Select students will attend meals and discussions with world-renowned artists this fall as part of Music Ambassadors, a new project presented by the Hopkins Center's Arts Ambassadors program. Students will attend concerts and curate a final performance on their own at the end of the program.
"This is really a chance for students to learn from music and professional musicians, and then to translate what they already know and what they've learned into something to share back to campus through performance," said Erin Smith, Hop outreach assistant and creator of the program.
It came from research, funded by the Mellon Foundation, on ways to engage students in the performing arts.
Earlier this year, the Hop hosted a symposium for student researchers to share their findings and suggest new practices.
"Due to the nature of the touring artists' schedules, most students get only one chance to interact and engage, and then the artists are gone," Smith said. "We are looking for a way to give students the chance to engage with visiting artists over a longer chunk of time."
This fall's lineup includes the Knights, a chamber orchestra from New York, and musicians from Silk Road Ensemble, formed in 2000 under the artistic direction of Yo-Yo Ma and which draws together performers and composers from a variety of countires in Asia, Europe and the Americas.
Also coming to campus is the banjo duo Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, and capping off this term is Playing for Peace, featuring Israeli-born pianist and music professor Sally Pinkas, Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh, Syrian composer Kareem Roustom and the Apple Hill String Quartet.
Smith called the mix of classical and Syrian musicians "very relevant to international dialogue discussions right now."
Smith, along with Hop student relation advisors Sean Gao '13 and Richard Fu '13, will manage the program, expecting to accept around 10 students.
"They don't have to be musicians or artists themselves, but just are passionate about doing something great that just so happens to use the arts as a means to do it," Gao said.
The group plans to take a step back during the last week to allow students to work independently on their final project.
"I'm hoping this project will help cultivate a community of passionate music-lovers that will use music to create their own communities," said Gao, a classically-trained pianist who has recently delved into jazz, digital music and composition,.
Fu, whose position is funded by the Mellon Grant, said that Music Ambassadors shows how students do not need to consider themselves "great musicians" to empower themselves and those around them through the arts.
"I hope this program will attract students with the curiosity and desire for combining their inner artistry with social awareness, whether it's dance and international relations, music and public policy, theater and women and genders studies," Fu said. "I think this is a unique platform for combining seemingly unrelated interests and expressing them in a creative, meaningful way."
The Music Ambassadors final performance will be held in Collis Common Ground on Nov. 12. Applications for the program are due on Sept. 23 at midnight.
