Your Hub: BRINGING MUSIC TO LIFE AWARDS 770 INSTRUMENTS

August 28, 2023

By STEVE BLATT

Bringing Music to Life, a Denver nonprofit, gave away hundreds of musical instruments to teachers from 52 Colorado schools (including 9 Denver Public Schools pictured above) on Aug. 12 at the Robert & Judi Newman Center at the University of Denver.

It was the thirteenth year the nonprofit has awarded instruments donated during its annual Instrument Drive. Assistant executive director Christine Andresen and board chairman Michael Frank welcomed the teachers, some of whom had driven eight hours to attend.

“Our theme this year was With a lot of help from our friends’, Andresen said, “because we wanted to recognize all the partners who make this possible.”

See the full story here.

NPR Morning Edition: SHAPING A NEW SOUND FOR THE NSO THROUGH OLD INSTRUMENTS

April 14, 2023

Gianandrea Noseda directs the National Symphony Orchestra at a rehearsal at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Keren Carrión/NPR

By OLIVIA HAMPTON, BARRY GORDEMER

Crisp, warm, responsive. The National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) is on a journey to meet these benchmarks under the baton of music director Gianandrea Noseda. One of the ways in which he’s shaping a new sound is through some very old instruments. The oldest is a violin made in 1686 in Cremona, Italy. 

Since 2019, Noseda has been quietly loaning 17th – 19th century Italian string instruments from his private collection to the NSO. The musicians playing them had no idea that they came from their conductor — until now.

“I’m not saying that good instruments make the orchestra; the orchestra is made by great musicians. But if you give a good driver a good Ferrari, the driver also will drive faster,” Noseda told NPR’s Leila Fadel in an interview at his office in Washington, D.C.

There are lots of parallels between this story and the story of Bringing Music to Life. Read or listen to the story here.