What can we do so that audiences excluded because of their special needs could experience the beauty of music at a concert that is very difficult for them to attend? How to create a safe space for listeners with disabilities, in mental crises or wards of assistance centers? How to help them discover the therapeutic power of music?
Viola player Avri Levitan decided to seek answers to these difficult questions. The educator is convinced that music and art are ways to communicate and convey emotions. Therefore, it is very important to take care of two sides – the audience and the artists. First, they should be given the opportunity to talk about their impressions, feelings and emotions. It is extremely vital for an audience with special needs to have a sense of security. In order for them to talk about emotions and music, they simply need to feel safe. Arranging a trip to a concert and just being in a concert hall is really difficult for them – whether for logistical or emotional reasons. A new place, new smells, rigid rules of concert etiquette… Something that is standard for most, for them is simply a barrier. In order for them to feel safe, it is essential to remove this barrier.
Let’s move the concerts out of the concert hall! Let’s play in special schools, social welfare centers, hospitals, refugee or homeless centers – Levitan stated. Let’s play where our audience feels safe! Let’s allow them to sit freely in places they know. Let’s play in the hallway, in the kitchen, in the conference room. Let’s listen, let’s talk….
And that is how Musethica came to life!
Avri Levitan has created an educational program that already operates in 13 (!) countries and consists of organizing a series of closed and open concerts. For each edition, Levitan invites young musicians, to whom he gives a unique opportunity for development. Together with other tutors, he conducts workshops for musicians and prepares them to perform in conditions that, let’s face it, they are not used to.
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This year, the Warsaw edition of the program is attended by participants of the 13th Sinfonia Varsovia Academy. They will play, among others, at the Edwin Kowalik Elementary Music School in Laski, the Special School Complex No. 89, the Capital Health Care Center, Bielański Hospital (at the Day Care Psychiatric Rehabilitation Unit) and the “Pod Skrzydłami” Community Self-Help Center.
We are also organizing two concerts that are open and accessible to everyone. The concert at Cafe Michelle, 282 Grochowska St, will take place on November 21 at 7 PM. The event is non-ticketed. The finale of the program will traditionally be played at the Concert Hall of the State Music Schools Complex No. 1 in Warsaw – Nowa Miodowa. Please join us on November 23 at 7 PM. Tickets are on sale.
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Co-funded by the European Union in the frame of the project 1000+ Concerts. Innovating Higher Music Education through Social Inclusion.
Concerts made possible thanks to the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.
[photos: Sinfonia Varsovia Service]
