Our Mission and What We Do
OUR MISSION~ The Teares of the Muses, in N.Y.U.'s name, endeavors to introduce the elegant and lively music for viols to new audiences. Our concerts are free. We admit it: we're unusual. The Teares of the Muses is offering something for nothing: beautiful music, well played. Or almost nothing. If any of the lucky recipients of our largess wish to give a small honorarium to the N.Y.U. Music Department, we're all for it.
WHAT WE DO~ The Teares of the Muses performs at New York University and is in residence at St. Michael's Episcopal Church on Manhattan's Upper West Side since 2007. It also plays for benefits given by nonprofit organizations and for nonprofit concerts.
The Teares of the Muses, a branch of the Collegium Musicum in the N.Y.U. Faculty of Arts and Science Music Department performs on the New York University campus, either with other students or as a separate ensemble. A recent concert, "Ut Re Mi Fa Sol La," took place in June 2009. In past years, it has performed in collaboration with students from the Steinhardt School and the Collegium Musicum singers. A highlight was its participation in the 2004 New York Early Music Celebration. Some unusual projects have included a delightful video made by the film student Jason Smallwood from the Tisch School of the Arts and a groundbreaking five-track surround-sound recording made by Robert Anderson, a 2008 Steinhardt Music Technology graduate.
The Teares of the Muses became a group with a permanent name in 2007 when it began its ongoing residency at St. Michael's Episcopal Church. John Cantrell conducts the excellent St. Michael's Choir; the two groups have appeared together in a number of church services and in warmly received Christmas and Spring Concerts. Although the groups' specialty is the English verse anthem, they perform a variety of other music that is well-suited to voices and viols. Historic St. Michael's Church is exceptionally beautiful inside; Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933) designed the stained glass windows and much of the interior.
The benefit players are the Teares of the Muses Trio--Margaret Panofsky, David Fenton and Christina Brandt-Young--from the larger group. They play either background music or concerts, and the repertory ranges from serious consort music to light arrangements. This from David Hsia for a summer 2008 benefit for The Brown University Club and Opening Act: "I want to extend a big THANK YOU to each of you last night for helping us out with our wine-tasting rooftop benefit! The music was wonderful!"
