Biography​

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​Jennifer Heemstra | Michigan State Young Alumni Award Recipient 
Master of Music in Piano Performance, Cleveland Institute of Music | Bachelor of Music with honors, College of Music, Michigan State University

A professional pianist and entrepreneur, performer to over 65,000 children and adults from India and other countries where classical music may be hard to find for most people – and a few water buffalo who wander through the open-air concerts.         

Jennifer Heemstra is founder of the Kolkata Classics Trust in India, which provides free health services for trafficked women, educates children and exposes the citizens of Kolkata to classical music. In 2017, she founded the Pitch Pipe Foundation, a US-based NGO through which Heemstra organized and headlined “On the Road,” a patriotic salute to our veterans. She most recently organized 50 concerts to support the National Salute to Veteran Patients at Veterans Affairs medical facilities nationwide.  
 
Heemstra received the Secretary of State Award for Outstanding Volunteerism Abroad from Secretary John Kerry, was recipient of the MSU College of Music Distinguished Alumni Award and was its 2017 Commencement Speaker.

Heemstra is a compassionate performer with a zeal for aiding others. She recruits world class musicians to volunteer their time to travel across the world, joining local professionals and inviting people in the audience to sing, dance or perform.  Kolkata Classics and Pitch Pipe concerts entertain, educate and build awareness of critical needs, from human trafficking to the honor due our veterans.
 
During her seven years in Cleveland, Ms. Heemstra worked as a Lecturer and Staff Accompanist for over 350 performances in the music department at Case Western Reserve University, performed with the Cleveland Opera and frequently concertized with members of the Cleveland Orchestra.  In Rome, Italy she was the music teacher at the American Overseas School of Rome and put on musicals at John Cabot University.  

Ms. Heemstra is a member of Music Teachers National Association, the College Music Society and was a delegate to the 2nd World Congress Against the Sexual Exploitation of Women in Delhi, India.  

“While working with trafficked women and children in over 70 concerts in South Asia I have realized our ability to communicate, reflect the beauty of the world through music, and underscore our shared humanity is what truly makes me feel successful.”

Testimonials...

Jennifer Heemstra has been a one woman army in promoting Western Classical music in our city of Kolkata. Kolkata, has always been attributed with culture, heritage and warmth of the people of this city. No wonder, the British made Kolkata the capitol of India during the Raj Era. Kolkatans historically have been quite involved and imbibed in both Western and Indian Classical music.

It is only in the last two decades that we have seen a general decline in promotion of Western Classical music. 

It is rather pertinent and heartening to mention that with the arrival of Jenny (as she is popularly known ) two years ago with her husband Cory Wilcox , the city has finally received fresh impetus and a source for promotion of Western Classical music for the much starved Bengalees of Kolkata , who highly appreciate Western Classical music. Jennifer, has already become a household name in this circle and everyone appreciates her dedication and passion for this cause. She has inspired a section of our society to form the Kolkata Classics Trust (Also known as the Kolkata Classics Club).  Needless to say that with every passing day it is growing in numbers. 

With Jenny's sincere devotion to the cause and leadership ability, the Kolkata Classics Club has had a rather successful year last year, hosting six top class Western Classical concerts. 2016 has been no different. One very successful concert has already been held and we are looking at five more in the coming months.”
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​Kunal Roy Chowdhury
​Trustee, Kolkata Classics
CEO, Tea and Allied 
Calcutta has been called the Cultural Centre of India, where in the past, some of the great performing legends of western classical music have performed to her erudite and passionately devoted audiences. In recent years, this trend has been on the decrease; due perhaps to the tremendous costs of transport for those who come from abroad, maintenance and support of organizations and perhaps the sheer enormity of such undertakings.

However, since 2015, there has emerged the Kolkata Classics Club, formed by Jennifer Heemstra, whose commitment, energy and musical passion a series of six concert presentations per year has been assured. Each performer has played and shared their musical skills and knowledge not only on the concert stage but in schools both in the city and the suburbs, where they interacted with young people who had, perhaps, never before heard such music nor seen and touched western instruments.

Jennifer's spoken explanation and communication with the audience has always been delightfully articulate, instructive and not without an element of humour.  She has been a willing performer at invitations to play to audiences big and small.

Jennifer has shared my views on musical education and endorsed my rejection of annual examination for the sake of a certificate in the primary and junior grades but the serious study and learning enjoyment of music as a holistic practice.

The KCC concerts are attended not only by die hard music aficionados of the city, but by a new breed of classical music lovers own pupils of the younger generation, fascinated by the pianistic skills and musical generosity that she has brought to us. My own pupils, inspired by her performance and passion have progressed remarkably!

The future promises a new element, where she has introduced a Health Fair combined with the music of the visiting artiste and local musicians! The first, of these, featured Chanda VanderHart with Jennifer in a four hands on one keyboard!

Thank you Jenny, for your spirit and charisma! We look forward to the series of 2016!
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​​Fauzia Marikar
Journalist, India
Jennifer Heemstra and Kolkata Classic are synonymous if you ask me.  We at Kolkata are all indebted to Jennifer for bringing in quality Western Classical music performances in the city. Jennifer herself in an extra ordinary pianist and her ability to get equally talented musicians from USA and present outstanding concert is highly appreciated.  More over Jennifer's endeavour to reach out classical music to school children who are not exposed to Western Classical music in the city is a highly enriching experience for the kids and will in the long run help in the promotion of this genre of music among the youngsters.  Wish Jennifer all the very best and hoping experience more wonderful concerts in future.  Thank you.”
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​Chaitali Bhattacharjee Ganguly
Head of Western Classical Music, Calcutta School of Music, India
​ My time in India with the Kolkata Classics Club provided some of the most unique life experiences and performing opportunities I have had.  Within a 24-hour period, I sang on an outdoor platform for children in an underfunded community, and later for the French Ambassador on the rooftop of a building for the inauguration of the Alliance Française du Bengal. This single example embodies the organization's mission - that spreading the joy of classical music extends beyond socioeconomic status and is not limited to one age group. Kolkata Classics seeks to communicate with, educate, and enrich the lives of anyone interested in listening.  

I love that Kolkata Classics is spending so much time exposing young students to Western Classical Music. It was a delight to perform for such inquisitive, bright young people and experience their enthusiasm for what we were doing onstage. Upon instruction, students eagerly counted bird calls in our performance of John Duke's "The Bird" and were giggling along with the character Adele, in her aria "The Laughing Song" from Die Fledermaus.  

Being able to perform and lecture at so many different venues made me feel like I got to know the city and its people in a way that I never could have as a tourist. I was able to perform for Non-governmental organizations, a retirement community, at St. Paul's Cathedral, the Oberoi Grand hotel, and the US Consulate, Kolkata. Performing in public connects you with the audience and the city. Experiencing such a variety of settings left me with a deep respect for, and affinity with, Kolkata. 

Their work with non-profit organizations shows a desire to support and uplift the community through the universal art form of music.  

Jennifer Heemstra's talent and inexhaustible spirit, along with the enthusiastic and generous members of the club, have allowed much to be accomplished in one season, fundraising to host six established artists who performed for thousands of people in dozens of venues throughout the city.  

I feel extremely thankful for the opportunity to have been a sponsored performer in the Kolkata Classics Club's first season and it is my sincere hope to return to India again in the future.” 
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Susan Williams, DMA
Associate Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy, University of Alabama
Associate Director of Opera, University of Alabama 
Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan Kolkata, the official German Cultural Institute, supports sustainable, local initiatives from all walks of culture. It is important for us, that these initiatives are rooted within and are conceived for the people of the city and are of great quality. Kolkata Classics’ programmes are exactly that – even though the programmes are initiated by a foreigner, Jennifer Heemstra has managed to involve the local communities to a degree that only few manage to achieve. And taking it a step further, she has very successfully implemented outreach programmes so that a large number of young Kolkatans can experience the so called Western Classical Music – not in a stern, missionary way, but in a joyful, lighter way so that also people who have not yet heard this kind of music will find an entry point and quite playfully learn about a style of music which is very different from Indian Classical music.

​For the Goethe-Institut, understanding somebody’s culture means getting closer to understanding somebody else. This, we feel, is crucial in a globalised world with many conflicts where communication across borders, around the globe is the most important. The power of cultural programmes in this respect cannot be overrated. In this way, Kolkata Classics opens a door to an aspect of culture where Germany has a lot to offer and which over the centuries has been a very important element of the cultures of all European countries, but obviously of many other countries all around the globe.”
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Friso Maecker
Institutsleiter / Director 
​Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan - Kolkata

Awards / Recognition.

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Mexico City, Mexico