Make Music Day, the annual global celebration of music on the summer solstice, returns this year on Thursday, June 21 with more than 4,500 free outdoor concerts, music lessons, jam sessions and other exciting music-making events being held in over 70 U.S. cities in 31 states.
New York City, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Hartford, Madison, Miami, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Philadelphia, Salem (Oregon) and Nashville are among the numerous cities hosting major celebrations – as well as the entire states of Vermont and Connecticut – in what has become a worldwide phenomenon observed by hundreds of millions of people in 800 cities in 120 countries. Additionally, iconic buildings and landmarks in participating U.S. cities will turn orange to mark the all-day musical free-for-all, which brings together musicians of all ages, backgrounds and genres, amateur and professional alike, to make and enjoy music.
Highlights of Make Music Day in the U.S. will include Street Studios in over 10 cities – including New York, Boston, Chattanooga, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Nashville, Philadelphia, Portland (Maine), and in a Reedsburg (Wisconsin) cow pasture – where DJs and producers bring their gear and engage passersby and musicians in the spontaneous, collaborative production of original music; Sousapaloozas in Chicago, Fullerton, Hartford, Minneapolis-St.Paul and Salem (Oregon) that bring together hundreds of brass and wind musicians to play the music of John Philp Sousa; and over 200 Mass Appeals that gather large groups of musicians to participate in impromptu performances using single instruments such as guitars, harmonicas, accordions, flutes, percussion, trombones, French horns, synthesizers, ukuleles, djembes and saxophones.
Participants who wish to perform, or to host musical events, may register at MakeMusicDay.org. A full schedule of events will be posted on the website in early June.
