About

About

Contact: Isabel Soffer at Isabel@livesounds.org

Live Sounds, founded by Isabel Soffer in 2011, produces, creates and curates international music and dance programs in New York and across the country. Devoted to preserving and cultivating innovative, thought-provoking traditional and contemporary performing arts from around the world to build bridges and engage audiences and communities. Live Sounds projects promote cultural understanding and appreciation for global traditions while supporting and preserving artists and their art forms.

Isabel has been at the forefront of global music programming in the USA for over 25 years. She has developed, curated and produced influential music festivals, tours, symposia, grammy-nominated recordings, film festivals and gallery exhibits. She regularly collaborates with international cultural institutions on a variety of projects in the US and abroad and serves on numerous local and international conference panels and juries.

She is host of the weekly radio show ForeignExchange on LittleWaterRadio.com

Live Sounds curates and produces the renowned global music series Live@365 at Elebash Hall at The Graduate Center as part of the Department of Public Programs; Global Sounds at The Schimmel Center for the Performing Arts at Pace University.; groundbreaking projects at Arts Brookfield including The Transcendent Arts of Asia: Tibet and India and several editions of The Global Beat. Live Sounds has many ongoing many projects and collaborations with cultural institutions and festivals including the Hollywood Bowl, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Make Music NY and others.

Isabel is co-founder and co-director of globalFEST a 501c3 non profit organization serving the world music community since 2003. Over the last thirteen years, globalFEST (gF) has become one of the most dynamic global music platforms in North America, growing from an acclaimed festival/showcase into a catalytic organization serving curators, artists, and the performing arts field. globalFEST’s mission aims to move international music into the center of the performing arts field as a means to break down cultural and social boundaries between diverse people and to create ongoing opportunities for artists, presenters and the broader arts field.

globalFEST’s annual groundbreaking 1-night, 3-stage, 12-band world music festival that coincides with the annual Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference has become one of the US’s most anticipated and diverse cultural events and an essential catalyst for the world music field in North America launching the careers of over one hundred international and local artists. gF runs a touring fund (gFTF) for alumni artists and curates for a variety of stages and special events creating new opportunities for world music artists and supporting diverse programming in the performing arts field and beyond. gF is a service organization for the presenting field and a year-round resource for curators, global music artists, and the live music industry as a whole.