QueensSound Ensemble Recognized With $5,000 City Artist Corps Grant

Classical and contemporary trio QueensSound Ensemble is one of 3,000 New York City-based artists to receive $5,000 through the City Artist Corps Grants program, presented by The New York Foundation for the Arts and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, with support from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment as well as Queens Theatre.

QueensSound was recognized for "Journey Through Song," which will bring a musical performance to the Flushing Meadows Corona Park neighborhood of Queens on October 24th, at 6:45pm. Journey Through Song is a program of vocal and instrumental pieces from our countries of origin and much more! Through serenades, folk songs, romances, traditional and concert pieces, you will hear music from Ireland, Italy, the USA, and Korea.

Tickets are free and available now at https://queenstheatre.org/event/journey-through-song/

Founded in 2019 by three Queens resident female performers, QueensSound strives to combine the sonorities of voice and instruments in various chamber music geometries, always delivering new stories to the audience. We perform classical, contemporary, and works written by living composers. Our concert programs are a blend of music from the past and new, original and arranged, with jazz, musical theatre and pop influences.

The QueensSound Ensemble founding members are the Soprano Linda Teixeira, the Violinist Laura Giannini and the Organist/Pianist Helena Kim. For more information on QSE! visit queenssoundensemble.com.

Linda Teixeira is thrilled to be a member and co-founder of the QueensSound Ensemble. Linda is an accomplished New York based soprano and music educator. She has performed abroad with Amalfi Coast music festival and with Dicapo Opera in Szeged, Hungary. She has appeared as a guest soloist with the West Islip Orchestra and Long Island Guitar and Mandolin Orchestra. Regionally, she has performed with Opera Night Long Island, dell'Arte Opera Ensemble, Regina Opera, Rockland Opera, and Garden State Opera. Linda maintains a flourishing career in sacred and liturgical music. Equally passionate about teaching, Linda is a NYS Certified Music Educator K-12. She is also the co-creator and co-star in the children's music education web series, Maestro's Magical Music Box.

Laura Giannini is an Italian classically trained violinist based in New York City. She has been awarded in duo and piano trio competitions throughout Europe while performing for Accademia dei Cameristi, A.Gi.Mus. Roma, and Deutscher Tonkünstlerverband, among others. Ms. Giannini has performed in duo, chamber ensembles, and orchestras at prestigious venues across Europe, the USA and Asia, including Carnegie Hall, Die Glocke, Temple du Foyer de l'Âme, Shinmin Art Center, and Auditorium Parco Della Musica. At present, she performs with Semplice Players at Bargemusic, the Connecticut-based New Britain Symphony Orchestra, and Ensemble Leonarda. Laura is also the co-founding member of the QueensSound Ensemble and OLLA Rhapsody violin duo.

Hyojung Helena Kim has been an active performer as a pianist, organist and conductor. She recently received a DMA in organ performance at Mason Gross school of the Arts at Rutgers University, and is working as a music director at St. Aloysius RC Church in Great Neck, NY. She participated in various productions of New York Grand Opera under the direction of late Maestro Vincent La Selva, and studied orchestral conducting under his tutelage. In 2019, she was the music director of Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island, and conducted the opera "The Gondoliers" with great success. She is currently a pianist for QueensSound Ensemble, and performed on the piano in various recitals in New York City and New Jersey.

Over the course of three award cycles, more than 3,000 artists will receive $5,000 grants to engage the public with artist activities across New York City's five boroughs this summer and fall. Artists can use the grant to create new work or phase of a work, or restage preexisting creative activities across any discipline.

Members of the public can participate in City Artist Corps Grants programming by following the hashtag #CityArtistCorps on social media.

City Artist Corps Grants was launched in June 2021 by NYFA and DCLA with support from the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) as well as Queens Theatre. The program is funded by the $25 million New York City Artist Corps recovery initiative announced by Mayor de Blasio and DCLA earlier this year. The grants are intended to support NYC-based working artists who have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. It is strongly recommended that a portion of the grant be used to support artist fees, both for the applying artist and any other artist that are engaged to support the project.