How Do You Get to Carnegie Hall?
Read650 News Release
Media contact: Edward McCann
ed@read650.org • (914) 799-1997
A “Holy Song of Gratitude” to be “sung” by some of New York’s best writerly voices and The New York Classical Players as part of Carnegie Hall’s Beethoven Celebration on January 4
NEW YORK — Read650 and Lincoln Center’s New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will present an engaging program of five-minute, 650-word true-life stories of gratitude from a cast of eight talented essayists, memoirists, and novelists. The reading will be followed with a performance by the New York Classical Players (NYCP) who will play Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15, Opus 32, of which the central movement is a “holy song of gratitude.”
The free event, on January 4 at 2:30 p.m., is part of Carnegie Hall’s Beethoven Celebration, which marks the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth. It is the first literary/musical collaboration for Read650, a nonprofit literary forum promoting established and emerging writers through curated live and digital performances celebrating the spoken word five minutes—and 650 words—at a time.
Among those performing their original literary works on gratitude are Jamie Bernstein, daughter of musical legend Leonard Bernstein. Ms. Bernstein is a writer, broadcaster, filmmaker, and concert narrator who travels extensively to speak about music and her father. Other writer/performers include Irish-American actor, writer, and politician Malachy McCourt; playwright and screenwriter John Pielmeier; and novelist, magazine editor, and television producer Janice Kaplan, whose best-selling book, The Gratitude Diaries, continues to inspire readers about how to achieve and recognize gratitude.
“We’re thrilled to be part of the Beethoven Celebration and to pair the original voices of Read650 with an exquisite musical performance by the New York Classical Players,” said Edward McCann, Read650 founder and editor. The library’s Artistic Producer of Events, Evan Leslie, added, “We can think of no better way to start the New Year than with this literary and musical expression of gratitude.”
Read650 has hosted many sold-out live readings in New York City on a variety of topics, and has fast evolved into one of the nation’s most important and respected live literary forums. In addition to performances, Read650 publishes anthologies of its works and will soon launch its own publishing division. read650.org
Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning one hour prior to the program. The event will be held at the Bruno Walter Auditorium of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza (65th Street and Columbus Avenue). While seating is limited, the live stream and archived recording of the event can be viewed at facebook.com/Read650.
The New York Classical Players is the region’s only professional orchestra offering exclusively free performances. Comprised of creative and virtuosic young musicians, NYCP’s adventurous programming includes familiar masterpieces, bold new commissions, and unexpected musical treasures. nycpmusic.org
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts houses one of the world's most extensive combinations of circulating, reference, and rare archival collections in its field. These materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, and performances. nypl.org
Note: One ticket will be provided, first-come first-served, per person. Tickets are not available for advance reservation and saving seats is not permitted. General admission seating. Call 212.642.0142 for more detailed information. All programs are subject to last-minute change or cancellation.
The cast of “Gratitude”
TV producer and writer Janice Kaplan is the author of fifteen popular books including the New York Times bestseller The Gratitude Diaries, which has been translated around the world. Her new book, The Genius of Women, will be published in February by Dutton. Janice was the editor-in-chief of Parade magazine and the executive producer of the TV Guide Television Group, where she created and produced more than 30 primetime network television specials. She has written for dozens of major magazines and websites and appears frequently on TV shows including Today and Good Morning America. A popular keynote speaker at events around the country, she graduated magna cum laude from Yale University and won Yale’s Murray Fellowship for her writing.
Mihai Grünfeld was born in Cluj, Romania where he lived until age eighteen. In 1969 he and his older brother traveled to Czechoslovakia, then escaped to Austria. Thus began a journey that took him to Israel, Italy, Sweden, and Canada in search of a home in the West. Settled in the United States, he obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and since 1987 has been a professor of Spanish and Latin American Literature at Vassar College. Published books include a 2008 memoir, Leaving—Memories of Romania, and another novel was adapted into the 2017 play “The Dressmaker’s Secret,” which enjoyed a month-long sold out run in New York City.
Leanne Sowul is an award-winning writer and music teacher. Her writing has appeared in Hippocampus, Confrontation, Hudson Valley magazine, and other online and print journals, and her live readings include Read650’s “The Great Outdoors” in 2016. An elementary band director and highly-sought private flute teacher, Leanne can play every woodwind, brass and percussion instrument (but just don't give her a cello). In 2017, Leanne won both the Scott Meyer Award for personal essay and the All-American Dream Champion Award for music teaching. Her novels are represented by Suzie Townsend of New Leaf Literary Agency. Leanne lives with her husband and two children in the Hudson Valley.
John Leonard Pielmeier began his career with the play and movie Agnes of God, followed by three more plays on Broadway and over twenty-five television movies and miniseries produced. Most recently he’s adapted William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist for the stage, as well as his own novel, Hook’s Tale, premiering in Houston next spring. He’s received the Humanitas, Edgar, Camie, and Christopher Awards, five Writers’ Guild Award nominations, and his projects have been nominated for the Emmy and Golden Globe.
Andi Rosenthal is the author of the novel The Bookseller’s Sonnets, which was a Hadassah Brandeis Institute book club selection and a National Jewish Book Council “Book of Note.” Andi has published personal essays in Kveller, ScaryMommy, and Reform Judaism magazine, and from 2003 to 2008, Andi was the writer of a first-person column featured on InterfairFamily.com, and the Westchester Jewish Chronicle. She most recently published a selection of poetry in Volume 9 of the Westchester Review. In her professional life, Andi serves as a Community Mobilizer for UJA-Federation of New York, and is also an accomplished musician. A lifelong resident of Westchester County, she lives in New Rochelle, New York.
Malachy McCourt was born in Brooklyn but raised from age three in Limerick, Ireland. Returning to New York at twenty, he worked manual jobs until becoming an actor, a career including roles on Broadway, off-Broadway, on television, and in film. He’s been published in New York Newsday, National Geographic, the New York Times and elsewhere. With brother, Frank, he co-authored the play A Couple of Blaguards and has written his own New York Times bestselling memoir, A Monk Swimming. Other books include a second memoir, Singing My Him Song, Danny Boy, The Claddagh Ring, Voices of Ireland, an anthology, and Malachy McCourt’s History of Ireland. Happily married to Diana for more than four decades, his most recent book is entitled, Death Need Not Be Fatal.
Steven Lewis is senior editor and literary ombudsman for Read650. He’s also a columnist at Talking Writing, a member of the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Institute faculty, and a longtime freelancer whose work has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, and many others. Recent novels include Take This, Loving Violet, and A Hard Rain, all from Codhill Press, and you can peruse his extensive backlist of nonfiction titles on his website, SteveLewisWriter.com. Steve divides his time between his writing space in New Paltz, New York and Hatteras Island, North Carolina.
Jamie Bernstein is an author, broadcaster, filmmaker, and concert narrator. In addition to writing her many articles and concert narrations, Jamie travels extensively, speaking about music as well as about her father, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein. Jamie’s film documentary, “Crescendo: the Power of Music” has won numerous prizes, and is now viewable on iTunes. Jamie’s memoir, Famous Father Girl, was published by HarperCollins in June of last year, and was released in paperback this past summer.
The New York Classical Players
Korean-American violinist Brian Bak enjoys a career as a sought-after performer and pedagogue. He has been a featured soloist with the Tampa Bay Symphony, Central Florida Philharmonic, Sewanee Festival Orchestra, and Chicago Chamber Orchestra, among others. In 2016, he was the winner of the Stony Brook University Concerto Competition and performed with the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra. As a founding member of both the Emanio String Quartet and Trio de Novo, he has held chamber music residencies at the Banff Centre, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the New Music for Strings Festival in Aarhus, Denmark. An experienced orchestral musician, Bak has held principal positions with the Juilliard Orchestra, the Juilliard Chamber Orchestra, the Stony Brook Symphony Orchestra, and the Yale Philharmonia.
Gergana Haralampieva is a Bulgarian-American violinist based in New York City. Born into a family of music teachers, Haralampieva began singing in her father’s children’s choir at the age of three and playing the violin at the age of six. At eleven, she began attending New England Conservatory’s Preparatory School and later the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She obtained her Bachelor’s Degree at the Curtis Institute of Music, studying with Ida Kavafian and Pamela Frank. She received her Master’s Degree in 2018 from the New England Conservatory where she was a student of Paul Biss and Miriam Fried. Haralampieva is currently a member of Ensemble Connect at Carnegie Hall, a fellowship for young professionals who want to expand their experience in teaching, community engagement, advocacy, entrepreneurship, and leadership.
Taiwanese-born Canadian Chieh-Fan Yiu has established himself as one of the most exciting young violists on the international stage today. Triple-prized winner of the Lionel Tertis Competition, including Yuri Bashmet’s President of the Jury Prize, he’s Artist-in-residence in Philosonia, Lisker Music Foundation, and New Asia Chamber Music Society. Yiu's performances have also taken him around the world in festivals such as Málaga Clásica, Music@Menlo, Moritzburg, Verbier, Aspen, and Sarasota Music Festivals. His solo engagements have included Aspen Festival Orchestra, New York Classical Players, Vancouver Academy Symphony, Stony Brook Symphony, and UBC Chamber Orchestra. As a recipient of the coveted Jerome L. Greene Fellowship, Yiu completed his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from The Juilliard School, followed by Doctorate of Music degree from Stony Brook University.
Cellist Madeline Fayette is building a career as a versatile musician, both as a soloist and collaborator, praised by the Sarasota Herald-Tribune for her “charisma...lovely tone and phrasing.” Highlights of past seasons include a performance on WQXR’s Young Artists Showcase, participating in the Celebration of Women concert as part of the Rhinebeck Chamber Music Society, a performance of the Brahms Double Concerto with Long Island’s Sound Symphony Orchestra, a premiere performance of Teddy Niedermaier's cello concerto with New York Classical Players. Fayette toured Japan as part of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Fayette is an Artist-in-Residence at Music Feeds Us, a non-profit based in Charlottesville, Virginia, which brings awareness to the need for greater hunger relief in the Greater Blue Ridge area through chamber music performances.
