WHAT: On November 8, 2021 renowned composer Allen Schulz’s first piece of music written after he awoke from a coma in 2014 will be performed. The piece entitled Starting Over will be performed by the Quintet of the Americas at The National Opera Center.
On March 31, 2014, Mr Schulz was in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with cellist Kate Dillingham for a performance of his musical composition, Three Fantasies for Cello and Piano. After a celebratory dinner, Mr. Schulz suddenly collapsed. He was with friends who did not know CPR. Then, out of nowhere two young men, strangers, performed CPR. But for them, Mr. Schulz would undoubtedly have died that night. Mr. Schulz suffered a cardiac arrest, which left him in a coma for 29 days.
Mr. Schulz’s recovery was documented by his partner Rebecca Bratspies, and a search for the life-saving individuals turned into a public call to increase life-saving CPR education. After nearly a year of recovery Mr. Schulz began to regain some new-normal activity, once a marathon runner, he was able to walk around the block. His ability to play and compose music though, continued to hang in the balance. His main focus was on the couple’s only child and their growth and wellbeing as a family of three in Astoria, Queens, New York.
In the proceeding years, Mr.Schulz regained some ability to play music again, albeit slowly. With hundreds of hours of therapy, including physical, occupational, cognitive, speech, vision, and cardiac, he began composing again in 2020. Through hard work and perseverance Starting Over was born just as the COVID-19 pandemic set in and the world began its new normal.
WHO: Quintet of the Americas, Queens’ renowned woodwind quintet. Performers will be Kimberly O’Hare Bonacorsa, flute and piccolo, Matt Sullivan, oboe and English horn, David Valbuena, clarinet and bass clarinet, Alexander Davis, bassoon and Barbara Oldham, horn. They will present a program of woodwind quintet music they’ve commissioned over the years, including Rockaway Baby by Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin, Echoes From a Distant Land (1983) by José Raul Bernardo (1928-2008), Gilbert Galindo’s Voices of the Unseen (2020), Klezmer Fantasy (2019) by James Cohn (1928-2021), Allen Schultz’s Starting Over (2020) and Mañanita (1977) by Jorge Olaya Muñoz.
WHEN: November 8, 2021 7:00 PM
WHERE: National Opera Center’s Marc A. Scorca Hall, 330 7th Ave. (btwn. 28th & 29th St.), New York, NY 10001. (Closest Subway stop is the 28th Street 1 train.)
MEDIA RSVP REQUIRED: Chelsea Connor | chelsea.connor@gmail.com | 347-866-6259
Kindly RSVP to Chelsea Connor above.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:
This event will be free and open to the public – reservations are required. For public reservations, please email quintetorg@gmail.com or call 718-230-5189.
Please note that proof of vaccination and masks will be required for admission to this concert. All Quintet of the Americas presentations are ADA accessible.
Quintet concerts are supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, This program is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council. Additional funding comes from the Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation and generous individuals. Special thanks to the Hon. Donovan Richards, Borough President of Queens, and the Queens Delegation to the New York City Council.
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B. Allen Schulz (b. 1964) is the great grandson of the famous vaudevillian and Chicago jazzman, Ollie Powers. He studied music composition at Wabash College, Yale University, and The City University of New York. Mr. Schulz, founded the composers/performers’ collective Random Access Music and the Queens New Music Festival, and his works for chamber and orchestra have been performed across the country.