Audition day for MTA's 'Music Under New York' program
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The MTA held its 34th annual auditions for the MTA's Music Under New York program on Wednesday.
The program presents musical performances in the transit system to help entertain commuters and give musicians a new platform.
The auditions took place at Grand Central Madison, at the LIRR Concourse Level, between 46th and 47th streets.
The more than 20 judges made of of music industry executives and fellow performers were seen swaying to the music and enjoying the entrants' performances.
They will be selecting 25 new acts out of the more than 50 finalists to add to the program.
The performers are judged on quality, variety and appeal to the very diverse public that rides the rails every day.
"We've actually played in the subway quite a bit without any official sanctioning I guess, but we love playing in the subway and to be able to do it in an official capacity under the auspices of the MTA would just be awesome," said Julian Maissel, a musician.
"We're all just in the studio one day and I saw how fast they were making beats because we're all self-produced, self-engineered, and I was like, yo, these guys are super fast and they're good," said Sidarth Ayyagari, a musician.
There are many genres for the judges to choose from like Indian funk, folk guitar and harmonica, salsa, reggae, and R&B among others.
Once selected, the musicians are eligible to perform in 40 locations throughout the transit system.
The MTA program started as a pilot back in 1985.
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