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Michelle Edgar
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With Music Unites, Founder and Executive Director Michelle Edgar aims to foster a lasting and profound love of all musical expression with people from all walks of life.

A lifelong musician herself, Edgar began formal training in classical piano at age five and attended high school at the Manhattan School of Music. After graduating from Northwestern University, where she received training as a concert pianist, she moved back to New York where she was disappointed to find such an electrifying city still segregated by genre, style, and idiom. As a fan of all music—from jazz to rock, classical to hip-hop—she dreamed of an organization that might provide audiences with a unique, inclusive way to experience music in all its hues and flavors. Projects including Sting, Mark Ronson, John Forte, Lang Lang, Howie Day, Peter Bjorn & John, Blue October, Tamarama, Chester French, Universal Motown, among other A-list acts planned for the very near future, ranging in diversity. Michelle created Music Unites to support talented artists who are struggling to get their music heard and, in turn, to support communities in need of musical rejuvenation.

The Music Unites team is a talented group of professionals from diverse industries who share a passion for music and a desire to engage, inspire, and connect people. Whether funding a Lincoln Center initiative, partnering with a musician’s charity or launching a music-related school program that gives back to the community, Music Unites aspires to become that trusted, reliable friend and patron of the music community.

Our goal is to connect people through the universality of music by providing communities with opportunities for a rich musical experience through education programs and by offering well-known and emerging musicians performance opportunities in a variety of venues and locations, including schools.

We also nourish the next generation of performers by providing audiences and performance opportunities, while at the same time enriching the listening experience of the public, allowing them to experience new forms and genres through exposure to an increasingly diverse world of music.

As a journalist, Michelle’s career spans from profiling gifted musicians and musically diverse talents such as Itzhak Perlman, Renee Fleming, Elliot Carter, Paul Stanley, Lang Lang, Halle Berry, Norah Jones, Beyonce and Lenny Kravitz, to mention just a few. She has worked at Vanity Fair, WWD and OK Magazine. A fan of all music—from jazz to rock, classical to hip-hop— Michelle's diverse musical tastes leads her into the 'trenches' at a Lincoln Center concert, or to the lower east side of Manhattan, scouting for the latest indie rock band. Breaking down cultural barriers and making all genres of music more accessible to a broader audience is not only a mission, but Michelle’s mantra.

Blog Entries by Michelle Edgar

Power of Music: Discovering a True Mentor That Empowers, Inspires and Ignites the Musical Movement -- That Is Swizz Beatz

(3) Comments | Posted January 16, 2013 | 4:23 PM

"I'm on a mission to remind you all about the importance of music -- just think about what you would do without music in your daily life. I know that through music we are empowering the success of our future leaders." -- Swizz Beatz

This Thursday, on the Intrepid, our...

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Music Unites Expands Programs to Los Angeles at the House of Rock

(0) Comments | Posted September 18, 2012 | 6:30 PM

Music Unites aims to empower young high school teens through music across our country. We started off over three years ago in New York City bringing students from across the five boroughs in a studio and formed the Young Audiences New York Music Unites Youth Choir. With the success of...

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Music Unites Campus Representative Program Gives Back by Mentoring NYC Students

(0) Comments | Posted March 30, 2012 | 5:59 PM

Music education is an essential aspect of child development. However, because of budget cuts, especially in our inner city schools, music education is among the first things to go. Fortunately, Music Unites, a non-profit organization working towards empowering urban youth through music, is establishing music programs in schools most suffering...

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Music Unites: Empowering, Inspiring and Uniting NYC High School Students Through the Power of Music

(1) Comments | Posted March 13, 2012 | 1:23 PM

The arts and music education is always the first to go during budget cuts. As cutbacks continue, there is a greater need for music non-profit organizations like Music Unites, which transforms inner-city landscapes by empowering urban youth through music by providing services in the schools to help create and fund...

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Music Unites Expands Efforts in 2011 With Nationwide Instrument Drive

(0) Comments | Posted December 19, 2010 | 11:21 PM

In less than two years, Music Unites has grown exponentially and expanded a number of its programs. The New York-based non-profit has grown from an idea for an organization that would connect people through music and performance, to a boutique organization that is simultaneously supporting music education programs in urban...

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ASCAP and Music Unites' Night School Kick Off

(1) Comments | Posted November 18, 2010 | 2:39 PM

Copyrights, co-publishing, exploitation, synchronization; these are some of the terms that were thrown around throughout the first class of ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) and Music Unites' Night School series. The joint endeavor, created to provide support and accessibility to emerging musicians, kicked off Tuesday night at...

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ASCAP AND MUSIC UNITES PARTNER TO PRESENT ASCAP'S NIGHT SCHOOL

(1) Comments | Posted November 15, 2010 | 4:59 PM

Music Unites is joining with ASCAP tomorrow night to present "ASCAP's Night School: Publishing 101" the first in a series of four workshop panels developed to educate songwriters, labels and others involved in the music industry. The evening will culminate with a special performance by Cantora Records artist Savoir Adore.

...
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Make Music New York Celebrates With Over 1,000 Free Shows Across New York

(0) Comments | Posted June 21, 2010 | 10:55 AM

Manhattan and its five boroughs from concert halls to parks to the 12,00 miles of NYC sidewalk will be full of music Monday, June 21 as part of the annual Make Music New York festival. Now in its fourth year, it is without question the largest and most varied music...

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Rising Star Jaicko Releases Debut Album "Can I"

(0) Comments | Posted June 17, 2010 | 12:28 PM

First Rihanna and Shontelle gave the US a taste of the Caribbean and now Capitol Records is offering up a male counterpart. An established star in his native home with six nominations during the 2008 Barbados Music Awards and a win for Album of the Year, Jaicko is poised to...

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Music Unites Gets Behind Mikhail Simonyan To Raise Funds for Afghanistan National Institute of Music

(0) Comments | Posted June 11, 2010 | 1:12 PM

Music Unites will be hosting an event for Russian-Armenian violinist virtuoso Mikhail Simonyan and musicians from the New York Philharmonic on June 14 at City Winery to benefit the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul, as part of Mikhail's Beethoven Not Bullets initiative.

"We wanted to help raise...

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Vote For Music Unite Women's Empowerment Ambassador Rachel Platten To Play At Lillith Fair

(0) Comments | Posted May 28, 2010 | 5:44 PM

Music Unites Women's Empowerment Ambassador Rachel Platten, who recently played the Music Unites One Year Anniversary concert, is up for the chance to bring her happy, folk pop tunes to the Lillith Fair stage.

A long time dream of hers, the New York based singer-song writer has been entered in...

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Music Unites Youth Choir Records Original Song at Tainted Blue Recording Studio

(1) Comments | Posted May 27, 2010 | 7:05 PM

The Music Unites Youth Choir was given the opportunity this past week through New York charity Music Unites to visit Tainted Blue Recording Studio in Times Square, which has seen such superstar recording artists as Alicia Keys, Mariah Carey, Paul McCartney, Coldplay and more. The children were able to do...

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VH1 SAVE THE MUSIC SUMMER KICK OFF WITH COLBIE CAILLAT

(0) Comments | Posted May 27, 2010 | 12:38 PM

With music education in danger as funding gets cut, organizations like VH1 Save the Music and Music Unites are more important than ever.

Founded in 1997, VH1 Save the Music has brought music education into the spotlight and kept it an integral part of a child's education by funding...

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Music Unites Brings Together Artists Across Genres to Celebrate Anniversary

(0) Comments | Posted May 20, 2010 | 6:49 PM

Music Unites celebrated its one year anniversary this week with a blowout bash overlooking the Manhattan skyline at the Cooper Square Hotel Penthouse. Supporters of this important cause, including Tinsley Mortimer, The Postelles, Richie Rich, and model/actor Eric West toasted to Music Unites' commitment to bring music education into underfunded...

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Rainforest Foundation Celebrates 21st Anniversary With Carnegie Hall Benefit Concert

(0) Comments | Posted May 15, 2010 | 11:55 PM

Sting and his wife Trudie Styler gathered together alongside other legendary music icons across generations Thursday night for the annual Rainforest Foundation benefit concert at Carnegie Hall. Every two years, a slew of artists from different genres come together for an evening of music to support the preservation of rainforests...

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MUSIC UNITES CELEBRATES ITS ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

(0) Comments | Posted May 11, 2010 | 9:12 AM

It was just one year ago that New York-based charity Music Unites was founded by Michelle Edgar to support music education in underfunded inner city school districts and bring music to underserved communities. As a classically trained pianist, Michelle has always had a deep appreciation for various types of music...

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Music Unites Hosts Classical Showcase With Charlie Siem To Benefit Music Education

(1) Comments | Posted May 4, 2010 | 8:33 AM

Since he first picked up the violin at the tender age of three, classical artist Charlie Siem has been on a quick rise to stardom. On April 29, the same week of his Carnegie Hall performance, the virtuoso played an intimate benefit concert at SPiN NYC's Fred Perry Room as...

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OWL CITY TAKES NEW YORK BY STORM

(0) Comments | Posted April 26, 2010 | 5:23 PM

Move on over Justin Bieber, the hot new thing with the teen set is Owl City, aka Adam Young. Chances are even you have his fizzy electro-pop song "Fireflies," on your iPod---it's been No. 1 twice on Billboard, downloaded 1.4 million times, and heard from club to restaurant to Duane...

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MUSIC UNITES TO SHOWCASE YOUNG VIOLINIST CHARLIE SIEM

(0) Comments | Posted April 23, 2010 | 5:46 PM

The week of violinist Charlie Siem's Carnegie Hall performance, Music Unites will host a ticketed benefit concert with the British virtuoso at SPiN NYC's Fred Perry Room as part of the charity's Classical Music Showcase Series.

Music Unites Classical Music Showcase Series artists have included some of the industry's most...

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Music Unites Invites Rachel Platten To Join Women's Empowerment

(0) Comments | Posted April 15, 2010 | 7:59 AM

Music Unites welcomes Rachel Platten to be the newest member of their women's empowerment initiative with the presentation of an award at her Highline Ballroom opening for Carbon Leaf on April 15.

The Music Unites Woman's Empowerment movement was created to promote awareness about the importance of leadership and...

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