THE STORY

In the spring of 1991, Roberta Guaspari began preparing for an End of Year Concert that she thought would be her last. Funding for her East Harlem public school violin program, over ten years old at that point, had been cut, and the future was uncertain. At the same time, interest in the non-profit organization that was created to save the program began to grow; an article appeared in the New York Times, and a TV journalist ran a piece on a local station. The TV piece included Roberta’s phone number on the bottom of the screen in case someone wanted to get in touch. It was then that she received a surprise Mother’s Day phone call: violinist Itzhak Perlman had seen her story and wanted to help! He appeared as a guest at the 1991 End of Year Concert and began calling on colleagues to see the program for themselves. Violinist Arnold Steinhardt and wife Dorothea von Haeften visited classes at three partner schools and determined that they wanted to help, too, eventually coming up with the idea to hold a benefit concert to be called Fiddlefest.

With a firm belief in the importance of music education for all children, Steinhardt and von Haeften connected Roberta to friend Isaac Stern, violinist and President of Carnegie Hall, who stepped in to provide access to the famous hall after other options fell through, and also to philanthropist Walter Scheuer, who led as Chairman of the event. With a team of dedicated organizers and the use of many different connections, plans for the concert came together, featuring the dedicated Opus 118 students collaborating with some of the most accomplished musicians in the world.

Packed with an audience, the auditorium in Carnegie Hall had an incredible energy that evening, which led Roberta to feel that going forward she had “a mission to take the magical spirit of tonight’s concert with us.” Those in attendance for Fiddlefest heard an array of fantastic musical selections in genres from classical to jazz, performed by Perlman, Stern, Steinhardt and a host of other wonderful musicians. After the concert, Stern exclaimed, “There have been many in this hall. Very few have radiated this utter joy of camaraderie.” The story of this effort was captured in two Oscar-nominated films, the documentary Small Wonders and the feature film Music of the Heart, with Meryl Streep playing the role of Roberta.

25 years after this concert, Opus 118 looks back fondly at Fiddlefest as an event that gave us hope for the future and served as a starting point for effective change. The continued support from those both in the concert and in attendance has enabled us to thrive. Since then, we have doubled the number of partner schools in our In-School Program, established our After-School Program for lessons and classes, and launched our Teacher Training Initiative. This event was the catalyst for Opus 118 to get off the ground and provide musical opportunity to thousands of students in East Harlem. We look forward to harnessing that same energy for the years ahead!