Amanda Nova plays with Yo-Yo Ma at fundraiser celebration for LAUSD instrument repair program
USC Thornton Keyboard Studies program student Amanda Nova played with cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a fundraiser event on April 6, celebrating a $1 million gift to “The Last Repair Shop” campaign. Donations to the fundraiser will help safeguard the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) program providing 130,000 free, repaired instruments for students.
A Fairfax High School graduate, Nova performed “Ode to Joy” at the celebration with Yo-Yo Ma, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, and local students Ismerai Calcaneo and Porche Brinker. The quartet played on instruments owned and maintained by LAUSD.
“When I first got told I was playing with Yo-Yo Ma, I was like, wow, that’s not real. That feels like a lie,” Nova said. “And now I’m here with one of the most renowned musicians in the world.”
“The Last Repair Shop” is an Oscar-winning documentary short co-composed by Composition program alumna Katya Richardson (’19).
Read the full story, including video, here.
***
Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Times.