Although Yasmine and Celeste had been attending the same conservatory for years, they didn’t officially meet until starting the application process for the 2024 Fulbright Scholarship in the spring of 2023. During a summer boot camp program, Yasmine and Celeste were put into the same small group for peer editing. As they worked on their respective projects over the summer, Yasmine and Celeste learned more about each other’s backgrounds and goals for the future. The two felt very passionate about their rich cultural heritages and creating more room for diverse representation within the classical music space. They dedicated themselves to engaging in mutual understanding between Jewish and North African/Middle Eastern cultures.

However, after the events on October 7th, 2023, that goal seemed unattainable. The biased sympathy of victims flooded social media, our country, and the hearts of people all around the world. In an effort to combat selective humanity, Yasmine and Celeste came together to curate a cross-cultural recital highlighting Jewish, Middle Eastern, and North African cultures – sans politics. Music dismantles barriers and opens hearts, paving the way to achieve mutual understanding between cultures, and in turn, ending racism and selective humanity.