America's Got Talent finalists inspire young musicians following performance at Kean University

America’s Got Talent finalists inspire young musicians following performance at Kean University
Students from Hillside and East Orange music schools were guests of Kean Stage

UNION, N.J. –– Sons of Serendip, a musical group of four friends who were named finalists on America’s Got Talent in 2014, engaged and inspired young musicians from two local schools following their performance at Kean University's Gene & Shelley Enlow Recital Hall on April 10.

As part of the University’s ongoing community outreach, Kean Stage invited students, ages 4-18, from the Cicely L. Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts in East Orange and the Institute of Music for Children (IMC) in Hillside to the performance. Afterward, the students were given a unique opportunity to ask the artists about such topics as their music and training.

"Kean Stage, as a presenter of world-class performances, has a responsibility to make our arts programming accessible to our neighboring communities. The arts has to be inclusive in order to build social and intellectual connections,” said Steve Cochran, Manager of Kean Stage. "Being able to bring the Cicely L. Tyson School and the Institute of Music to our performances is just a stepping stone whereby these young students can creatively collaborate, build on their passion for the arts and learn from professionals. As Sons of Serendip’s harpist Mason Morton told the audience, ‘with hard work, dreams can come true.’”

For 14-year-old Kayla Richardson from IMC, dreams did come true as she asked to sing with the gentlemen; Sons of Serendip’s Micah Christian and Kendall Ramseur joined her for a moving rendition of Amazing Grace in the theater’s lobby "to nary a dry eye," Cochran said.