We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Donna Viscuso. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Donna below.

Donna , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I have done is collaborating with dancers. I think collaboration is extremely important.

Donna , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a female Saxophone, Flute, player as well as a composer. I have been performing and writing music for at least 30 years. I play various styles of music but I am most comfortable with jazz. Right now I lead a chamber jazz ensemble called the.41Street Ensemble. It’s instrumentation. combines elements of jazz and classical music through our compositions and instrumentation. We have three classically trained musicians performing with two jazz trained musicians. The classical musicians perform on cello, violin, and harp and we have jazz saxophone and flute. One of my most proud projects has been collaborating with a wonderful dance troupe in New York City. Since the 41Street ensemble is based in California, it brought two disciplines from two different coasts together and we created a beautiful work

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

One of the most rewarding aspects of being a musician/teacher is bringing joy and happiness to people and to encourage students to find that passion within themselves. Also, when playing a performance, it feels very rewarding when I connect with the audience and feel like they are completely connected with the music

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being a female saxophonist/flutist/composer, I’ve traveled with various groups. At one point, I was in a seven piece, all female world, music band. We performed throughout the country at festivals, clubs, etc. we constantly had to prove ourselves, not just be as good but better than most male bands that shared the same stage. One time we played a concert and the sound person came up to us after the show and said, “if I knew you all were this good I would have brought my good gear”. we just kept on with doing what we did and the reward was to see lots of young girls, and also boys, see seven women on stage playing drums, saxophone, keyboard, etc..and feel inspired.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.41streetensemble.com
• Facebook: 41Street ensemble
• Other: Our music can be found on iTunes and Spotify

Image Credits

Photographers personal photo,Nina Galicheva
Additional photos Hugh Lovell