Carnegie Hall's MY CITY MY SONG Family Concerts Showcase Music From Around the World

On Saturday, December 16 at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., three vibrant New York City-based artists will perform in My City, My Song, an interactive Family Concert celebrating music from around the world. The performance features traditional and original Georgian folk songs from Ilusha Tsinadze, Freedom Songs of the Civil Rights Movement fromImani Uzuri, and original Haitian songs from Emeline Michel. Free pre-concert activities take place in Zankel Hall one hour prior to each performance.

New York City public school students in grades K-2 have been learning about these same artists throughout the semester as part of the Musical Explorers program, which teaches basic music skills in the classroom as children study songs from different cultures, reflect on their own communities, and develop singing and listening skills. FromTuesday, December 12 to Friday, December 15, thousands of children will visit Carnegie Hall for high-energy culminating concerts with their classes.

This season, Musical Explorers will reach more than 5,000 students across New York City. Carnegie Hall is also partnering with theSavannah Music Festival in Savannah, Georgia, The Broad Stage in Santa Monica, California, and Omaha Performing Arts in Omaha, Nebraska to adapt the program for their own communities. Altogether, more than 15,000 students will participate in Musical Explorers across the United States during the 2017-2018 season.

About the Artists
Ilusha Tsinadze is a singer, guitarist, composer, and arranger born in Tbilisi, Georgia. After studying jazz in college, his passion shifted to the music of his homeland. In 2011, Ilusha released his debut album, Deda Ena (Mother Tongue), which featured his own distinctly personal interpretations of Georgian folk songs along with compositions of his own. The music video for his song "Mokhevis Kalo Tinao" went viral in Georgia and has since won him wide acclaim and national fame in the country. He has performed with his Brooklyn-based band around the world, allowing audiences to experience his emotional renditions of Georgia's beautiful and little-known musical traditions.

Called a "postmodernist Bessie Smith" by The Village Voice, composer, vocalist, and cultural workerImani Uzuri has collaborated with an eclectic array of artists including Herbie Hancock, John Legend, Vijay Iyer, Carrie Mae Weems, and Robert Ashley. Her breakthrough album The Gypsy Diaries was released to critical acclaim. In 2016, Imani made her Lincoln Center American Songbook debut and was a featured performer on Black Girls Rock! on BET. She also composed and co-wrote lyrics for a new musical GIRL Shakes Loose, which was selected for the 2016 O'Neill National Music Theater Conference, and is currently composing a contemporary opera, Hush Arbor. She recently collaborated with The Public Theater on a concert tour of community centers, shelters, and prisons, and is Founder and Artistic Director of Revolutionary Choir.

Haitian songstress Emeline Michel is internationally acclaimed for fusing pop, jazz, blues, and traditional Haitian rhythms into deeply moving, joyful music delivered through charismatic live shows. A master entertainer, Emeline has shared her message with audiences for more than 20 years, including appearances at the United Nations, Montreal's International Jazz Festival, and MTV's Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief. Hailed by The New York Times as a "diplomat of music" and "the dancing ambassador with a voice serene and warm like the breeze," she is now based in New York City, where she runs her own Production Company, Production Cheval de Feu, and remains an important voice for social issues concerning women and children worldwide.
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About Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute
Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) creates visionary programs that embody Carnegie Hall's commitment to music education, playing a central role in fulfilling the Hall's mission of making great music accessible to as many people as possible. With unparalleled access to the world's greatest artists, WMI's programs are designed to inspire audiences of all ages, nurture tomorrow's musical talent, and harness the power of music to make a meaningful difference in people's lives. An integral part of Carnegie Hall's concert season, these programs facilitate creative expression, develop musical skills and capacities at all levels, and encourage participants to make lifelong personal connections to music. The Weill Music Institute generates new knowledge through original research and is committed to giving back to its community and the field, sharing an extensive range of online music education resources and program materials for free with teachers, orchestras, arts organizations, and music lovers worldwide. Half a million people each year engage in WMI's programs through national and international partnerships, in New York City schools and community settings, and at Carnegie Hall. This includes more than 400,000 students and teachers worldwide who participate in WMI's Link Up music education program for students in grades 3 through 5, made possible through partnerships with over 100 orchestras in the US, Canada, Japan, Kenya, Puerto Rico, and Spain.

For more information, please visit: carnegiehall.org/Education