a substitute basis at the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division.

After taking their first viola lesson at age 14 at the Mannes Preparatory Division, Jay graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy at 16 studying with Renee Skerik with their highest musical honor, the Young Artist Award, received their BM in Viola Performance from the Manhattan School of Music under Karen Ritscher on full scholarship, and received their MM at the Juilliard School on a full-tuition Susan W. Rose Fellowship under the tutelage of Heidi Castleman and Misha Amory. Other important mentors include Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti and Lina Bahn. Away from the instrument, Jay writes, and was a finalist in the 2021 Mississippi Review & Meridian poetry prizes. Their poems can be found in the Cincinnati Review, Poetry Online, and Barrelhouse, among other places, and they enjoy reviewing concerts at Represent Classical.

/

Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Angelique Montes began her cello studies at the age of 5 at The Suzuki School for Strings in Manhattan, NY. Her debut solo performance was in 2010, with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra. At that time, she attended the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts where she worked with renowned artists such as: Midori, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Jan Vogler, Prazak String Quartet, the Marsalis family, and Yo-Yo Ma.

Montes later attended the Oberlin Conservatory, where she studied with Amir Eldan. While at Oberlin, she soloed with the Oberlin Arts and Science Orchestra, and received honors awards as a member of the Adelphe Piano Trio. Montes went on to study with Matthew Zalkind at the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and Alan Rafferty at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music, where she received her doctoral degree.

During her summers, Angelique attended Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute, Interlochen Summer Arts, National Youth Orchestra of the USA, National Symphony Orchestra Summer Music Institute, Colorado College Summer Music Festival, Credo Music Festival, Innsbrook Institute, and Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival.

Her debut album, “Refraction” was released the summer of 2022, and can be found on all streaming platforms, as well as BandCamp.com for digital and physical purchase. The album highlights solo cello pieces by black composers as well as electroacoustic music.

In addition to cello and music, Angelique enjoys baking/cooking, listening to podcasts, playing ping-pong, and drinking tea.

Hosted by Broadway Advocacy Coalition, the second annual Arts in Action Festival is the premier space for organizations and individuals working at the intersections of arts and advocacy to come together to showcase their work, explore opportunities for collaboration, celebrate the resilience of the justice-impacted community, and focus the city’s attention on the many ways that the “justice” system is failing to actually create justice for so many inhabitants of New York City.

In its second year, the festival will include workshops, performances, screenings, panels, tabling from multiple NYC arts advocacy organizations and exhibits that will allow participants and organizations to experience the power of art and storytelling as a tool for creating more humane policies and systems. This year’s festival - themed “Envisioning the Possible” - will provide a space to demonstrate the role that art can play in imagining and constructing the possible just future ahead.

Sound Off will be performing “Abolition Songs”, a performance of works by Frederick Tillis and Florence Price, on the second day, September 11, 2023, at 7 PM.

More info: https://www.artsinactionfestival.com/

NOTE: Show will start promptly at 7 PM. Seating will begin at 6:30!

Hello Groupmusers! Musical-abolitionist collective Sound Off: Music for Bail (musicforbail.com) is partnering with Groupmuse to present a season finale worthy of the three-year mark this July 9th. For the very first time, this NYC-based group is bringing the sound of change to Philadelphia!

This show, coming right on the heels of our NYC finale show, features four of the East Coast's finest string musicians (violinists Justus Ross + Che Buford, violist Kyran Littlejohn, and cellist Emmanuel Losa) in string works by Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Sebastien Zel, Florence Price, and Akua Dixon We'll be hosted by the incredible Philadelphia Ethical Society, who are generously sharing their beautiful auditorium in Rittenhouse Square with us. Regardless of faith or credo, we are proud to collaborate with progressive organizations that share our ideals of a better world through targeting the root causes of harm and injustice.

It's an honor to collaborate as well with Abolitionist Law Center Executive Assistant, nationally published writer, and former Prison Radio correspondent Sergio Hyland, who will be serving as featured speaker. From the ALC's website:

The Abolitionist Law Center is a public interest law firm inspired by the struggle of political and politicized prisoners, and organized for the purpose of abolishing class and race based mass incarceration in the United States. Abolitionist Law Center litigates on behalf of people whose human rights have been violated in prison, educates the general public about the evils of mass incarceration, and works to develop a mass movement against the American punishment system by building alliances and nurturing solidarity across social divisions.

And if you can't make it to Philadelphia on the 8th but are in New York on the 9th, you're in luck -- we'll be presenting the same musical program at the People's Forum at 7 PM! Stay tuned for more details.

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The Philadelphia Ethical Society Auditorium is wheelchair accessible by means of a custodian-operated lift at the Manning Street entrance, and there is an accessible restroom. Regular accessibility is up 5 stairs from street level.

See you there!

MORE INFO: https://www.groupmuse.com/events/13139-sound-off-philadelphia-ethical-society-2022-2023-finale-philly-debut

NOTE: Music will start promptly at 7 PM, and the People’s Forum is open all day for you to get there early and grab a seat.

Hello Groupmusers! Musical-abolitionist collective Sound Off: Music for Bail (musicforbail.com) is partnering once more with Groupmuse to present a season finale worthy of the three-year mark this July 8th. Once more, they'll be hosted by the People's Forum!

This show features four of the East Coast's finest string musicians (violinists Justus Ross + Che Buford, violist Kyran Littlejohn, and cellist Emmanuel Losa) in string works by Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, Sebastien Zel, Florence Price, and Akua Dixon. Sound Off is thrilled to partner once more with the Justice Committee, and to platform a speaker from their community.

From their website:

The Justice Committee (JC) is a grassroots organization dedicated to building a movement against police violence and systemic racism in New York City and empowering low-income Latinx and other people of color to address these issues. Recognizing that true power can only be exercised by unified communities we prioritize developing the leadership of both youth and elders and strive to make our organizing a multi-generational effort. By building solidarity with other anti-racist, immigrant and people of color-led organizations, we seek to contribute to a broad-based movement for social justice.

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And if you can't make it in New York on the 8th but are in Philadelphia on the 9th, right, you're in luck -- Sound Off will be presenting the same musical program at 7 PM!

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Food and drink will be available at the People's Forum cafe.

MORE INFO: https://www.groupmuse.com/events/13136-sound-off-x-justice-committee-the-people-s-forum-nyc-2022-2023-season-finale

Instrumental Music majors at Talent Unlimited High School have organized a fundraising gala for Sound Off. We are so honored to be in community with these young people, and look forward both to working with them as musical educators and as colleagues through side-by-side performances.

MORE INFO: https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/TUHS/6341

Join Sound Off: Music for Bail to ring in the new year with our first Massivemuse of 2023 in partnership with some new and old friends at Playwrights Horizons Downtown's Moss Theater.

As many Groupmusers may already know, the Groupmuse Foundation's Planetary Music Movement (PMM) is "on a mission to transform music's culture by celebrating and showcasing the artistry of Black musicians and composers" and we've worked together in the past to present string quartets written and performed by incredible Black artists. This time, Sound Off: Music for Bail is collaborating with Planetary Music Movement and renowned activist orchestra PROTESTRA for their largest show yet.

New Orleans native and Rome Prize-winning composer Dr. Courtney Bryan wrote her deeply affecting cantata, Yet Unheard for solo voice, chorus, and orchestra in collaboration with poet Sharan Strange in 2016, after the death of Sandra Bland in pre-trial incarceration. Bryan's response to this death, caused by misogynoir, police violence, and incorporation of money in the US criminal justice system serves as a lodestone to our musical programming. Our vocal soloist in Yet Unheard, the multi-talented soprano/composer/improviser Jasmine Wilson, will present some of her own music following.

Before the cantata, Voices of Community Leaders and Activists NY (VOCAL-NY) Director of Organizing, Jawanza James Williams, will present testimony on VOCAL-NY's work, the progress of justice work, and its future. And the show will open with strings, en masse: first, movements from Frederick Tillis' Spiritual Fantasy No. 12 for string quartet, then Akua Dixon's Efua arranged for string ensemble.

*Please note that doors will open at 7:00pm and the show will start at the downbeat of 7:30pm!

Sound Off: Music for Bail is grateful for foundational support for this programming courtesy of the YoungArts Foundation and the Abolitionist Teaching Network.

Sound Off: Music for Bail partners with Asian & Asian-American-led massage & sex workers' rights collective Red Canary Song (redcanarysong.net) for a concert that commemorates the past and looks towards our futures. String quartets by Rhiannon Giddens and Wu Man will start off the show, and Washington Post “22 for ‘22” vocalist-composer Dai Wei joins the quartet in a performance of her very own "Partial Men".

In-person ticketing is graciously offered through Groupmuse. Please follow the link below for more information.

https://www.groupmuse.com/events/12734-sound-off-x-red-canary-song-the-people-s-forum

Performers for Change and Sound Off: Music for Bail present Dr. Fredara Hadley, ethnomusicologist and professor of music history at the Juilliard School in a 30 minute talk and Q & A session on the Pedagogy of Now.

Dr. Hadley writes, "Teaching is a living and breathing practice. As such, it shifts, adapts, and evolves to meet the needs of the people and the demands of the time. This is my philosophy of teaching - to create a space in which the lines between teacher and learner remain malleable and one where the goal is to ask better questions of ourselves and our world. At its core, teaching is an invitation to remember what was and also to imagine what could be. It is from the seats of curiosity and exploration from which all decisions of pedagogy and learning mechanics are made."

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The Zoom link will be emailed to all participants the day before through Eventbrite!

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This talk is a fundraiser for Sound Off: Music for Bail. Sound Off: Music for Bail combines classical music performances with presentations by individuals versed in the American criminal justice system and formerly incarcerated individuals in order to educate audiences and build inclusive communities.
We believe strongly in paying presenters and performers, and center Black, indigenous American, Latinx, and Asian people who have taken the time to work in liberation & reparative fields in our choices of instructors, musicians, and speakers. If you fall into one of the above communities and would like to work with us, please do not hesitate to reach out.
We compensate at the following rates:
Musicians: 150$ for 50 min of music and audience talkback
Speakers: 150$ for a 10-15 min lecture and audience talkback
Instructors: 100$ for a 45 min instrumental or vocal class
The suggested auditor fee for this presentation is $5, paid over our Eventbrite link here: https://www.eventbrite.com/.../the-pedagogy-of-now-with...

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Fredara Mareva Hadley has been an ethnomusicology professor in Juilliard’s department of music history since 2018. Her core research considers how people of African descent use music genres to construct and maintain community. A native of West Palm Beach, Florida, she earned an undergraduate degree from Florida A&M University; a Master of Arts in African American studies from Clark-Atlanta University; and a PhD in ethnomusicology from Indiana University. Hadley has been published in the Journal of Popular Music Studies, ICTM Yearbook, Billboard magazine, and other outlets. She has presented at meetings for the Society for Ethnomusicology, Society for American Music, International Council for Traditional Music-Study Groups on African Music, and Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Her newest project focuses on Shirley Graham Du Bois, one of the earliest Black women musicologists and opera composers.

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents works that received new, free editions through our Engrave-A-Thons, as well as other arrangements of works by our community members that uplift historical composers of marginalized identities. All new engravings of works in the public domain will be available via IMSLP.

This will be a Facebook Live and YouTube Premiere video presented at 6 PM EST, and, while free, donations are gratefully accepted to help fund our upcoming March 13th guest lecture by Dr. Fredara Hadley, ethnomusicologist and professor of music history at the Juilliard School.

Donations will be taken at our Fractured Atlas page: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/.../general_support
All donations taken via FA are tax-deductible.

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This showcase is a fundraiser for Sound Off: Music for Bail. Sound Off: Music for Bail combines classical music performances with presentations by individuals versed in the American criminal justice system and formerly incarcerated individuals in order to educate audiences and build inclusive communities.
We believe strongly in paying presenters and performers, and center Black, indigenous American, Latinx, and Asian people who have taken the time to work in liberation & reparative fields in our choices of instructors, musicians, and speakers. If you fall into one of the above communities and would like to work with us, please do not hesitate to reach out.
We compensate at the following rates:
Musicians: 150$ for 50 min of music and audience talkback
Speakers: 150$ for a 10-15 min lecture and audience talkback
Instructors: 100$ for a 45 min instrumental or vocal class

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a livestreamed concert under the auspices of house concert organization Groupmuse and its Planetary Music Movement (PMM).

Led by De'Siree Reeves and Dara Hankins, the Planetary Music Movement guides Groupmuse to grow beyond the historical dominance of European ethnocentrism within the classical music tradition, by celebrating historical and contemporary musical traditions of the planet, particularly and imminently through the inclusion and celebration of works by artists of African descent.

Sound Off: Music for Bail hosts an Engrave-A-Thon! We will be meeting over Zoom to spend an hour engraving new editions of works by historically marginalized composers, learning about their histories, and sharing them freely with the greater Western classical music community over IMSLP. We welcome you to join us as an engraver (open to any kind of music engraving software, including MuseScore and Noteflight!), as a guest lecturer, or even simply as a friend cheering us on!

We will have a list of pieces ready for people to work on -- all editions or manuscripts pulled from IMSLP, but we welcome any alternative versions that one might have access to via institutional resources or JStor. In addition, we welcome new pieces that are not on our list but that our community brings in, as well as new arrangements of works! We particularly would love to see expansions of the repertoire for instruments that do not currently have a large repertoire of Baroque, Classical, or Romantic-era music outside of the “canon”.

At 8 PM EST we’ll transition to Zoom games in celebration of an hour of hard work and for the fun of it!

Sound Off: Music for Bail presents a recorded concert in collaboration with Bass Players for Black Composers, a performing and commissioning organization that "encourages the expansion of solo repertoire for bass and the normalization of works by Black composers through commissioning diverse artists in all stages of their careers, disseminating works, facilitating performances, and producing educational programs." Bassists Kebra-Seyoun Charles, Byron Crenshaw, and Maggie Cox will perform three works for the instrument written under the auspices of BPBC's commissioning program: "[WRECK]oning" by Mason Bynes, "yung perseverent spirit" by Byron Crenshaw, and "everythingfeelsthesame" by Sarian Sankoh.

These three pieces will be juxtaposed with two works by composers Florence Price ("Andante moderato" from her String Quartet in G Major) and Akua Dixon ("Efua"), performed by violinists Fanny Fheodoroff, Jay Julio, violist Tess Krope, and cellist Daniel Hass. Between halves, a guest speaker will ruminate on the experiences of imprisonment, particularly upon their family. It is our hope that through the uplifting of community voices and artists' reflections, this new year will see deep and systemic change.