- Person
- Yehudi Menuhin
- Lived
- 1916–1999
- Field
- Violin, music education
- From
- American-born British
The story
Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City in 1916 to a Jewish father descended from a rabbinical family. He became one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, but he believed music should not belong only to people who could buy concert tickets. Much of his later life was spent building organisations that would share music more widely and nurture the next generation.
In 1962 he founded the Yehudi Menuhin School at Stoke d'Abernon in Surrey, England. He wanted musically gifted children to have a place where their talent could be nurtured from an early age, and the school still bears his name today.
In 1977, together with Ian Stoutzker, he founded Live Music Now. The idea was simple and generous: pay and train talented professional musicians to perform in community settings, bringing live music to people who rarely get the chance to hear it. It is described as the largest music outreach project in the United Kingdom.
Live Music Now's musicians work in hospitals, care homes, schools, community centres and libraries across England, Northern Ireland and Wales, with a sister organisation in Scotland. Its Music in Health work includes memory cafés for people living with dementia and residencies in hospitals and adult social care. Its Music in Education work brings interactive concerts, creative projects and long residencies to disabled and autistic children and young people, along with training for inclusive music teaching.
Today the charity says it reaches more than 84,000 people a year and trains and employs 320 professional musicians. Menuhin's vision has also inspired Live Music Now organisations in other countries. For an older person in a care home, a child in a special school or a patient in hospital, a visit from a skilled musician can bring joy, connection and a sense of being valued, and it gives young professional musicians paid work and experience at the same time.
Why it matters
Through Live Music Now, tens of thousands of people each year in care homes, hospitals and schools hear live music they would otherwise miss, while young musicians gain paid work.
About Yehudi Menuhin
Violinist who played for Belsen survivors in 1945, then founded a school and Live Music Now to bring live music into hospitals, care homes, prisons and poor schools.
More about Yehudi Menuhin
Sources
- Yehudi Menuhin Wikipedia
- Live Music Now Live Music Now
- About us Live Music Now
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.