The inspiration to return…
In 2006, the Young@Heart Chorus (Y@H) performed at the Hampshire County Jail and House of Correction in Northampton, Massachusetts. The concert was filmed as part of the award winning Fox Searchlight film Young@Heart.
Viewed by millions, the prison performance remains to this day, the single most emotional, impactful and rewarding concert in the 33-year history of Y@H. Newsweek film critic David Ansen picked the scene as his favorite cultural movie moment of 2008 writing, “Lots of movies make me cry — it’s not that hard to do — but this moment cut so deep, it left me gasping for air.”
Building on the success of our first prison concert, we are bringing the chorus back to Hampshire County jail and this time, adding a show at The Western Massachusetts Women’s Correctional Facility in Chicopee, Massachusetts. Last time we performed for the prisoners. This time we will do it a bit differently.
Working with prison staff, Y@H director Bob Cilman, along with Y@H piano/bass player Ken Maiuri and Y@H Director of Operations/rapper Mark Guglielmo will rehearse songs weekly with inmates and Y@H chorus members in the prisons in the months leading up to the concerts. When we come to perform, the inmate soloists will join Y@H as featured vocalists and perform the songs in front of their peers and their family members backed by the chorus on family visiting days.
We intend to record the concerts and release a live-from-prison album.
Our goal with this project is to foster a sense of hope and healing among those incarcerated, to provide them with an inspiring and transformative creative outlet, and to demonstrate together that it’s never too late to begin anew.
This blog is our attempt to share with you our honest experiences working together in prison. We’ve invited the inmates to do the same. It’s an open forum for all those involved in this prison project to reflect on this work we’re doing together. We hope you enjoy and share if you feel so inspired.
