The New York Pops has announced the creation of PopsEd Ambassadors, a program through which professional performers in the pops field give guest talks, coach master classes, and participate in other music-education activities at New York City schools. The seventeen PopsEd Ambassadors—co-chaired by Music Director Steven Reineke and singer/actress and New York Pops board member Kelli O’Hara—include Broadway lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty, as well as actor/singers Laura Benanti, Brian d’Arcy James, Marin Mazzie, and Laura Osnes. Among the planned events for ambassadors are an audience talk-back with John Tartaglia, Diana Byer, and Steven Reineke; a television segment featuring a chorus at a partner public school in the Bronx; and band rehearsals at Frank Sinatra High School in Queens and I.S. 318 in Brooklyn, conducted by Reineke. Recent changes to New York Pops education programs, including increasing the number of long-term educational residencies in New York City from seven to fifteen, follows a yearlong overhaul and evaluation of New York Pops education programs in areas including relevance, mission impact, governance, and financial sustainability.
Posted December 17, 2013
