Forgotten Voices
A song cycle commissioned by Music Kitchen - Food for the Soul, with support from Carnegie Hall, in celebration of the 100th concert and 15th season, featuring text by homeless shelter clients set to music by 15 award-winning composers.
Founded in 2005 as the pioneer organization to bring top classical music artists in concert in homeless shelters and hailed in a New York Times feature article “Just three blocks from Lincoln Center…The concerts have an air of authenticity and directness that sometimes does not exist in concert halls,” Music Kitchen – Food for the Soul has presented over 100 concerts, over 200 top emerging and established artists, including Emanuel Ax, Glenn Dicterow, Carter Brey, Albrecht Mayer of the Berlin Philharmonic, and reached over 30,000 homeless shelter clients coast to coast from New York to Los Angeles and including Paris, France.
In celebration of the 30,000 clients served, 100th concert and the 15th season in March of 2020, Music Kitchen has pioneered another groundbreaking artistic project never before seen in classical music history: Forgotten Voices, a composite song cycle featuring concert feedback comments by homeless shelter clients from the first 100 concerts, set by 15 of the most celebrated established and emerging composers of our time. Forgotten Voices, commissioned by Music Kitchen with support from Carnegie Hall, premiered one new song each month in shelters, beginning January 2019, and features the work of 15 commissioned composers: Courtney Bryan, Jon Grier, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Gabriel Kahane, James Lee III, Beata Moon, Paul Moravec, Angelica Negron, Kevin Puts, Steve Sandberg, Kamala Sankaram, Jeff Scott, Carlos Simon, Errollyn Wallen and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich. Performed by a featured ensemble of outstanding top artists, including Allison Charney, soprano; Adrienne Danrich, soprano; Jesse Blumberg, baritone; Mark Risinger, bass, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, violin; Ling Ling Huang, violin, Andrew Gonzalez, viola, Alexis Gerlach, cello; Peter Seidenberg, cello and John-Paul Norpoth, bass.
Music Kitchen’s Forgotten Voices was featured on NPR’s Performance Today, NBC TODAY Sunday with Harry Smith, NY1, WCBS Radio, ABC Here and Now, a United Nations Concert at Lincoln Center Benefiting the Homeless, the 2019 Composers Now Festival, the Gateways Music Festival, and the Routledge Guide to Music and Human Rights. Additional past press features of Music Kitchen – Food for the Soul include NBC 4 New York, ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, STRINGS Magazine, Chamber Music America Magazine, The Hallmark Channel, Eastman Notes, The Rochester Review, David Leite’s Culinaria Magazine and additional New York Times Features.
Forgotten Voices presented the World Premiere concert of the complete song cycle at and in Association with Carnegie Hall on March 31st, 2022 to a sold out Zankel Hall. The concert featured the complete work of 15 songs, and special guest appearances by Actress Jessica Hecht and NBC's Harry Smith. The project also includes a commercial disc recording of the Forgotten Voices works, both in stereo and on Dolby ATMOS immersive sound. This historic project and Association with Carnegie Hall to present the world premiere at one of the world's most celebrated concert halls elevates this message of social justice and gives voice to the voiceless in an unprecedented way.
For booking and touring information, please contact Executive and Artistic Director Kelly Hall-Tompkins