“In the hopes of revolutionizing the way that people view social issues, the Special Music School seniors have to come together to make a difference through sound, words, and image. The social issues that are presented will inform the audience about current events and challenge their beliefs.  The audience will be exposed to heartfelt and heart-wrenching performances addressing issues such as gun control, racial inequality, and environmental degradation. We hope the listener will walk away with their minds and thoughts forever changed and a new lens with which to view the world.”

-Alana Metcalf, Special Music School Class of 2018

About the Presenter

Special Music School High School is unique even among New York’s highly regarded arts high schools in providing talented young musicians the opportunity to pursue serious, pre-professional music studies along with a rigorous academic curriculum. Open to students from all five boroughs of New York City, the high school admits 50 students per grade, for a total enrollment of 200 students.

SMS High School’s music curriculum emphasizes the development of the student as a musician for the 21st century, updating the traditional model of classical music education in order to prepare students for the multifaceted and diverse opportunities available to today’s musicians. In addition to helping students build extremely strong core skills as music makers, SMS High School prepares them to improvise and compose as well as perform, understand music technology and collaborate with other musicians both in small and large groups while providing meaningful experience working with living composers.