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Her fate and that of her fellow musicians hung in the balance in 1991, when the board of education cut funding for arts and music instruction, and Roberta lost her job. In response, she founded the nonprofit Opus 118 Music Center and recruited 14 of the world's top violinists, among them Itzhak Perlman and Isaac Stern, to play Bach's Double Concerto with her and her students on the stage of Carnegie Hall. Together, they raised more than $300,000 to keep violins in the schools of Harlem. The story inspired an Oscar-winning documentary and The Music of My Heart, a Miramax film starring Meryl Streep, to be released in October. "When I first observed Roberta in class, I thought she was very hard on her kids," recalls Streep. "But her rationale was that it's a way of according respect to the discipline."
On a recent Thursday evening, Roberta got her yearly opportunity to demand respect for her students. About 175 empty violin cases were stacked against the walls of the gym at Central Park East I elementary school, and their young owners, ages 5 and up, formed neat rows on the basketball court. They shifted nervously, awaiting their cue to enter the packed auditorium. "When you get onstage, fix your feet and your bows!" yelled Roberta. "Who do you watch? Your mother?"
"No!"
"Your father?"
"No!"
They knew the answer. They followed Roberta onstage, and the crowd went wild.