WASHINGTON, D.C. (MuseWire) – Using 21st Century statecraft to fuse technology and music to bring youth in New York and Mexico City together, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, in partnership with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, will conduct its final virtual concert of this year’s Cultural Exchange initiative on Friday, May 20 at 11:00 a.m. ET.

During this engaging, interactive simulcast, students from five Mexico City high schools and seven New York City high schools will come together virtually with performances by the Celso Duarte Sextet at New York’s Zankel Hall and the Maurice Brown Effect in Mexico City’s Teatro Julio Castillo. In addition, students will perform with the artists on stage.

Through this initiative, students explore music from other cultures through lessons and resources that are incorporated into each participating school’s classroom curriculum. Cultural Exchange’s focus this season is on the music of Mexico. Students in both New York City and Mexico City attend and participate in two interactive, video-conference concerts featuring renowned jazz and Latin music artists.

Participating New York and International Schools for Cultural Exchange: Music of Mexico In New York:

* Baccalaureate School for Global Education – Astoria, NY
* City College Academy of the Arts – New York, NY
* Frank Sinatra School of the Arts – Astoria, NY
* Martin Van Buren High School – Queens Village, NY
* Millennium High School – New York, NY
* Queens Collegiate High School – Jamaica, NY
* Scarsdale High School – Scarsdale, NY

In Mexico City:

* Centro Universitario México – Mexico City, Mexico
* Preparatoria Cuajimalpa – Instituto de Educación Media Superior del Gobierno del Distrito Federal – Mexico City, Mexico
* Preparatoria Iztapalapa – Instituto de Educación Superior del Gobierno del Distrito Federal – Mexico City, MexicoCentro de Educación Artística Diego Rivera (CEDART) – Diego Rivera – Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes – Mexico City, Mexico
* Escuela Nacional de Danza Clásica y Contemporánea – Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes – Mexico City, Mexico.