bold idea
Empower children by showing them the pride of individual accomplishment and the joy of the creative spirit.
organization overview
MELODY (no longer operational) brings the joy of music to children (age 7-13) in group homes throughout Washington, D.C. After an opening concert by MELODY teachers, children choose their instrument, learn to play over months and years, and then perform in concerts themselves. Through MELODY, children learn the pride of individual accomplishment and the joy of the creative spirit.
Personal Bio
Ilann is a composer, writer, pianist, civil rights lawyer, commentator, and partner at one of the leading civil rights firms in the country. He studied piano at the Cleveland Institute. Ilann also founded MELODY, a non-profit that shared the joy of music with abused and neglected children in Washington, D.C. He then went to law school to become a civil rights lawyer.
After graduating from Harvard and the University of Michigan Law School, Ilann joined a small, new civil rights law firm in New York City, now one of the most prestigious in the country. He has defended the powerless: people with disabilities, children bullied in school, employees who face discrimination, victims of police shootings, prison abuse, and wrongful convictions.
Ilann continues to practice law and perform as pianist. Inspired by a class action case his firm brought against the National Security Agency, he wrote and composed the musical, PATRIOT, which won first prize at the MUT International Musical Theatre Competition in Munich, Germany in 2016. Ilann lives with his family in New York City.
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