Notes on Being: When a Symphony Concert Becomes a Mindfulness Practice
Created in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, Notes on Being reimagines the classical concert as a space for presence, reflection, and communal grounding. Pay what you wish. December 15 at New World Center.
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The standard classical concert asks a specific thing of its audience: sit still, stay quiet, applaud at the right moments, and above all, do not disturb the performance. Notes on Being asks something different. It asks you to arrive with your body, not just your ears. To notice what you are feeling before the music starts, during it, and after. To treat the concert hall not as a place where you receive culture but as a space where you might, briefly, come back to yourself.
The concert is a New World Symphony BLUE Project — conceived and produced by NWS Fellows — and it was created in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, which has been developing well-being concert models for several years. The premise is straightforward: classical music, when experienced with intention and without the usual performance anxiety of the concert hall, can function as a genuine mindfulness practice. The research behind this is substantial. Music affects heart rate, cortisol levels, and the nervous system in measurable ways. Notes on Being is designed to make those effects conscious rather than incidental.
The event takes place in the New World Center's Truist Pavilion — an intimate space that seats far fewer people than the main hall, and that lends itself to the kind of close, attentive listening the program requires. There are no formal expectations about how to sit or when to respond. The Fellows who perform have been trained not just in the music but in the facilitation of the experience — how to create space for reflection, how to invite presence without demanding it.
The pay-what-you-wish pricing — suggested $10 — is part of the design. Notes on Being is not a premium wellness experience for people who can afford a spa day. It is a public offering, available to anyone who wants it. Miami is one of a small number of cities where this model is being tested, and the results will inform how Carnegie Hall and NWS develop the program going forward.
Notes on Being is mentored by Gianna Riccardi and Liz Platt. It takes place Tuesday, December 15, 2026 at 7:30 PM at New World Center, Truist Pavilion, 500 17th Street, Miami Beach. Pay what you wish — suggested price $10. Tickets at nws.edu.
The PGM Edit
Created in partnership with Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, Notes on Being reimagines the classical concert as a space for presence, reflection, and communal grounding. Pay what you wish. December 15 at New World Center.
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