With the help of Opus 118, Robertas students are provided with violins as long as they make the commitment to try their hardest. Honorary doctorates from the New England Conservatory of Music, SUNY-Fredonia and Mount Holyoke College. "A school the size of our three Central Park East Schools combined would be lucky to have one full-time music teacher. Opus 118, underwriting strings instruction in the elementary Roberta Guaspari Family Background & Career. See the article in its original context from. on which Guaspari still resides, just blocks from River East. in music education from the State University of New York at Fredonia and a master's degree in music education from the Boston University College of Fine Arts. "She helps us when we mess up," says nine-year-old Wendy Casteneda. It's important to give kids an experience of the arts, not just a taste. We should know how to invest in it wisely., Roberta Guaspari invests in the future by giving kids the gift of music, the feeling of success, and the confidence that they are more than capable of reaching the stars. We From the spoken words of influential leaders, to emotionally powerful lyrics in a song, heroic audio is all around us. And I'm an 'A' student because of it. ''You need to know that the environment that they portrayed is not like our school,'' Ms. Guaspari said. and starting to correct posture and technique, with Guaspari The Big Time, For three years, Guaspari-Tzavaras's students have performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Madison Square Garden before Knicks basketball games. At the young age of five, the future star decided she wanted to be a dancer, and boldly auditioned for the Bush Davies School of Theatre Arts in East Grinstead. And those 50 "terrible" violins? For Mr. Tzavaras it was a cruel blow. Through nine episodes over four years, Leeves became well-known to mainstream audiences as Audrey Cohen, an intelligent yet somewhat quirky woman who was romantically involved with Mitch Silverberg (Grant Shaud), a producer who worked with Brown. Roberta Guaspari arrived in New York City on a hot summer day in 1980, with two little boys, a busted marriage, and a packing crate full of violins. NEW YORK "If children are made to feel special, there's no end to what they can do," says New York violin teacher Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras. She agreed that the neighborhood was dangerous. No portion of this sitemay be used in any form without express written consent of The National Museum of Education, Inc. All violators will be prosecuted. Guaspari-Tzavaras' long-term impact on her students has been recognized. We recommend you to check the complete list of Famous Musician. Fortuitously, Steinhardt's wife, Dorothea Von Haeften, was on the board of the Petra Foundation, which made a grant through its Unsung Heroes program. Against tremendous odds, more than one thousand public school kids (including her own) have raised their bows and their hopes in Guaspari's classes, discovering the power of music to enrich and unite a community." Born on September 15, 1947 in United States of America, Roberta Guaspari started her career as Musician . Teacher hero Jackie Melnick, founder of "It's hard to believe that very few public elementary schools in New York City, the cultural center of the world, have invested in the arts," says Meier, now a senior fellow at the Annenberg Institute of School Reform at Brown University. Guaspari-Tzavaras' path from the classroom to the big screen began in 1980. "He called me the next day and said, This is Itzhak Perlman. Guaspari, who went on to found a violin instruction program within the East Harlem School District in New York City, was the . A spinoff of Cheers, one of the most lauded sitcoms in television history, the show focused on Frasier Crane, Kelsey Grammer's wisecracking therapist, making his move from Boston back to his hometown of Seattle to start a new career in radio and reconnect with his father and brother. In 1980, you left a failed marriage for the East Harlem neighborhood of New York City, a single mother with two young sonsand a cache of violins in tow. Each fall, a notice is sent to the parents of first- and second-graders at three East Harlem elementary schools. " Perlman ended up visiting the schools, offering counsel and encouragement; other individuals and organizations provided a patchwork of funding over the next two years. Shows like ABC's "Prime Time" and "CBS Sunday Morning" revealed the concentrated passion and dedication that Guaspari-Tzavaras imparts to her students, who range in age from 6 to 12 and master a repertoire that ranges from "We Shall Overcome" to Bach's Double Concerto. Tel: (212) 481-5519. She earned music and music education degrees from the State University of New York at Fredonia and Boston University. Likely thanks to her exposure on Throb, Leeves started to book more significant sitcom work, starting with Murphy Brown, a game-changing show starring Candice Bergen as a fiercely independent and successful journalist/news anchor. After her teaching position was eliminated in '91, Guaspari-Tzavaras figured out a way to keep the violin program: She started a nonprofit organization to privately fund it. However, her biggest post-Frasier gig has undoubtedly been her leading role on Hot in Cleveland as Joy Scroggs, a forty-something former "eyebrow artist to the stars." Im Roberta Guaspari : This beautiful concert that you've just heard could be the very last concert for the East Harlem Violin Program. Peri Gilpin and Leeves have been close friends for a number of years, and not only was Gilpin present at the birth of Leeves' daughter, she is Isabella's godmother (while Leeves serves as godmother to Gilpin's daughter, Stella), and the two former co-workers live next door to each other. In this version, she is the formidable teacher of real life but plies her craft in a cultural wasteland of a school, marred by drive-by shootings, lazy teachers and hostile parents. Violins up. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. However, Leeves didn't settle for appearing in just one huge American sitcom starting in 1992, she appeared on Seinfeld, one of the most critically acclaimed and popular sitcoms in television history, in four different episodes. Wiki, Biography, Age, Family, NetWorth & Know More. vocabulary. She had no idea what she would do to earn a living or remake her life. - Tom Brokaw, from "An American Close-Up" on NBC Nightly News. View the trailer for the movie Music of the Heart, which stars Meryl Streep as Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras. "I started playing in the 4th grade and never stopped. Guaspari sees music as a means to impart her students with less "Because the students are chosen by lottery, not by gift, Roberta is saying every child can learn to play the violin, one of the most difficult instruments around. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Whenever there's a financial crisis, arts programs are the first thing to go, and that's wrong. While Guasparis salary ", Mr. Tzavaras explained, "I'm not very good with smooth talking.". she asserts, especially children in urban settings who Anyone can read what you share. Roberta grew up in a working-class family in Rome, New York. With all eyes on their But she said the school had always been a refuge from the filth and violence, and that was one of its main sources of attraction. She almost quit after her first film. In 1981 New York City, Roberta Guaspari, a recently divorced violinist, lives with her two sons, Alexi and Nicholas Tzavaras, and her mother, Assunta Guaspari. Sophia is a gymnast and dancer. In 1980, Roberta moved to New York City as a single mother with her two sons, Nick and Alexi. ", When she got home that day, Von Haeften told Steinhardt, "You fiddlers in town better get together and do something for this other fiddler who needs help. Additionally, the emphasis on science and mathematics nationally and in New York has diverted attention from the arts and humanities, according to educators surveyed by New Visions for Public Schools, a New York non-profit organization that mobilizes private support for school reform. When Leeves' son Finn was born, she named John Mahoney and David Hyde Pierce as his godfathers, proving that the relationships on Frasier went far beyond the set and, truly, gave many of the cast members relationships that would go on to become the foundation for a real-life family. her book, Music of the Heart, which preceded the movie of the She is known for Music of the Heart (1999), Small Wonders (1995) and Omnibus (1967). Anyone who takes violin with Roberta becomes a different person. She had no idea what she would do to earn a living or remake her life. And the film shows how uncompromising Guaspari-Tzavaras can be: One child who opts for a soccer game over practice is forced to leave the program. Put your bow straightout. The end of Frasier hasn't stopped Leeves from working consistently in Hollywood, and from her animated film and voice work to the next generation of television comedies, here's what she's been up to over the years. Makes Music in Harlem, Education The two founded Bristol Cities, which Leeves later confessed was a dirty Cockney rhyme. Now a famous TV star, Jane Leeves chose a modest slate of film and television work following her Frasier breakthrough. (He was the only one from that class who left.) he gave an impromptu speech pleading for continued funding. "What's wrong?" "Somebody's off" says a little voice. she yelled at her class of 8- and 9-year-olds, their violins cushioned with kitchen sponges, as they screeched through an etude in G major. SUNY Fredonia alumna Roberta Guaspari, '69, thanks Drs. The black principal in the movie who hired her, played by the glamorous Angela Bassett, was actually Ms. Meier, a white woman more character actor than leading lady. Roberta Guaspari (Streep) overcame the skepticism of everyone who didn't think she should be teaching violin to students in a tough inner-city neighborhood. "I was prepared to teach at home if I couldn't stay in the classroom. not going to quit fighting for kids to have music in their lives, She solicited artists and musicians to pay for expenses and her salary. teaches in the same schools, lives in the same house on 118th street, and has no plans to leave. On Dec. 4, they were married at St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Clifton, N.J., in a. When funding cuts force the school board to eliminate her program, she doesn't accept her fate and fade away. "I know you," Nicholas Guy Tzavaras, a cellist, said, as he approached. . On the recommendation of an old friend, she met Deborah Meier, founder of Central Park East Schools in East Harlem, who offered her a part-time post teaching violin. ''I became known because I was asked to leave and I didn't want to go,'' she said, adding that it could all too easily happen again if people forget what makes schools like Central Park East succeed. 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