Heartstrings — Journey to the music festival

Heartstrings, a collaboration between actors and musicians to teach, will offer offer an original neo-folk children’s music experience — Journey to the music festival class.

Heartstrings Kids supports each child’s creative development by offering a safe space for imagination, play and authentic expression, the Heartstrings founders say, with an age appropriate curriculum focused on the benefits of mindfulness and movement. The Heartstrings folk duo will foster post-pandemic social-emotional tools for the family everyone reintegrates into live education together.

About Heartstrings

Luke Wygodny is a multi instrumentalist singer-songwriter, professional actor & lifetime educator. Born and raised in Chicago, Luke grew up living & breathing music. At a very young age, Wygodny found peace through his cello where he trained in classical music through the Suzuki method. As he got older he found himself jamming on his dads beat up old Yamaha guitar and he’s been writing songs ever since.

Luke has toured the country as both an actor in Broadway shows as well as with his folk band The Heartstrings Project. As a teacher, Luke was one of the founding members of the Musical Tots program at New York Kids Club. He has led songwriting workshops at multiple Montessori schools, Breathe Festival in Indiana, Kerrville Music Festival in Texas & an ongoing Heartstrings Kids Songwriting retreat in Costa Rica. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Syracuse University and is a co-founder of Heartstrings Kids. It’s Luke’s greatest responsibility to honor each student’s individual journey, and gift the next generation with the tools needed to be open enough to love themselves & find confidence within.

Marina Pires is a trilingual singer-songwriter from Brazil, Broadway’s latest newcomer, and a proud co-founder of Heartstrings Kids. She learned to read music playing the violin and through her early-childhood arts education and fell deeply in love with the collaborative aspects of theatre, creative storytelling through song, and the physical freedom of dance.

Her passion and desire to educate come from her own experiences bridging her cultural and language barriers through music. She believes children from all walks of life can connect with one another and learn empathy and acceptance through sharing song. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre and has been acting professionally since 2012. She has taught improv, musical improv, songwriting, vocal performance, and music in several after-school outreach programs in NYC, as well as professional workshops nationally and abroad. She credits the universal language of music with her passion for human connectivity and global community. She can’t wait to bring together her love of music education and performance with Heartstrings Kids.

Elias Wygodny is a certified Mindful Educator, Yoga Teacher, Master Energy Healer, and Lucid Body Acting Instructor. Elias has taught Mindfulness-Based practices to students, teachers, psychologists, and families in cities around the world. In 2014 Elias began teaching in Private/Public Education, in corporate and governmental spaces, in Fitness & Recovery Centers, and at The University of Michigan, where he graduated as a Bachelor in Fine Arts.

His mindfulness practice has completely changed how he works as a professional actor, sculptor, teacher and musician. Growing up, Elias faced many challenges in education. He was always ‘outside of the box’ and struggled with emotional regulation difficulties at a young age. At that time, mindfulness and music education were not shared as modes for social-emotional wellbeing. As a co-founder of The Heartstrings Project and Heartstrings Kids, Elias is determined to bring compassionate education to young minds and hearts, especially for those who may be a little ‘out of the box’.

This class will run weekly on Tuesdays at 10:30 a.m. from October 12 to December 7, with no class on November 23. This is an indoor Event. Heartstrings Kids instructors are fully vaccinated and will be masked with clear mask shields for the duration of the classes/concerts. Any kids older than 2 years old will be asked to wear masks while onsite. Doors and windows will remain open as long as the weather allows.

Register here »