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Big Night: Crescendo!

Honoring Michael Buck 

Friday, February 21, 2025  6pm – 10pm

The Geraghty

2520 S Hoyne Ave, Chicago, IL 60608

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Friday, February 21, 2025

6pm – 10pm 

The Geraghty

Enjoy an evening of brilliant student performances, a premier dinner & drinks, inspiring community stories, and an exciting live auction benefitting tuition-free music education!

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At The People’s Music School, we love to see our students grow.

 

Our program guides students along a multi-year journey, along which they build connections with mentors and peers that help them grow into the most creative, confident, and centered versions of themselves. Intensive music education unlocks growth that would be otherwise unseen and amplifies voices that would otherwise go unheard. We surround our students with the tools and support to grow musically, socially, emotionally, and intellectually. And we do it all 100% tuition-free.

That’s why we’re asking for your support for Big Night: Crescendo!, The People’s Music School’s eighth annual Big Night gala. At our biggest night of the year, we will celebrate the journeys of growth our students go on, the mentors who guide them along their path, and the growing impact of our students’ artistry, voices, and achievements.

This year, we are thrilled to be honoring Michael Buck for his contributions to the crescendos of our students and our school. Mike has been a devoted supporter of the organization since 2011 and is a Lifetime Trustee on our Board of Directors. His dedicated Board service spans nearly a decade, and he is the inaugural Chair of TPMS’s newly formed Program Committee. Over his many years of leadership working with the organization, Mike has served as a personal mentor to students and as a volunteer cello instructor at the Albany Park program. Through the generous support of the Buck Family Foundation, TPMS has built curriculum infrastructure to grow our presence on the leading edge of quality music instruction in historically underserved communities. Mike is a constant presence at our student performances, and his deep care for the students and mission of The People’s Music School is evident in every interaction. Our crescendo has been enabled in large part by his leadership and dedication, and we are thrilled to have the opportunity to honor him at Big Night: Crescendo!

We hope you will join The People’s Music School in honoring Mike’s impact and supporting our students’ growth. Your support of our Big Night will enable intensive, tuition-free, after-school music programming and will demonstrate your commitment to a historic, nationally recognized organization on the leading edge of creating life-changing student outcomes through access to intensive music education.

On our Big Night, help our students and our school continue the crescendo. We’ll see you at the Geraghty.

Gratefully,

Miriam Owens
President & CEO, The People's Music School
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Sponsor Big Night: Crescendo!

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Honoring

Michael Buck

Driehaus Capital Management LLC

Lifetime Trustee, The People’s Music School

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Co-Chairs

Ellen Feldman

Board Member, The People’s Music School

Civic leader

Cecilia Torres VanGetson

Board Member, The People’s Music School

Civic leader

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Sponsors

TITLE SPONSOR

Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation

PRESENTING SPONSORS

Perry Family Charitable Foundation

ARTIST'S LEVEL

Ellen & Matt Feldman

Aaron VanGetson & Cecilia Torres VanGetson

FAN CLUB

Anonymous

Bhavanmit Suri and Paul Buchanan

Goldman Sachs

Gary and Carol Hart

Carolyn Jaw and Steve Chertow

Julie and Steven Lopez

Marsh McLennan

Mark Nasr and Kieran Shanahan Nasr

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.

Anthony and Rachel Salazar

Truist

William Blair

Wintrust Bank

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Big Night Media Partner

Meet Our Emcee: Audrina Sinclair

Audrina Sinclair is an Emmy-winning journalist and seasoned storyteller with nearly 15 years of experience in broadcast and digital media. Audrina is an anchor on the CBS Chicago morning news and the station’s streaming service, CBS News Chicago.

Beyond broadcasting, Audrina is a board member of the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, which works to eliminate racism and empower women. She is also a board member of Salt & Light Coalition, a non-profit organization offering a trauma-informed workforce development program for survivors of human trafficking.


We thank Audrina Sinclair for her dedication to serving the community, and we are thrilled to welcome her to Big Night: Crescendo!

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