Bloomingdale School of Music to Present NOTES FROM 108TH STREET to Support Student Scholarships

Bloomingdale School of Music (BSM) will be holding their annual benefit for student scholarships and financial aid, Notes from 108th Street, on Monday, May 8th, 2017 at the Broadway Presbyterian Church located at 612 W. 114th St. & Broadway from 6:00 - 9:00 pm.

WABC News Anchor BILL RITTER will be serving as host and emcee for the evening of music, which honors JON DEAK, Founder and Director of the NY Philharmonic's Very Young Composers Program, an important partner for BSM's Student Composers Program, which encourages students ages 7-17 to compose new music and commissions professional composers to write new works for its students. Jon is a kind and generous neighbor to Bloomingdale School of Music, having been a resident of the Upper West Side for forty years.

The evening will also celebrate the 25th anniversary of the school's Music Access Project (MAP), a full scholarship, multi-year pre-college conservatory training program for talented low-income students. A highlight of the evening will be the performance of Jon Deak's 1987 composition, Bye-Bye! performed by NY Philharmonic flutist Mindy Kaufman in the role of narrator and musician accompanied by a pianist. We are pleased to present a performance of BSM's 2016-17 Commissioned composer, Doug Balliett's Vassar College, 1918, set to text from a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay performed by BSM MAP Piano Quintet along with teachers Katherine Copland, voice, and Eric Phinney, percussion. Notes from 108th Street will feature a musical program performed by BSM students, faculty, and special guests.

All proceeds go to support the school's extensive financial aid and scholarship programs, which roughly represents15% of the school's annual budget. Notes from 108th Street includes a reception with light food, and performances; Tickets start at $100. For tickets and more information, visit www.bsmny.org/notes.

Sponsorship Levels: $250 = 2 tickets and supports 1 family to take early childhood class; $500 = 4 tickets and supports 1 student in the orchestra program for a full year; $1,000 = 8 tickets and supports 1 student for a semester of 30 minute lessons; $2,500 = 10 tickets and supports 1 student for a semester of 60 minute lessons; $5,000 = 12 tickets and supports 1 full scholarship student in the Music Access Project. For tickets and sponsorship inquiries, contact Sarah Benvenuti, Event Coordinator, at sbenvenuti@bsmny.org or 303-547-6279.

Bloomingdale School of Music, founded in 1964, is a thriving musical environment where students of all ages, backgrounds, and income levels learn and perform music, develop life skills, and participate in a diverse community committed to access and excellence. Fifty-two years later BSM upholds it's deep belief that an inclusive community music school can be a force for positive change in the world.

ABOUT JON DEAK - A prominent instrumentalist, Jon Deak was for many years the Associate Principal Bassist of the New York Philharmonic. As a composer, he has written over 300 works, and has had his music played by Orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, the National Symphony and the New York Philharmonic. His Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra, "The Headless Horseman," was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. His music may also be heard on several TV series and many recordings. In 1995 he founded the Very Young Composers, a national award-winning program, having since gone international in scope, whereby Public School children, age 9 - 13 have completely composed and orchestrated their own music for the New York Philharmonic, the Colorado Symphony, and ensembles across the country and on four continents. Jon Deak is the Young Composer Advocate of the New York Philharmonic.

ABOUT DOUG BALLIETT - Doug Balliett is a composer, instrumentalist and poet based in New York City. Balliett is a prolific artist whose career has spanned classical performance, composition, rap, rock, spoken word, period performance and conducting. Mr. Balliett's compositions have been heard throughout the US, garnering several awards, including prizes in the Frederick Delius Competition, the Leonard Bernstein Scholarship, the Kirkland House Music Award and Harvard's first annual Artist Development Grant. Recent compositional projects include a late-night event at the Chelsea Art Museum (as part of his continued residency at the Chelsea Music Festival) and the composer-in-residence Spotlight with The Oracle Hysterical at the Lucerne Festival, where he and his collaborators presented an evening of Grimm songs and a new hip-hopera based on Melville's Billy Budd. Mr. Balliett graduated from Harvard in 2007 with high honors and is recently completed a master's at The Juilliard School in Historical Performance. With a constant stream of commissions, a weekly show on New York Public Radio, and nearly 200 performances per year, Mr. Balliett has been identified as an emerging voice for his generation.

Bloomingdale School of Music is a 2016 - 17 host site for Con Edison's Exploring the Metropolis Composer-in-Residence Program created to provide free, long-term studio space to composers who are in need of a dedicated work space outside of their home. Doug Balliett is BSM's current composer-in-residence.

ABOUT MINDY KAUFMAN - Solo piccolo and flutist Mindy Kaufman joined the New York Philharmonic in 1979 at the age of 22, after performing for three seasons with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. She received a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Walfrid Kujala, Bonita Boyd, and James Galway. Ms. Kaufman has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Music Directors Zubin Mehta, Kurt Masur, and Lorin Maazel. For one season she substituted as principal flute with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. She performs chamber music regularly with her colleagues in the New York Philharmonic Ensembles, and has performed at the Mt. Desert Festival of Chamber Music, Moab Music Festival, Grand Teton Music Festival, Benefaio Music Festival, and Brightstar Music Festival. Solo recordings include Avner Dorman's Piccolo Concerto with the Metropolis Ensemble, Vivaldi's Piccolo concerto with New York Philharmonic recorded live, and a flute recording, French Flute Music. Ms. Kaufman has been a featured artist at the Japan Flute Convention and the National Flute Convention. A sought-after commercial musician, she has performed on more than 45 film sound tracks.

ABOUT BILL RITTER - Bill Ritter joined "20/20" as a correspondent in November 1997. He joined ABC News in 1993. He has been host of "Good Morning America/Sunday" and a correspondent on "Good Morning America." In 1998 Ritter was named weekend anchor of WABC-TV in New York. In 1999, he was named 11:00 p.m. anchor of ABC's flagship owned and operated station, and in 2001 he took over the 6:00 p.m. newscast as well. Ritter has covered dozens of important news stories for a variety of ABC News programs, including the murder of 8 year old Leiby Kletzky in Brooklyn, mob attacks and alleged sexual assault of young women in Manhattan's Central Park following the Puerto Rican Day Parade, shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, the death of Princess Diana, the crash of TWA Flight 800, the criminal and civil trials of O.J. Simpson and the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing. He attended San Diego State University, majoring in accounting and economics and received his Bachelors Degree from the New School in 2016.

ABOUT BLOOMINGDALE SCHOOL OF MUSIC - Now in its 52nd year, BSM has served more than 80,000 children and adults through group classes, private instruction, and performance opportunities in classical, jazz, and rock music. Each week, over 650 students of all ages participate in a wide range of music making, including early childhood classes, a comprehensive pre-college program, free community concerts, and internet-based music programs. With accessibility central to its mission, more than 20% of Bloomingdale's student body receives financial aid and scholarship assistance annually. For more information on Bloomingdale School of Music's programs and concerts, visit www.bsmny.org, call the office at 212-663-6021, or email info@bsmny.org.

ABOUT NY PHILHARMONIC Very Young Composers (VYC) - VYC was developed by noted composer (and former Associate Principal Bass) Jon Deak to answer the question, "What is children's music?" Working with Mr. Deak and Philharmonic Teaching Artists, public school children, with limited musical background, compose their very own music for Philharmonic musicians to play - often for the full Orchestra. Students make every compositional decision and write every note, with Teaching Artists serving as mentors and scribes. VYC demonstrates children's innate creativity, and provides a glimpse of the future of classical music. VYC has grown since 1995 to include a number of ongoing initiatives including After-school workshops, The Philharmonic's School Day Concerts, The Bridge and the addition of Satellite programs around the United States and projects abroad. For more information visit nyphil.org/education/learning-communities/very-young-composers.