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STAR OF BROOKLYN: Rita Pihra-Majurinen

July 4, 2013 Editorial Staff

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PERSONAL LIFE: Rita Pihra-Majurinen grew up in Sunset Park. She moved to Bay Ridge in 1989, and found that she loved the neighborhood the diversity, and everything about it. It has a nice village-in-the-city atmosphere. She is married with three children.

An avid lover of music, she said, Music is a 24/7 thing for me. It was after having children and working with children that Pihra-Majurinen decided she would go back to school at Boston University College of Fine Arts, to receive her Master of Music in Music Education.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Pihra-Majurinen founded and has directed the annual Childrens Choral Art Festival For Peace, which is a fundraiser for various causes, for the past few years. This years festival was a fundraiser for Hurricane Sandy relief.

With St. Saviour Catholic Academy and Leif Ericson Day School students, and neighborhood kids participating annually, Pihra-Majurinen is hoping to expand the event so that more children can participate in the future.

She has also coordinated the Art on the Corner event, which is a venue for artists, including musicians and writers, to showcase their work to the public. Everything you can find at Carnegie Hall was right here at 75^th Street and Fourth Avenue, she recalled Theres not a lot of this [type of music exposure] in Brooklyn. Im trying very hard to make the arts accessible [to the neighborhood].

CAREER: Currently, she is the music director at Leif Ericson Day School. She is also the director of music ministry at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, on Fourth Avenue.

PROUDEST ACHIEVEMENT: When asked what she is proud of so far in her career, Pihra-Majurinen said it would have to be helping in building a culture of peace at Leif Ericson Day School, which has been recognized as one of 60 No Place for Hate schools in the New York City area for the 2012-2013 school year. I believe in the power of music, she commented, since it plays a major role in promoting peace.

FUTURE PLANS: Pihra-Majurinen hopes to build up the Childrens Choral Art Festival For Peace. She has made it her goal to build bridges with professionals, so that a harmonious network can be grown for the kids of the neighborhood. Pihra-Majurinen stated, I am a firm believer that music can change the world one person at a time.