Roberta Guaspari-Tzavaras

VANITY FAIR NOMINATES

Hall of Fame

BECAUSE 19 years ago, as a single mother, she packed her bags (including 50 violins), moved to East Harlem with her two young boys, and began to teach inner-city children about the magic that happens when a bow meets strings. BECAUSE her lessons soon became so popular that students (roughly 1,200 alumni to date) were chosen by lottery, as parents were won over by one of her strongest themes: When taking up the violin, kids tend to turn away from violence, BECAUSE after her public funding was cut in 1991, "the violin lady" managed to rally virtuosos Itzhak Perlman, Isaac Stern, and Arnold Steinhardt to help rescue her classes, organizing concerts that have since propelled her Harlem charges to Carnegie Hall, the White

House, and Zurich, Switzerland, BECAUSE her program, Opus 118 (named for the block where she lives), still struggles, despite private donations and new backing from the New York City Board of Education, BECAUSE this bighearted disciplinarian insists, "I'm not giving up on these kids. Music deserves a place in their souls." BECAUSE her adopted eight-year-old daughter, El Salvador-born Sophia, is now one of her pupils, BECAUSE her resilience has attracted supporters such as Dave Grusin, Quincy Jones, Madonna, Rod Stewart, and, most recently, Meryl Streep, who plays Guaspari-Tzavaras in Wes Craven's biographical film, Fifty Violins, premiering in July, BECAUSE, fiddle in hand, she perseveres con brio.

KATHARINE MARX