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Rachel moved to New York City in 2001 by way of San Francisco, where she attended the American Conservatory Theater’s MFA program. She joined the Greenwich House Music School (GHMS) in June 2013, and has begun several new initiatives such as new public school outreach programs with PS 3, PS41, and the Museum School, Healing HeArts, a joint music therapy program with Greenwich House’s Children’s Safety Project and a fundraiser for the scholarship fund, Play it Forward. She is the co-founder and executive producer of Uncharted, a community concert series for GHMS, which features local artists premiering new work or new collaborations, with all ticket proceeds going directly to the artists. She is a founding member of the New York Presenters Consortium (NYPC), a group of presenters dedicated to furthering the newest work of musicians and performers in New York City. NYPC members include Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium, Bryant Park LLC, National Sawdust and Joe’s Pub. Before joining the Greenwich House Music School as Director, Rachel was General Manager at Central Park SummerStage, New York City’s largest free performing arts festival. She expanded the growth in managed rental events, oversaw a major capital purchase to improve the festival’s audio capabilities and curated the festival’s word and comedy programs, creating a new speaker series, Forewords.
Since 2014, the annual Uncharted concert series at Greenwich House Music School has been an invaluable resource for New York-based musicians to develop original material, foster new collaborations and premiere first-look projects in an intimate concert setting. With vaccination rates high and new infection rates low, Uncharted will finally return in person for audiences at GHMS for the spring of 2022. Thanks to a generous multi-year grant from the Baisley Powell Elebash Fund, many members of this season’s cohort will have access to a multitude of resources through an expanded, paid artist residency that provides free rehearsal space along with technical assistance and backline, compensation for rehearsal time, individual marketing assistance, and unrestricted use of high-quality audio, video and photographic records of their rehearsals and performance to further develop and promote their work.
The 2022 Uncharted lineup of performers join an impressive roster of multi-genre artists who have taken part in the previous eight years of the Uncharted series, including jazz pianists Aaron Diehl and Dan Tepfer; guitarist Binky Griptite of The Dap-Kings; the founding member of Grammy-award winning Flor de Toloache, Mireya Ramos; vocalist, pianist and Broadway composer Shaina Taub; acclaimed jazz harpist Brandee Younger; vocalist Deva Mahal; jazz trumpeter and composer Steven Bernstein; avant-cabaret performers Migguel Anggelo, Molly Pope and Erin Markey; guitarist and singer/songwriter Celisse Henderson; Broadway’s Grace McLean; saxophonist and bandleader Camille Thurman; guitarist Marc Ribot; sound artist Bora Yoon; performance artist Cynthia Hopkins; and many more.
Since 1905, Greenwich House Music School has provided high-quality, affordable arts education for New Yorkers of all ages. The goal of Greenwich House Music School is to teach students the beauty and transformative power of music, art, dance and theater. The distinguished faculty works to ensure students have the opportunity to experience these programs through private lessons, classes, workshops and monthly recitals. Each year GHMS provides $50,000 in scholarships for students on the basis of need and merit, as well as for public school outreach programs. In addition to educating its students, GHMS serves the community with a wide spectrum of concerts in its Renee Weiler Concert Hall, hosts education workshops and meetings for local civic and cultural organizations, and provides affordable rehearsal and performance space for local musicians. The School has played an important part in the careers and lives of tens of thousands of students. Being at the center of New York’s downtown arts scene allows for an array of renowned artists to perform at the school. Past guests have included John Cage, Henry Cowell, Edgar Varèse, and more recently Hilary Hahn, David Amram, Morton Subotnick and Meredith Monk. GHMS is a member of the New York City Coalition of Community Schools of the Arts and The National Guild of Community Arts Education.
Tell us a bit more about Greenwich House Music School and your history with the organization.
Mary Kingsbury Simkhovitch opened the doors of Greenwich House in 1902 as a settlement organization providing employment training, day care, and other social programs to the newly arrived immigrant families in the neighborhoods of Greenwich and West Village. They began giving piano lessons in 1905 as part of their mission to help families adjust to their new lives. They moved the Music School into its own location at 46 Barrow St in 1913, and we’ve been an important community arts school ever since. I joined Greenwich House Music School as Director in 2013. I had been with City Parks Foundation working at SummerStage, and was also acting and working in the theater. When I first visited the school, I thought it was a unique opportunity to create educational programs for people of all ages and to improve the lives of working musicians.
This is the eighth year of Uncharted at GHMS. How did the idea for the series first come into being?
Greenwich House Music School has produced concerts since the 1940s.Maxwell Powers, who was Director of the School during that time was also a composer, and he began what became the North River Concert Series for his friends who were all contemporary composers. Artists like Henry Cowell, John Cage, Morton Subotnick, and Edgar Varese all performed or taught here. When I first came on board, it made sense to continue that tradition to create performing opportunities for local musicians. We named the new series Uncharted, since it was started for artists looking to produce new work. The series has always been centered on the artist and one main priority is to pay them 100% of the box office.
Balance, what’s that? I don’t sleep much in the spring.
I know you try to make sure the series puts a lot of emphasis on artist enrichment. How do artists benefit from playing Uncharted in ways that are different from the average performance gig?
Well, there’s that important point of the artists getting all of the box office! Before their concert date there’s a lot of communication about whatever they most need, whether that’s rehearsal space or special equipment. We want them to come in and feel like they are a part of a rich history and a member of the family. Most of the series artists are also artists in residence with us both before and after the concert. Jennie Wasserman, the lead curator of the series, and I want to be sure to provide the basics, which is a warm and friendly setting with beautiful studios and a tuned piano. Plus we make sure the artists receive payment for their rehearsal time and all the A/V files they might need to create a package about the work for other presenters. We want the work to live on after they present it with us and that’s where the idea for the residency came into being. Once they’ve worked with us here, they can present their work at those larger venues with bigger support systems than ours to keep the work progressing.
How were you able to continue Uncharted during COVID?
We promised each 2020 artist they could perform as soon as the shutdown was over. The school reopened with a hybrid model in September 2020 with most of our students studying online, and we reached out then to see who wanted to come back. All of the artists but two did, so they became our 2021 season. Because the school was being underutilized in terms of space, we were able to offer all of the 2021 season artists a residency with artist fees attached. Joe’s Pub, one of our NYPC partners came on board as a streaming partner, and now most of the concerts live on as beautiful realized concert films on their YouTube channel.
How do you balance your work as Director of the School with this project?
Balance, what’s that? I don’t sleep much in the spring.
How important is community – among your artists, your team at the school, and on this project – to you as a music professional?
So important, it’s everything really. The one thing I’ve learned during the past two years is that we can’t take places like Greenwich House Music School for granted. Many of our faculty here have taught for over 20, 30 or 40 years. The goal of a community music school has everything to do with building relationships. We have grandparents bringing their grandkids here and remembering when they brought their own kids for piano or violin lessons. This is a special place and it breathes music and history and artistic refuge, and the Uncharted artists who come to play with us for a while are all a part of our very large extended family. When their concert is over, we remind them to come back and rehearse with us anytime they need it.
Who are some of the artists that will be part of your upcoming season?
We have an incredibly talented and diverse pool of artists this year. There’s the electro-acoustic performer Val Jeanty who bills herself as a “sound chemist”; the jazz vocalist and composer Michael Mayo; Marika Hughes an alum of our 2018 season, returns with Dana Lyn and Charlie Burnham; the Colombian-born singer songwriter Alea… so many great performers. I’m really looking forward to having audiences back in the room with all of us this year.
"Breathes music and history and artistic refuge"
I hear that you have not only a videographer and a photographer at these shows, but also a staff cartoonist?
That’s right! Providing as much content as possible for the artists is a big goal for us. We want them to be able to sell their show to other presenters. That why we try to give them the best possible audio and video content afterwards. One neat bonus we offer is visits from our visual artist Joan Chiverton. Joan is a talented artist who draws our concerts live from the audience, and then shares them freely with the artists. I’ve never met someone so generous before. It’s a perspective that the artists can’t get anywhere else!
What are one or two of your favorite shows from past seasons?
Oh wow, that’s a hard question! I love them all because of the variety of both talent and genre, but I would say Celisse Henderson, who was one of our first artists in residence in 2019. She’s a special performer and it’s been so fun to see her take bigger and bigger stages recently. Also we had Michael Mwenso and the Shakes back in 2017. They were just a life force and that was the first time I ever got to hear the vocalist Vuyo Sotashe sing. He’s a gift.
