A New York City violinist is playing until his fingers bleed, all for a good cause.
Andrei Matorin has been entertaining at Esther & Carol on the Lower East Side nonstop since 7 p.m. Tuesday, and he’ll keep playing until 11 p.m. Wednesday. The goal? To raise money for Syrian refugees.
Matorin’s marathon performance – a total of 100,000 seconds – is in concert with New York-based nonprofit Peace Accelerators to raise money for its Farms Not Arms program, which teaches Syrian refugees in Beirut’s Shatila Refugee Camp how to use state-of-the-art sustainable farming technology.
“My mission with this performance is to draw attention to significant world issues of violence and hunger while exploring the ephemeral nature of improvisation, questioning our standards of beauty and aesthetics, and challenging the significance we place on numbers and milestones,” Matorin said ahead of his performance.
But this isn’t just a one-man show. Guest performers are accompanying Matorin along his nearly 28-hour musical journey, including Fernando Otero, a fellow New Yorker and Grammy Award winner, and American Beatboxing champion Mark Martin.
Matorin began playing professionally at the age of 15 and has performed at several iconic New York City venues, including Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art.
All proceeds from the event will be donated to the Farms Not Arms initiative. Tickets are still available for the event and can be purchased online or at the door, or you can check out the action via a livestream.
