Jan 10-22: Pianist Simone Dinnerstein Goes Bachpacking to New York Area Schools

Bringing Interactive Performances of Bach's Inventions
To Ten Schools in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx

January 10- 22, 2014

New York, NY — From January 10-22, 2014, pianist Simone Dinnerstein will be bringing Bach's Inventions to New York City elementary students at ten schools in Hunts Point in the South Bronx; Harlem, Morningside Heights, and the Lower East Side in Manhattan; and East New York and Park Slope in Brooklyn. She is calling her initiative "Bachpacking" because she will be packing up and bringing a digital piano provided by Yamaha into schools, and taking it from classroom to classroom, in order to interact with students in the most personal and meaningful way. In addition, students from schools participating in "Bachpacking" will be invited to a special, free concert by Simone Dinnerstein hosted by Miller Theatre during the school day.

For 25 years, in addition to performing in traditional settings, Simone Dinnerstein has been bringing music to schools, prisons, nursing and retirement homes, and hospitals. In short, to anywhere where she thinks the music can speak. Of bringing the Inventions into schools, Dinnerstein says, "Schools are wonderful places to expose children to this beautiful art form. When I play for students, I try to create a sense that art music can be a meaningful, everyday experience. The Bach Inventions that I will be playing for them are often among the first pieces that classical piano students learn, yet they communicate everything that classical music has to offer." 

Simone Dinnerstein will also bring her "Bachpacking" initiative to Washington, DC-area schools in February, coinciding with her Kennedy Center performance on February 9, 2014 presented by Washington Performing Arts Society.