Students from New York University's Washington Square campus will be joined by members of NYU Abu Dhabi's inaugural class of 2014 to perform original student compositions for a master class — despite being separated by some 7,000 miles. The performance is a highlight of the ResoNations Education Session, a component of the Innovation Talks Symposium III at United Nations Headquarters on December 2 and 3. The event brings together the arts and UN communities to make practical contributions to UN peace-building efforts.

Using emerging telematic music technology, which allows for real-time performance by musicians in different geographic locations, the student musicians will participate in the class and perform together via high-bandwith Internet and high-definition video. The student musicians will interact in real-time with professional musicians, including Mark Dresser, bassist and composer, and Min Xiao-Fen, pipa and composer, in Abu Dhabi and UN Headquarters in New York.

The ResoNations Education Session, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, will take place on Thursday, December 2 from 9am to 12pm, EST. The Innovation Talks Symposium III is presented by the World Association of Former United Nations Internes and Fellows (WAFUNIF).

The two-day conference will culminate Friday, December 3 at 9pm EST with a special concert by musicians in three different locations performing as one ensemble. The musicians will simultaneously perform at UN Headquarters in New York; in Beijing, China; and in Seoul, South Korea. "ResoNations 2010: An International Telematic Music Concert for Peace" will feature premieres of original compositions for peace by Sarah Weaver (USA), Min Xiao-Fen (China), and Yoon Jeong Heo (Korea).

"ResoNations means 'to resonate nations'," said Weaver, a graduate student in music technology at NYU's Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, as well as music and technology advisor to Arts for Peace of WAFUNIF, and the performance's conductor. "Our aim is engage the role of the arts in international peace-building through new compositions within the innovative telematic music medium. In telematic music we are in real-time and also real-space, which transcends geographic distance and utilizes the music itself as a vehicle for peace. The works of both the ResoNations concert and education session are apropos and deeply transformative."

"Working with my fellow students in New York, and seeing all of these ideas come together, has been an incredibly exciting process," said cellist Charlotte Wang (USA), a member of NYUAD's inaugural class of 2014. "The idea that as a freshman at NYU Abu Dhabi, I'm able to perform with these really talented musicians at NYU New York, over the Internet, from 7,000 miles away, for an event at the United Nations, just astonishes me."

"The ability to work and share information with people across the world has already resulted with a beautiful collaborative experience between all of us," said violinist Patti Killroy (USA), a Steinhardt graduate student. "The most exciting aspect was that I had the opportunity to share who I am with my fellow students, and learn about them in turn."

The two-day symposium, "Real-Time Interaction via Internet Technologies: Meeting Development Goals, Enhancing Potentialities and Implementing Access," is presented in conjunction with the UN International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures and includes delegates from the UN institutions and experts from the professional fields for a series of panels on cutting-edge Internet technologies and their applications in the arts, education, and healthcare. NYU Vice Provost for Globalization and Multicultural Affairs Ulrich Baer played an instrumental role in the development of the symposium and will lead a session on global higher education.