Cellist Amit Peled to Establish Community Music Hub in Baltimore Warehouse

Peled, who founded the Mount Vernon Virtuosi, is aiming to raise six million dollars towards the project by 2028

Amit Peled is planning to serve the community of East Baltimore, Maryland, through the establishment of a community music house. The Israeli-American cellist has launched a project through his chamber orchestra, the Mount Vernon Virtuosi (MVV), that will see the group refurbish an old warehouse and transform it into a place where locals can come to experience art music — possibly for the first time.

The plan is for the players of MVV to undertake a two-year residency at the house while they work with schools and other organizations to make art music available to the local community. In addition, the project will allow some of MVV's younger players, all locals, to be paid for their work. Peled hopes this aspect will support these younger players to stay in Baltimore so that the community can enjoy their impressive skill.

In order to get the project off the ground, Peled and the MVV are aiming to raise six million dollars by 2028 — with half of this figure going towards construction costs and the other half being invested in an endowment for the future of the facility.

"I decided that living in a community with classical music being all around and available will make the difference, instead of just going there, playing a concert and leaving again back to our 'comfortable' lives in the suburbs," Peled said of the project.

"The location of the music house in East Baltimore is where most of the problems in our city are. The kids there never really get a chance to be educated and to receive an equal opportunity. We believe that simply being there on the ground and becoming part of the community will make a change for them and also for us as humans and as musicians."

You can read more about the project and make a donation, here.