To advance its mission to make live classical music available to everyone, Si-Yo’s Classically Leonia™ concert series—launched during the 2018–19 season—is free to the public. Co-presented with Leonia United Methodist Church in Leonia, NJ, the series has become an integral part of the Foundation’s programming. 

Being free of charge, the series removes barriers that might prevent local residents from regularly appreciating live...

Of the many performance opportunities Si-Yo has provided to aspiring musicians for over half a century, one of the most meaningful was presenting New Jersey City University students at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. “The award concert had a dramatic impact on them; it truly changed them,” says Min Kim, Chair of NJCU’s Caroline L. Guarini Department of Music, Dance and Theatre.

On April 27, 2018, Si-Yo presented the Sau-Wi...

With its ability to enthrall, educate, and inspire, storytelling can take numerous artistic forms. Two of those forms—music and literature—make the perfect pair with Si-Yo’s Power of Pondering (PoP), an educational outreach series for children ages 8–13 that awakens empathy and imagination with the transcendent power of music. 

Combining original musical performance with spoken word, the initial program is based on T.A. Barron’...

Dr. Paolo Bodini’s affiliation with Si-Yo as a trustee is particularly fitting: Much of his life has been dedicated to the craft of violinmaking in Cremona, Italy—the birthplace of the Stradivarius violin.

Former mayor of Cremona (1995–2005), Dr. Bodini holds positions at two Si-Yo Arts Partners™: He is Executive Director for Violinmaking Affairs at Museo del Violino, and President of Friends of Stradivari.

In the years since hi...

As part of its ongoing work to assist musicians with acquiring or borrowing performance-quality instruments, Si-Yo loaned a 1902 Paul Kaul violin to Si-Yo Artist™ Alejandro Mendoza, internationally acclaimed violinist. But this was not just a typical instrument loan; it was a reunion for the musician and the instrument he had previously owned for decades.

Many years ago, when Mr. Mendoza was about to finish high school in...