Tricia Tunstall

Sr. Specialist, Knowledge Production

FOCUS: curiosity & Learning

Tricia Tunstall (she/her) serves as the Sr. Specialist for Knowledge Production with a focus on curiosity and learning. In this role, she contributes to specific projects within Creative Generation’s portfolio.

Tricia is a leading advocate for the seminal importance of high-quality music education for all children. Her most recent book is Playing for Their Lives: The Global El Sistema Movement for Social Change Through Music (co-authored with Eric Booth; W.W. Norton 2016).  A definitive survey of the worldwide El Sistema movement, Playing for Their Lives provides vivid accounts of significant youth ensemble programs around the world, and is grounded in research in over 25 countries.

Her previous book, Changing Lives: Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema, and the Transformative Power of Music (W.W. Norton, 2012), won a 2013 ASCAP Award and the 2016 Prix Des Muses in France. Changing Lives has been published in six languages and has helped catalyze the global movement for social change through music. 

Tunstall is the co-founder and advisory editor of The Ensemble, the foremost communications hub for the international field of music education for social impact.  She is a frequent speaker and consultant in the field. In her home state, she has led the formation of the El Sistema New Jersey Alliance, the first U.S. statewide alliance of El Sistema-inspired programs.

Also the author of Note By Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson (Simon & Schuster, 2008), she is a lifelong music educator and writer.  A graduate of Yale University, Columbia University, and Boston University, she has combined her career as a writer with her work as a music educator at every level, from public school general music to college music history.  She currently maintains a piano studio in New Jersey. 

Location: Maplewood, NJ, USA