Date: March 8, 2022 | Contact: Samantha Nemeth | Tel: 212-903-9753 | E-mail: snemeth@carnegiehall.org

       Music Kitchen Contacts: Amanda Sweet | Bucklesweet | 347-564-3371 | amanda@bucklesweet.com /

       Myrdith Leon-McCormack | MLM Represents | 917-325-6951 | myrdith.bookme@gmail.com

CARNEGIE HALL IN ASSOCIATION WITH MUSIC KITCHEN PRESENTS

FORGOTTEN VOICES IN ZANKEL HALL ON THURSDAY, MARCH 31 AT 7:30 PM

Special One-Night-Only Concert Features World Premiere of Works by

Renowned Composers with Text Written by People Experiencing Homelessness

(NEW YORK, NY) —­On March 31 at 7:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall in association with Music Kitchen–Food for the Soul presents Forgotten Voices, a composite song cycle written by top emerging and established composers with text created by homeless-shelter participants set to music.

For more than 15 years, Music Kitchen–Food for the Soul, founded by violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins, has brought chamber music to people who experience homelessness by presenting more than100 concerts nationwide. In celebration of that anniversary, Forgotten Voices­—a work commissioned by Music Kitchen–Food for the Soul with support from Carnegie Hall—receives its world premiere featuring works by 15 award-winning composers—Courtney Bryan, Jon Grier, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Gabriel Kahane, James Lee III, Beata Moon, Paul Moravec, Angélica Negrón, Kevin Puts, Steve Sandberg, Kamala Sankaram, Jeff Scott, Carlos Simon, Errollyn Wallen, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

"The 15 songs of Forgotten Voices explores the full range of the human experience, from loss to exhilaration, gratitude to hope, flights of imagination to intimate dialogue, and takes us to a place of soaring inspiration," says Kelly Hall-Tompkins. “I'm so excited to finally share this historic song cycle for the first time at Carnegie Hall, elevating great artistry in service of social justice and giving a voice to the voiceless in an unprecedented way," she adds.

For this special performance, NBC News’ correspondent Harry Smith joins the musicians and actress Jessica Hecht with a moderated post-concert Q&A session. In addition, Ms. Hall-Tompkins initiated educational collaborations with multiple institutions including The Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, The Dudamel Foundation, The Colburn Conservatory of Music, The Bloomingdale School of Music, and The Sphinx Organization to bring students to the concert.

About Kelly Hall-Tompkins and Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul

Founder, Executive and Artistic Director of Music Kitchen, winner of a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize and featured in the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a violin soloist entrepreneur who has been acclaimed by the New York Times as "the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive,” for her "tonal mastery" (BBC Music Magazine) and as the New York Times “New Yorker of the Year.” She has appeared as co-soloist in Carnegie Hall with Glenn Dicterow and conductor Leonard Slatkin, in London at Queen Elizabeth Hall, at Lincoln Center and with the Symphonies of Baltimore, Dallas, Jacksonville, and Oakland. She’s performed recitals in Paris, New York, Toronto, Washington, Chicago, and festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, Santa Fe, France, Germany, and Italy. She was “Fiddler”/Violin Soloist of the Grammy and Tony-nominated Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof. Inspired by her experience, she commissioned and developed the first-ever Fiddler solo disc of all-new arrangements, “The Fiddler Expanding Tradition,” which is featured in the new documentary “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” on the 55-year history of the musical. As the founder of Music Kitchen–Food for the Soul, Hall-Tompkins is a leader of social justice in classical music, bringing top artists in more than  100 concerts coast to coast in homeless shelters from New York to Los Angeles and internationally in Paris, France. As noted in The New York Times feature article, “the concerts have an air of authenticity and directness that sometimes does not exist in concert halls.” Her mission for the organization is to bring top emerging and established professional musicians together to share the inspiration, therapeutic, and uplifting power of music with those experiencing homelessness.

Program Information

Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 7:30 p.m.

ZANKEL HALL

FORGOTTEN VOICES  
Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Producer and Violin
Allison Charney, Soprano
Adrienne Danrich, Soprano
Jesse Blumberg, Baritone
Mark Risinger, Bass
Ling Ling Huang, Violin
Andrew Gonzalez, Viola
Alexis Pia Gerlach, Cello
Peter Seidenberg, Cello
John-Paul Norpoth, Double Bass

with Special Guest
Jessica Hecht

VARIOUS Forgotten Voices (World Premiere, commissioned by Music Kitchen–Food for the Soul, with support from Carnegie Hall, with text from homeless-shelter clients)

Ticket Information

Tickets for concerts in Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall are priced at $35. Tickets are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800 or by visiting the Carnegie Hall website, carnegiehall.org.

For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts. Artists, programs, and prices are subject to change.

Please note: to support a safe reopening for in-person events and in accordance with the advice of medical and public health experts, all artists, visitors, and staff will be required to show proof of full vaccination against COVID19 with a vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to enter Carnegie Hall. While inside Carnegie Hall, all guests must wear a properly fitting mask over their nose and mouth except when eating or drinking in designated areas.

Photo at top of release by Gregory Routt

# # #

Press Releases

Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
May 16, 2007
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
516-586-3433 or jamesarts@worldnet.att.net


Music Kitchen Food for the Soul Presents Jazz Vocalist Rene Marie in Special Concert for New York City Homeless on June 2

Music Kitchen Food for the Soul will present renowned jazz vocalist Rene Marie in a special concert for New York City's homeless on Saturday, June 2 – 4:00 PM at the Olivieri Center, 257 W. 30 St. (near 8th Ave.) in Manhattan. This concert will be part of Ms. Marie's special outreach project of working with organizations that work with the homeless.

Rene Marie will perform jazz standards as well as her original compositions, including a song about homelessness that she has written especially for this outreach project, called This is not a protest song. This song has been recorded, with proceeds from sales going to organizations that provide outreach and services for the homeless. You can find the recording at http://renemarie.com/index.asp?PageAction=QUICKORDER.

Rene Marie grew up in Virginia. She married young and took the next 20 years away from performing. During that time, she learned the songbooks of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, breath for breath. Her method was to listen (over and over), learn and practice. René left her job at a bank, moved from Roanoke to Richmond, and began to perform in the Washington, D.C., area. In the year 2000, she released her first album on the Max Jazz label. The title song was autobiographical, "How Can I Keep from Singing?" René has continued with the Max Jazz label, releasing Vertigo and a CD that she co-produced, Live at the Jazz Standard. More about her online at http://www.npr.org/programs/jazzset/shows/renemarie2005.html.

Music Kitchen Food for the Soul performances are not public concerts but rather in-house concerts for the shelter clients. All guests must please RSVP to Music Kitchen Founder and Director Kelly Hall-Tompkins at (917) 532-5547 or MusicKitchenNYC@aol.com.

Kelly Hall-Tompkins (http://www.kellyhall-tompkins.com) founded Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul in March of 2005 in order to bring terrific musicians together to share the inspirational, therapeutic, evocative and uplifting power of chamber music with New York City's disenfranchised homeless shelter population. The Music Kitchen is privately funded and based at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Shelter on 65th Street and Central Park West and the Olivieri Center. The performances of the Music Kitchen are designed to be accessible, interactive and informative so that the listeners will come away with an emotional connection to the music and a familiarity with the context from which the composer wrote the works. They have been the subjects of recent articles in Chamber Music magazine and Spirituality & Health.

For more information about the Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul Project, please contact Kelly Hall-Tompkins at (917) 532-5547 or MusicKitchenNYC@aol.com. Visit them online at their new website - http://www.musickitchennyc.org/. Jeffrey James Arts Consulting
"Music Kitchen Food for the Soul Presents Emanuel Ax In Concert For New York City Homeless on June 5"

Music Kitchen Food for the Soul will present a very special classical chamber music concert for New York City’s homeless on Monday, June 5 – 3pm at the Olivieri Center, 257 W. 30 St. (near 8th Ave.).

Very special performer for this concert will be the internationally renowned pianist Emanuel Ax, who will be joined by violinist, Music Kitchen Founder and Director Kelly Hall-Tompkins and cellist Mark Kosower for selections from Beethoven’s Sonata No. 1 in D Major for violin and piano and Brahms’ Trio for violin, cello and piano in B Major.

This performance, which is being presented with the very generous support of Steinway & Sons Pianos, is not a public concerts but rather an in-house concert for the shelter clients. As the Olivieri Center requires an advanced guest list, all guests and press who plan to attend must please RSVP to Kelly Hall-Tompkins at (917) 532-5547 or MusicKitchenNYC@aol.com.

Acclaimed for his poetic lyricism and brilliant technique, Steinway Artist Emanuel Ax is one of today's best known and most highly regarded pianists. He first captured public attention in 1974 when, aged 25, he won the first Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Competition in Tel Aviv. Five years later he took the coveted Avery Fisher Prize in New York. He is in demand all over the United States, both in recital and with orchestra, regularly performing in New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Saint Louis. In addition, he makes regular festival appearances at Aspen, Blossom, Hollywood Bowl, Mainly Mozart, Ravinia and Tanglewood. Visit his website at http://www.emanuelax.com/.

Kelly Hall-Tompkins is one of New York City’s most in-demand violinists, whose dynamic career spans solo, chamber, and orchestral performance. She was winner of a 2003 Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize as well as a Concert Artists Guild Career Grant in 1996, leading to numerous solo recitals in New York and the surrounding area. Her solo performances also include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, broadcast live by WFMT Radio; in Baltimore for the Peggy and Yale Gordon Trust; and, through a special grant from the IBM Corporation, at the Peace Center in Greenville, South Carolina. Visit her online at www.kellyhall-tompkins.com.

Ms. Hall-Tompkins founded Music Kitchen- Food for the Soul in March of 2005 in order to bring terrific musicians together to share the inspirational, therapeutic, evocative and uplifting power of chamber music with New York City’s disenfranchised homeless shelter population. The Music Kitchen is privately funded and based at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Shelter on 65th Street and Central Park West and the Olivieri Center on 30th Street and 8th Avenue. The performances of the Music Kitchen are designed to be accessible, interactive and informative so that the listeners will come away with an emotional connection to the music and a familiarity with the context from which the composer wrote the works. For more information about the Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul Project, please contact Kelly Hall-Tompkins at (917) 532-5547 or MusicKitchenNYC@aol.com.

BERLIN PHILHARMONIC  PRINCIPAL OBOIST TO JOIN NEW YORK CITY ARTISTS IN PERFORMANCE FOR NYC
HOMELESS SHELTER SERIES

Albrecht Mayer will perform Mozart chamber music work for oboe and strings for the Music Kitchen series at the Olivieri Center for Women
Tuesday January 24, 2006 at 3pm

While the Berlin Philharmonic is in town for their 2006 Carnegie Hall performances, principal oboist Albrecht Mayer will join violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins plus additional New York Artists, Nicole Johnson, cellist of the Cassatt quartet and violist Junah Chung, in a performance for the Music Kitchen community service chamber music series at the Olivieri Center for Homeless Women on Tuesday January 24, 2006 at 3pm.  New York violinist Kelly Hall-Tompkins founded Music Kitchen- Food for the Soul in March of 2005 in order to bring terrific musicians together to share the inspirational, therapeutic, evocative and uplifting power of chamber music with New York City’s disenfranchised homeless shelter population.  The Music Kitchen is privately funded and based at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church Shelter on 65th Street and Central Park West and the Olivieri Center on 30th Street and 8th Avenue.  This performance, featuring Albrecht Mayer, will be the ninth performance since the program’s inception.  Previous performances have been enthusiastically and warmly received both by homeless residents who are new to classical music as well as those who are former concert- goers.

The performances of the Music Kitchen are designed to be accessible, interactive and informative so that the listeners will come away with an emotional connection to the music and a familiarity with the context from which the composer wrote the works.  Colored note cards distributed during the performances always illicit heart-warming and candid reactions to the music. Here are a few of those reactions from past performances: