Classical Movements

Previously known as Blue Heart Travel, Inc, the company was established in October 1992 by Neeta Helms and Jacques Vallerand-Parisi with a base in Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. The company began with tours to Russia and Ukraine one year after the Soviet Union fell and soon added destinations such as Croatia, Eastern Europe, Turkey, South Africa, and Cuba.{{cite news|last1=Yenckel|first1=James T.|title=Russia: Braving a Budget Package Tour of Moscow and St. Petersburg: Just What Do You Get for Your Money?|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/travel/1993/05/16/russia-braving-a-budget-package-tour-of-moscow-and-st-petersburg-just-what-do-you-get-for-your-money/aeff0e08-36c3-472f-8f1c-635fc774a087/|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=30 September 2017}}Dunbar-Curran, Terri

(5 August 2010). [https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-233611613 "Singing that nourishes body and soul"]. Cape Times {{subscription required}}

Since 1997, Classical Movements has been based in Alexandria, Virginia.{{cite web|last1=Ruhe|first1=Shirley|title=People At Work: Classical Movements Practices 24-hour Music Diplomacy|url=http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/news/2017/sep/11/people-work-classical-movements-practices-24-hour-/|website=Alexandria Gazette|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

In 2014, Americans for the Arts, an arts advocacy organization in the United States, awarded Classical Movements the BCA10: Best Businesses Partnering with the Arts in America.{{cite web|title=BCA 10 Winners|url=http://www.americansforthearts.org/events/bca-10/bca-10-archive/bca-10-winners|website=Americans for the Arts|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

• President (1992 - 2008): Jacques Vallerand-Parisi
• President (2008–present): Neeta Helms

File:United States Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela.jpg

Classical Movements has been involved in numerous cultural diplomacy events.

A year after its founding, in 1993, Classical Movements took the Choral Arts Society of Washington on tour to Moscow, Russia with the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich. This concert marked the first time any event other than a military parade had taken place in the Red Square. Among the audience of 100,000 was President Boris Yeltsin as millions more watched and listened worldwide to the live broadcast.{{cite news|last1=Midgette|first1=Anne|title=Inside the NSO's grand return to Russia|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/inside-the-nsos-grand-return-to-russia/2017/04/07/5c309112-1900-11e7-8003-f55b4c1cfae2_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

Classical Movements began touring to South Africa in 1994 shortly after apartheid was abolished and Nelson Mandela was elected president.{{cite web|title=TRAVEL ADVISORY; Seeing South Africa: A Choice of Tours|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/22/travel/travel-advisory-seeing-south-africa-a-choice-of-tours.html|website=The New York Times|accessdate=30 September 2017}}

In 1995, Classical Movements became the first American company to offer tours in Croatia after the end of the Croat–Bosniak War, as well as in China becoming one of the first travel companies in the country following the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square, and in Vietnam following the new United States Embassy in Hanoi.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}}

Several years later in 2003, the United States Department of State and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts invited the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra to perform in Washington, alongside Leonard Slatkin's National Symphony Orchestra. Classical Movements arranged for the Iraqi musicians' travel from Baghdad.{{cite web|last1=Horvath|first1=Janet|title=Classical Movements II "Moving the Music; Changing the World"|url=http://www.interlude.hk/front/classical-movements-ii-moving-music-changing-world/|website=Interlude|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

According to its president Neeta Helms, Classical Movements worked for Google in 2009 to arrange all the travel and logistics for the debut of the YouTube Symphony Orchestra, where musicians from across the globe electronically met to perform at Carnegie Hall. In 2011, there was a reprise at the Sydney Opera House.{{cite web|last1=Sardana|first1=Nikhil|title=Neeta Helms, Founder and President – Classical Movements|url=https://serenademagazine.com/interviews/neeta-helms-founder-president-classical-movements|website=Serenade Magazine|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

In 2010, Classical Movements arranged the travel for the first joint concert for American and Cuban choirs in Havana on the 4th of July.{{cite web|title=U.S. Ladies Choir Charms Cuban Audiences|url=http://havanareporternews.com/culture/us-ladies-choir-charms-charms-cuban-audiences.html|website=The Havana Reporter|accessdate=25 September 2017}} Later in 2015 the company arranged a Cuban tour with Minnesota Orchestra despite there being no official diplomatic ties yet between the United States and Cuba.{{cite web|last1=Cooper|first1=Michael|title=Minnesota Orchestra's Cuba Trip Puts It at the Cultural Vanguard|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/arts/music/minnesota-orchestras-cuba-trip-puts-it-at-the-cultural-vanguard.html?mcubz=3&_r=0|website=The New York Times|accessdate=30 September 2017}}

Classical Movements was also involved in the official United States memorial service for Nelson Mandela at Washington National Cathedral in 2013 where on behalf of the South African Ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, they invited original Ihlombe! participants Morgan State University Choir and Pacific Boychoir.{{cite web|last1=Smith|first1=Tim|title=Morgan State University Choir to perform at Mandela service in D.C., streamed online|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/2013/12/11/morgan-state-university-choir-to-perform-at-mandela-service-in-dc-streamed-online/|website=Baltimore Sun|access-date=25 September 2017}}

Classical Movements organizes more than 200 concerts on 60 tours each season in 145 countries.{{cite news|last1=Heath|first1=Thomas|title=s Alexandria firm moves the music around the world|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/alexandria-firm-moves-the-music-around-the-world/2013/09/15/f75e0548-1a26-11e3-a628-7e6dde8f889d_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|accessdate=25 September 2017}}

Classical Movements currently owns and produces two annual international choral festivals and a young artists music festival.

• Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival (since 2009) is the largest choral gathering in South Africa{{cite web | url=http://www.capetownmagazine.com/events/Ihlombe-South-African-Choral-Festival-/2009-07-18/11_37_13554 | title=Ihlombe South African Choral Festival | publisher=Cape Town Magazine | accessdate=26 June 2012}} and is hosted in Cape Town, Pretoria, Johannesburg, and Soweto. Concerts include 10-20 South African choirs, workshops, African drumming, and dancing.{{cite journal | journal=International Choral Bulletin | url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/58699984/Icb-Format-Ok |title=Festivals and Competitions |volume=30 | number=2 | pages=84}}
• Serenade! Washington, DC Choral Festival (since 2011) features cultural and musical exchanges with national and international choirs with outreach events, workshops, and performances. Venues have included John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Strathmore Music Center, George Washington Masonic National Memorial, and New York Avenue Presbyterian Church.{{cite web|title=Serenade! Washington DC Choral Festival|url=http://www.classicalmovements.com/dc.htm|publisher=Classical Movements}}
• Prague Summer Nights: Young Artists Music Festival (since 2015) is a 30-day program for singers and instrumentalists to receive professional performance training and experiences. The vocalists are mentored by a professional faculty of musicians who hold positions at major universities and conservatories or have major performing careers. It includes fully staged opera, directed by the operatic baritone Sherrill Milnes, as well as orchestral concerts, chamber music, solo recitals, and cabaret performed in historic halls in Tábor, Prague, and Salzburg.

Since founding the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program in 2005, Classical Movements has commissioned composers from 20 different countries to create more than 50 new works. Named after Neeta Helms’s late father, the Eric Daniel Helms New Music Program encourages international collaboration. Alumni include American John Corigliano, Chinese-American Bright Sheng, and Cuban Tania León among many others of numerous nationalities. Altogether the composers in the program have won 5 Grammys, 4 Pulitzers, 1 Oscar, and 1 MacArthur.

In 2017, the Syrian composer Kinan Azmeh became Classical Movements' first Composer-in-Residence.{{cite news | url=https://www.exeter.edu/news/syrian-musician-kinan-azmeh-visits-campus | title=Syrian Musician Kinan Azmeh Visits Campus | work=Exeter Bulletin | author=Genny Beckman Moriarty | date=2017-04-20 | accessdate=2017-10-17 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171018072342/https://www.exeter.edu/news/syrian-musician-kinan-azmeh-visits-campus | archive-date=2017-10-18 | url-status=dead }}

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|http://www.classicalmovements.com/}}
• [http://www.praguesummernights.com/ Prague Summer Nights]
• [http://www.classicalmovements.com/dc.htm Serenade! Washington, D.C. Choral Festival]
• [http://www.classicalmovements.com/s_af.htm Ihlombe! South African Choral Festival]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120426070535/http://www1.classicfm.co.za/shows/people-of-note/podcasts/people-of-note-with-richard-cock-neeta-helms-president-of-classical-movements-1 Audio file: People of Note with Richard Cock & Neeta Helms, President of Classical Movements] broadcast on Classic FM (South Africa), 10 August 2010

Category:Companies based in Alexandria, Virginia

Category:Entertainment companies established in 1992

Category:Event management companies of the United States

Category:1992 establishments in Washington, D.C.