Music for All

Music For All is a community engagement program involving Eastman chamber music groups and local host venues around the Rochester metropolitan area. The main goal of Music For All is for various audiences and Eastman musicians to connect through a shared music experience and build meaningful relationships between the Eastman School of Music and the Rochester community.

The seeds of Music For All (MFA) were planted back in 1985, when then Associate Director Jon Engberg proposed an “audience-building project,” which would include a new and radical undergraduate requirement: that each student would be involved in a project that intends “to initiate or foster an interest in music in an audience…which does not normally attend concerts.” Ten years later, a pilot project was officially in place, directed by Concert Manager Andy Green and Professor Kathleen Bride. Dubbed Music For All, a name suggested by Professor John Graham, the program recruited eight student volunteer chamber music groups to perform locally at a school or community site.

At the height of the program, Music for All sent over 40 chamber music groups out into the local community to perform a total of 80+ concerts for audiences ranging from preschoolers to senior citizens. Over 2,000 people were able to enjoy live music through MFA each year. For a long time, the Eastman School of Music was the only collegiate music school requiring chamber music students to participate in community performances as part of their curriculum. Other music schools and conservatories around the US and Canada were inspired by Music For All as a model for their own community engagement programs and certificates.

(Source: Eastman Notes 2004 and 2005, Timothy Ying and Elinor Freer)

After a few years’ hiatus, Music For All will be back in Spring 2025! Dr. Sylvie Beaudette, Assistant Professor of Chamber Music, is now coordinating the program. She succeeds members of the Ying Quartet, Dr. Elinor Freer, Petar Kodzas, and Mark Kellogg (Eastman To Go coordinator) who masterfully led this unique community engagement program.

Contact information:

Dr. Sylvie Beaudette, Music For All coordinator
sbeaudette@esm.rochester.edu
(585) 274-1415