Missouri News

Listen: Make Music Day comes to the St. Louis area for second consecutive year

St. Louis Public Radio | By Alex Heuer

Published June 23, 2017 at 12:28 PM CDT

Kathy Favazza and Nika Leoni are the co-founders of Make Music St. Louis, the organization responsible for bringing Make Music Day to the region.

If you happened to be in the Delmar Loop on Wednesday or in a number of other places in the St. Louis area, it’s likely you heard live music.

Those sounds were part of Make Music Day, an international holiday that’s celebrated in more than 750 cities worldwide including more than 50 in the United States.

Musician Paul Gregor performed ragtime music in Strauss Park as part of Make Music Day.

Opera singers Nika Leoni and Kathy Favazza are co-founders of the event in St. Louis.

“Make Music Day is a day for anyone and I mean anyone," Favazza said. "If you are a beginner or a professional and anything in between and you want to play an instrument in the public eye, somewhere, you come out for Make Music Day."

Favazza and Leoni used to live in New York and that’s how Leoni discovered the event.

“We were both surprised that such an international phenomenon had not made its way to St. Louis yet,” Leoni said.

Make Music Day happened for the second consecutive year in the St. Louis region in locations including the riverfront, Delmar Loop, Grand Center, Ferguson, Webster Groves and Chesterfield.

A number of pianos are strategically placed at locations throughout the St. Louis area. They are meant to encourage interaction with music and as an art piece.

In total, this year’s celebration more than doubled in size from last year with more than 50 venues and 125 performers participating.

“We have the talent and the ability to make music but we also want to inspire others to come out and make music,” Leoni said.

Despite the group’s success, Favazza and Leoni want to expand the festival even more in the coming years.

“We want you to come out on this day and see music even if you don’t want to," Favazza said. "I want you to run into it no matter where you are in the city or the surrounding area."

People who wish to volunteer or perform at the event next year, on June 21, can visit the organization’s website.

Click the audio below to listen to an interview with Nika Leoni and Kathy Favazza about Make Music Day and to hear a portion of musician Paul Gregor's performance in Strauss Park.

Make Music Day was celebrated in the St. Louis area and in more than 750 cities worldwide on Wednesday, June 21.

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