Prisons are not usually high on people's lists of places to visit. Often they are places to avoid. But for musician, Eric Genuis, prisons are exactly where he makes most of his concerts.
ERIC GENUIS
Concert pianist and Composer
If you ever want to cry, we can talk about stories of their lives on death row and their lives previous to being incarcerated. And I thought, there's a whole population of people that I have not given a second thought to. And I thought, this is my Carnegie Hall.
Genuis says once he realized the true impact music can have on people's lives, he was determined to bring it to those who society has forgotten or deemed unworthy.
ERIC GENUIS
Concert pianist and Composer
I'm not one of these guys that goes into prisons because I want to entertain them. I want to remind them of their humanity in a way beauty can do.
But when you expose someone to beauty, it bypasses the brain and it cuts right through all the pain. It cuts right to the soul. It cuts through all the history, all the neglect. It cuts through all the betrayal, all the hurt, all the walls.
He has played more than one thousand shows in prisons through this initiative called Concerts for Hope. Many of the prisoners have shared how the concerts have changed them. There's one that left a big impact on Genuis. One man was on the verge of committing suicide because he'd lost all hope.
ERIC GENUIS
Concert pianist and Composer
And so he said, my cellmate said, come and see this concert. He said, I don't want to hear some guy sing Jingle Bells. And he [the cellmate] said, I don't think this guy's going to sing Jingle Bells, you know? So, he [the man] came to the concert and, and he said, you gave me so much hope. He said, I just hung on to that concert for the for the next, for the rest of my sentence. I'm out. You'll never hear from me again. I will do well. And and I just wanted to thank you.
Since 2016, Genuis has been playing these Concerts for Hope around the United States. And he will continue this life mission of helping the imprisoned and marginalized see their dignity and the beauty of life through music.
KG
