Room | to | Breathe

educationAl offeringS

In response to the challenges of the pandemic, Bright Shiny Things has created a 8-part virtual concert series streamed from the cell Theatre in New York City.  These concerts feature multi-genre performances, Grammy Award winning artists, Billboard topping composers and instrumentalists, globally celebrated dancers and visual artists, and Metropolitan Opera vocalists and pianists.  Each event is themed and programmed in tandem with a humanitarian cause, and chosen charities receive part of all proceeds received through a combination of ticket sales and donations.  

Room | to | Breathe proudly offers employment to NYC-based musicians; a much needed opportunity in the face of Covid-19 related venue closings and cancelled performance contracts.  

Bright Shiny Things is excited to make curated archives of each performance available to university and conservatory programs in search of educational content. We provide content in a multitude of packages, which provide flexibility alongside an array of services. Our co-curators and select artists from the concerts are made available as educational resources in a residency-style capacity; providing lectures, masterclasses and individual musical coachings and lessons.

PROGRAM #1

A CHANGE IS COMING

Grammy Nominated, Billboard topping artist and founder of Bright Shiny Things, Louis Levitt brings “A Change Is Coming”. Along with rising stars Blythe Gaissert, Bénédicte Jourdois and Michael Kelly, the program includes songs that echo our current times.

A part of all proceeds donated to “Reclaim the Block”, a community-led safety initiative based in Minneapolis. (reclaimtheblock.org)

PROGRAM #2

T Stands For…

“T Stands For…” unites artists around the rallying cry, “we are stronger when we rise together.” Joy,  struggle and liberation are expressed through music across ages and styles. This event and our performers stand up with the transgender community as they work to undo the social hurdles, injustices and violence they face everyday. This performance benefitted The Black Trans Advocacy Coalition. www.blacktrans.org

PROGRAM #3

Divine Feminine

“Femininity is depicted as weakness, the sapping of strength, yet masculinity is so fragile that apparently even the slightest brush with the feminine destroys it.” This quote by Gwen Swap serves as inspiration for “Divine Feminine” in which we will break open your expectations of where femininity can thrive. 

Program benefitted Step Up (www.suwn.org), an organization that empowers girls to fulfill their potential. 

PROGRAM #4

Culture Creatures

Our cultural landscape is a tapestry of colorful patterns stitched together by experience and circumstance. In diversity there is strength. Music and art draw from this in abundance. “Culture Creatures” weaves together a unique tapestry made up of the great variety available to us. Performance benefitted The Young Center For Immigrant Children's Rights.

PROGRAM #5

Breaking Waves

Across oceans, as well as right in our own backyard, the world’s population fights for access to basic healthcare needs. As we face the global pandemic, these needs are urgent and greater than ever. “Breaking Waves” engages with the seemingly endless fight for access through sound and spoken word. Performance benefitted Partners in Health.

PROGRAM #6

Sound | in | Sight

It’s not hard to see that science matters and can help us overcome the many challenges we face on this planet. “Sound | in | Sight” celebrates the beauty of earth, the truth about its fragility and the reason that can guide us through.

This performance benefited the Union of Concerned Scientists, an organization that uses science to solve the plant’s most pressing problems. (Ucsusa.org) 

PROGRAM #7

World Hold On

The beat.  The pulse. The unifying rhythm of human existence. We are all one. “World Hold On” unites us through sound, rhythm and poetry that exemplify the very base structure of our plight here on earth. To be fed, to be sheltered, to be loved. Cultures, language, and even oceans may separate us, but the beating of our hearts unites us. The program features the world premiere of Dalit Warshaw’s “Dream Land.”

This performance benefited Rise Against Hunger.

SCHUBERT’S DIE SCHÖNE MÜLLERIN 

Baritone Michael Kelly, guitarist/composer David Leisner and visual artist Kevork Mourad join forces around a new arrangement by Leisner for voice and guitar of Franz Schubert’s seminal work, Die Schöne Müllerin. The twenty song cycle aptly tells the story of a boy at the beginning of a journey; his first friend, his first job, his first love, and his first betrayal. The abstract dreamscape which one can imagine playing in the mind of our protagonist is represented by animations, created in advance, which act as a foundation for imagery drawn in tandem with the live performance.  These images splash the raw emotional underbelly and immediate reactions to the music across the wall.

This concert benefitted the It Gets Better Project, an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide in the LGBTQ youth population. https://itgetsbetter.org

ARTISTS