Recipient's Stories

Most of us view musicians as leading lives of glamour and comfort, but the reality is: years of arduous study and practice; investing in lessons, equipment and instruments; and living with ongoing insecurity. Typically sacrificing material comfort for their art, when an emergency strikes, musicians can easily find themselves in vulnerable positions. For such dedicated artists, the inability to afford adequate medical care or maintain their homes is too often the case. Ironically, these situations are frequently caused by the physical and emotional demands of their profession.

Over the years, the Musicans Foundation, through its generous benefactors, has helped to write happy endings for many stories of misfortune. Some of those stories behind the music include:

An opera singer from the 1930's, who had appeared in then-avant garde works which are now standard repertory, did not have a pension and was forced to go into a nursing home. The Musicians Foundation provided her with a monthly stipend, allowing her to maintain her dignity.

A jazz composer and saxophonist suffered a stroke. The Musicians Foundation bridged the gap between the time he became ill and the start of disability payments. Had the Foundation not responeded quickly, his health could have been severely compromised, and he might have been institutionalized.

A piano teacher and vocal coach lost her vision. The Musicians Foundation supplemented her Social Security income allowing her to live at home.

A classical guitarist, attacked in a city park, suffered damage to her right hand. The Foundation provided for lessons to relearn the instrument for the left hand, allowing her to teach and, eventually, open a music school.

A well-known singer of opera, folk songs, spirituals and gospel music, who had performed with the Metropolitan Opera, in Carnegie Hall and on radio and television, developed cancer complicated by diabetes. The illness depleted her savings and medical coverage, and she needed a bone marrow transplant. Collaborating with other organizations (which it frequently does) the Musicians Foundation helped her meet the costs of rent and basic living expenses until the crisis ended.

A young opera singer lost all her musical scores, clothing and personal possessions in an apartment fire. The Musicians Foundation helped her to relocate and to file insurance claims. She returned to the Metropolitan Opera the following season.

A hard-working jazz pianist developed a cyst on his liver, immobilizing him. Without insurance or savings, he turned to the Foundation. The Foundation paid his rent for two months, thus protecting him from eviction proceedings, and arranged for government support.

A beloved, elderly piano teacher was forced to give up her profession because of arthritis. Renting rooms to students to make ends meet, she was still unable to afford critical dental work. The Musicians Foundation financed the treatment.