Musical Explorers Family Concerts Return in January

On Saturday, January 18, 2025 at 12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., dynamic artists from around the world perform in Zankel Hall as part of the Musical Explorers Family Concerts, interactive performances that celebrate unique musical cultures and traditions around the globe. The performances feature Haitian song traditions led by Emeline Michel, songs and social dances from the Southeastern United States with Martha Redbone, and South African Zulu music with Sbongiseni “Bongi” Duma and Tshidi Manye. Free pre-concert activities will be offered one hour prior to each performance, preparing parents, caregivers, and children to sing and dance along with the artists.

Earlier in the week, from Tuesday, January 14–Friday, January 17, thousands of schoolchildren in grades K–2 visit Carnegie Hall to sing and dance in high-energy culminating concerts. Musical Explorers reaches more than 7,000 New York City public school students in classrooms each year through a curriculum that teaches singing, listening, and basic music skills as children study songs from these musical traditions and reflect on their own communities.

Over the past five years, Musical Explorers has expanded tremendously with a digital platform that reaches teachers and students nationally, providing free online classroom resources including lesson plans, an interactive map, artist-led videos, and digital concert experiences filmed live at Carnegie Hall. This season, Carnegie Hall is piloting a new school district partnership program with eight districts across seven US states, deepening the connection between classrooms across the country and Carnegie Hall. This pilot program creates new relationships between school districts and Carnegie Hall, providing their teachers with free, high-quality educational resources along with exclusive professional development sessions and online “Meet the Artist” sessions with Musical Explorers artists Juan and Julia Gutiérrez, Starr Busby, and Falu Shah. Through this expansion, participating teachers join a global network of educators participating in Musical Explorers.

The full list of participating school districts include:

Bowling Green Independent School District, KY
Dorchester School District Two, SC
Hayward Unified School District, CA
Memphis-Shelby County Schools, TN
Metro Nashville Public Schools, TN
Newton Public Schools, NJ
Vance County Schools, NC
Volusia County Schools, FL