Inspired by Phil Kline’s Unsilent Night, MMNY launched its first winter festival, “Make Music Winter,” with twelve participatory musical parades on the winter solstice (December 21st). Meanwhile, the summer offerings became larger-than-life: 99 percussionists, 88 street pianos, 24 hours of theremin under a bridge, a “Funk Island” on Rikers complementing “Punk Island” on Governors, dozens of participating NYPL branches, and more music around the Central Park Lake. View the full program here.

2011 Program Highlights Included:
12 funk concerts by Christian McBride, Pimps of Joytime, Burnt Sugar, and others for inmates on Rikers Island (“Funk Island”) • an historic “Griot Summit” with dozens of West African musicians at Wave Hill in the Bronx • 99 percussionists playing John Luther Adams’s Inuksuitoutside in Harlem, presented by Miller Theatre • Louis Andriessen’s Hoketus played from the balconies of the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street • Yoko Ono’s Secret Piece in Central Park at 5AM • a 24-hour-long interactive electronic piece under the Manhattan Bridge by British artist Nick Franglen

Press:
“One Day, Who Knows How Many Performers: Make Music 2011,” by Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR Music, June 21, 2011