About the amplify Series
The Amplify Series commissions composers to set the works of autistic poets who are primarily nonspeaking to music.
Now in its fifth year of commissions, the series has commissioned over 40 writers, composers, and performers and generated over four hours of new music.
Watch performances here, and purchase our debut album, beautiful small things, on ArtistShare here or listen on Spotify:
Amplify Series
The 22-23 Amplify Series performers and composers. From left: Corinne Klein, Matthew Recio, Shane Scott Cook, Florence Mak, Paul Novak, Pauline Tan, Samuel James Dewese, Veena Akama-Makia (not pictured, Eugenia Cheng)
Throughout the years, members of the autistic nonspeaking community have guided LYNX in shaping this project. The Amplify Advisory Council now consists of Luke Burke, Aiden Levy, Mitchell Robins, Rithik Sinhasan, and Darren Stella, all of whom have collaborated as poets and writers for the Amplify Series.
During the pandemic, LYNX presented its first virtual performance of the Amplify Series in 2020, which presented an exciting way to connect with neurodiverse audiences from around the world. The Amplify Series has since continued with virtual and in-person performances.
HISTORY
“I want to see the world not by the whole, but by the all too beautiful small things.”
These words by then-16 year old Ryan Harris, a young man with autism* who is primarily nonspeaking, inspired LYNX’s Amplify Series (formerly Autism Advocacy Series). LYNX was first introduced to Ryan through co-founder Megan Moore and board alumni Katie Masotti via her work with the Cincinnati Rapid Prompting Method (RPM) community. In spring 2015, LYNX approached Ryan with the idea of setting his words to music, which launched the inaugural commissioning cycle, sharing the words of Sameer Dahar, Ryan Harris, Rithik Sinhasan, and Rahul Sivaruban in newly composed art songs.
With each commissioning cycle, LYNX continues to strengthen and deepen its commitment to this community. Now in its fifth season of the Amplify Series, LYNX has commissioned over 40 composers and writers. LYNX is honored to provide a global platform for these voices to shine with the Amplify Anthology print publication and album release, beautiful small things.
*Some of our writers prefer person-first language while others prefer identity-first. We alternate on our website, depending on whom we are talking about and their preferences.
