Our Mission
Perennial Muse™ aims to enrich the creative and artistic lives of adults in the New York City area through music programming and lessons. We offer music lessons for all adults and special concerts and workshops for older adults and their caregivers. We believe that musical exposure can be a perennial, lifelong process that deepens our experiences, heightens our senses and fine tunes our memories. And for older adults, shared musical experiences play a major role in longevity, creating an inner sense of fulfillment, fueled by creativity.
Perennial Muse™, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts organization based in Brooklyn, New York.
Our Programming
Our programs connect outstanding, experienced, compassionate New York City teaching artists to older adult/adult learner communities by offering online and in-person sessions and music events. These connections engage, encourage, and support everyone in sharing, discovering, and experiencing the joy and benefits of a vibrant creative community arts program.
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Creative Aging Music
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Adult Music Lessons
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Concerts
Our Team
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Founder/Executive DirectorDr. Aundrey Mitchell, a classically trained professional musician and educator, is passionate about music and teaching and has over 25 years of experience teaching music to students of all ages, levels, and backgrounds. Equally accomplished as a performer, Aundrey has performed extensively throughout the United States and abroad as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral player performing at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall, Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Broadway, Bargemusic, Kimmel Center, National Gallery of Art, Mariinsky Theater, and Tchaikovsky Hall. She has given recitals in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, US Virgin Islands, France, and Italy and has toured South America, Mexico, Serbia, and Russia with the Philadelphia Virtuosi.
Aundrey has been a teaching artist in New York City programs sponsored by Brooklyn Arts Council, Brooklyn Philharmonic, Young Audiences, and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She regularly coaches young professionals and adult amateur chamber music groups and teaches Senior Session and the Adult Chamber Music Workshop at The Kinhaven Music School in Vermont during the summer.
Her work with older adults in New York City as a SU-CASA 2020 Artist in Residence inspired and helped to motivate her with ideas for creating year-long ongoing creative aging music programs for older adults in NYC. The 2020 pandemic shutdown brought an even greater awareness that adult learners were also a part of this community. Bringing together this community and New York City area musicians was not only a goal, but a much-needed necessity.
Until 2020, Dr. Mitchell was adjunct assistant professor of music at City University of New York (CUNY), The College of New Jersey, and Moravian College. Aundrey earned degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music, Manhattan School of Music, and Rutgers University studying with Michael Tree, Karen Ritscher, and Lucien Joel.
Meet the Founder & Executive Director,
Dr. Aundrey Mitchell
Faculty Artists
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Deborah Buck
VIOLIN
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Naho Parrini
VIOLIN
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Adela Pena
VIOLIN
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David Burnett
VIOLIN
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Claire Chan
VIOLIN
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Nicholas DiEugenio
VIOLIN
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Joyce Hammann
VIOLIN
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Ashley Horne
VIOLIN
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Gwen Laster
VIOLIN
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Orlando Wells
VIOLIN, VIOLA
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Edward Hardy
VIOLIN, VIOLA
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Amadi Azikiwe
VIOLA, VIOLIN
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Aundrey Mitchell
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VIOLA, VIOLIN
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Kate Dillingham
CELLO
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Maria Jeffers
CELLO
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Alberto Parrini
CELLO
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Wayne Smith
CELLO
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Rebekah Griffin Greene
DOUBLE BASS, THEORY
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Anthony Morris
DOUBLE BASS
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Damon Banks
BASS
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Alida Torres
VOICE, GUITAR/UKULELE
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Nnenna Ogwo
PIANO
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Judith Olson
PIANO
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Mimi Solomon
PIANO
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Amos Kwaku Gabia
WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING
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Bruce Cox
DRUMS, PERCUSSION
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Karen Bogardus
FLUTE
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Tia Roper
FLUTE
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Peter Schultz
FLUTE
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Mary Watt
OBOE
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Sterling Strings NYC
STRING QUARTET