World Heart Beat Music Academy, which helps young people realize their musical potential without financial constraints, has opened a second location in southwest London that includes a superb recording studio outfitted with a Solid State Logic ORIGIN 32-channel analogue mixing console. The new commercial production facility, designed by leading U.K. architectural acoustics and studio firm Munro Acoustics, will serve as an economic engine for the charitable organization, which was founded by artistic director Sahana Gero, an accomplished musician and music teacher, in 2009.
Her brother, James Gero, the organization’s CEO, spearheaded the new World Heart Beat at Embassy Gardens, and was responsible for the state-of-the-art build, which also houses a 200-capacity bespoke concert hall that doubles as an impressive live room for recording. The extraordinary connectivity of the building, incorporating over 80 km of fiber optic, Cat 6a and analogue cables, offers artists an array of opportunities.
About 350 students from ages five to 25 receive tuition on traditional and non-traditional instruments at World Heart Beat, which follows a non-exclusive, non-elitist, open admissions policy that ensures that there are no barriers, including financial, to their learning. “We have seven-year-olds playing alongside 17-year-olds,” Cohen says. “And the older ones will help the younger ones learn. It’s a very holistic way of learning music. You don't have to read music; it's just about playing and engaging in the music, but the music is serious and what comes out is really good.”
