Winsor Music is deeply committed to a relationship with the Boston community through outreach and education. We have a profound belief in the healing power of music and its value in today’s world. We live that belief by performing concerts for those who could not otherwise attend them, and by educating and mentoring the young musicians of our community.

Explore our ongoing community engagement programs below.

Gabby with students from Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra playing in the Shapiro Center at Beth Israel Hospital

Hospital Concerts

Since 2017 Winsor has been playing chamber music in Boston area hospitals. We currently play monthly concerts in the Chelsea MGH lobby. It has been so wonderful to see how patients and staff enjoy the music resonating through the space. Some people stop for a few minutes, others stay and listen for the whole hour, and some patients even schedule their appointments around our visits.

Co-Artistic Director, Gabby Diaz, was diagnosed with cancer as a teenager and speaks about it here: "Music played a vital role in my treatment and recovery. Music was always there to lift my spirits and help me understand the complex emotions I was feeling during that difficult time. I decided back then that I would do my best to give this feeling to others going through treatment. I knew that music could be helpful to others, no matter their experience with classical music. It is so exciting that Winsor is able to bring music to everyone coming through the building."

School Concerts

Winsor Music has a program to present concerts for youngsters in the Boston schools, mostly for kindergartners and first graders. We engage them by performing songs that they know. The children cannot help but sing along, and we demonstrate how music can express different ideas and emotions, activities, animals or landscapes.

We introduce them to basic rhythm, and to different types of instruments, from traditional (violin, oboe, cello) to innovative instruments that they do not know, such as the theremin. In programs where the children are learning instruments, we invite them to perform for us.

Music Camp Scholarship Program

Winsor Music provides scholarships every year for young musicians of color to attend summer music camp. Winsor has a long-term relationship with Project STEP (String Training and Educational Program). The goal of Project STEP is to demonstrate to all aspiring young musicians that a career in classical music is open to any gifted, well-trained and disciplined performer regardless of racial or ethnic background. Like Project STEP, we recognize that certain minorities are underrepresented in classical music, so the Winsor Music Scholarship Fund was established to enable students from these communities, many of whom are also students enrolled in Project STEP, to attend summer music programs. We believe these to be a crucial part of a young musician’s development because they provide an opportunity for students to play chamber music in an intensive but fun environment. As a chamber music organization, we believe that the particular experience of playing in a chamber group is often the catalyst for a lifelong commitment to music; students learn to collaborate and interact with one another in movement towards a common goal, to use their talent both as a means of self-expression, and as a tool for communication and dialogue with their peers. They are taught to listen closely and respond thoughtfully, to think without speaking and to speak without words. Chamber ensemble playing is instructive, interactive, engaging, and just plain fun, and we want the opportunity to experience it to be available to all students.

Senior Center Concerts

Winsor Music takes students and professional musicians from the Boston area out into the community to perform in retirement communities, rehabilitation centers and recovery homes. This program aims to fill the spiritual and artistic needs of these communities while giving performers a chance to communicate with an audience through music and conversation. Each concert is followed by a time for listeners and performers to interact, ensuring an important social dimension to the program. We have a profound belief in the healing power of music and its value in today’s world.

Opus 1 Young Person Composition Workshops

This is a new, exciting program in partnership with Project STEP. Winsor and partner composers lead a series of workshops with elementary through high school students to create a new, original piece of music fully composed by the students. The students’ composition is then premiered on Winsor Music’s concert series. The first installment of Opus 1, “Jamboard” was premiered on March 10th 2024!

Boston Hope Collaboration

Winsor Music was a part of the core team leading Boston Hope Music which provided "doses" of music to patients recovering from COVID-19, provided music lessons to frontline medical workers, provided music at Boston area vaccination sites, and organized the Boston Hope Music Teaching Project.