Lydia Kontos continually demonstrates her commitment to music education. Since becoming the Executive Director of the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center in 1985, she has significantly raised the visibility of the Center’s Lucy Moses School, and has been a leading supporter of community arts schools through her involvement as a trustee of the National Guild of Community Schools of the Arts. In 1996, Ms. Kontos established the Special Music School, a public/private partnership between the Kaufman Center and the New York City Board of Education. Modeled on the innovative special music schools of the former Soviet Union, the Special Music School is the first public school in the United States that combines a pre-conservatory level music education with a full academic curriculum within the regular school day. In the 2001-2002 school year, its enrollment comprises 105 students in grades K through 6. Students of the Special Music School pay no tuition—the academic portion is provided by the New York City Board of Education, and each student receives a full scholarship from the Kaufman Center to fund the musical training. While the music program is clearly an essential element of the School, Special Music School students benefit from a very strong academic program that emphasizes problem solving and creative thinking. Test scores measuring the performance of the New York City Public Schools have ranked The Special Music School #1 in both reading and mathematics.
     Ms. Kontos received her B.A. in Anthropology from Hunter College, undertook additional studies at Merton College of Oxford University and the Catholic University of Milan and pursued an M.S. in Nonprofit Management at New York University. She was a teacher at the Garden School, a private college preparatory school where she later served on the Board of Trustees, and she taught arts administration at SUNY Purchase. Ms. Kontos serves on the Governing Board of the American Society for Jewish Music.
     During her tenure at the helm of the Kaufman Center, Merkin Hall has become known as one of the foremost presenters of contemporary music with its Zoom: Composers Close Up and New Sounds® Live at Merkin Hall series, as well as the 2000-2001 triumphant collaboration with The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, A Great Day in New York: A Celebration of New York’s Living Composers. Merkin Hall has been the recipient of numerous ASCAP/Chamber Music America awards for Adventurous Programming, most recently in 2002.