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2010… what an amazing year at CMW!

A look back at some of the year's exciting moments captured in photos and video.

January:
Media Lab activities begin, including classes and open hours.
Medialab
February: new 5-year Strategic Plan approved
February: IKEA rejuvenates CMW's seminar room (with help from Chloe and Liz)
Seminarroom
March: Phase III performs at the State House during Arts Advocacy Day
Statehouse
March: St. Lawrence String Quartet residency
Slsq
April: Youth Salon, including this Phase II jam with Jessie Montgomery
Youthsalon
May: Providence Youth Arts Collaborative's first Youth Arts Day
Youthartsday
May: Kim Kashkashian residency
Kashkashian
June: Adrienne and Jason complete CMW's Fellowship Program
Fellows
June: Congratulations to our graduating seniors!
June: 18-month participatory evaluation website goes live
July: CMW summer camp in Wickford
Camp
August: CMW staff refuel through summer adventures
September: Sebastian wins a MacArthur!
Sebastian
October: CMW receives national youth arts award!
Obama
October: CMW takes Anthem to DC for three performances
Anthem
October: Celebratory Traffic Jam at 1392 Westminster!
Trafficjam
November: 10-day Bach Festival throughout Providence
Bach
December: PSQ performs Samuel Barber's String Quartet
Barber
December: We all say a big "thank you!" to our families, friends, and supporters for making 2010 so memorable. We're looking forward to creating more memories in 2011!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Anthem in DC (Video I)


In mid-October, 25 students and their teachers traveled to Washington, DC to perform Anthem on the National Mall and in two other locations. To get a sense of the full story, you can view our collection of Anthem-related updates posted to this blog by starting here and working your way forward through the month of October. Also, click here to see a 3-minute companion video featuring CMW student voices.

Inspired by what you see? We are relying on you, our community of friends and supporters, to keep the music coming in 2011. Please click here to make a donation in any amount.

Anthem lyrics by Kirby Vasquez

Of the people, By the people, For the people
We are the future of the United States!
Power, freedom, understanding and now change,
Join hands to turn a new page.

Work together, build together, stand together
We live the dream of our forefathers today.
As we walk we make a pledge to march ahead
We prove what Doctor King once said.

For we now have a sense of pride above all,
We stand tall,
We stand tall…

Keep our spirits high because we will fly.
No matter who we are as one we will rise.
No matter our age, our color, or race.
There are still similarities in the problems we face.

We’ve seen the same suffering and sorrow,
But we still make our way to a better tomorrow.
And though we’ve seen it all, we refuse to fall.

So keep our spirits high because we will fly.
Through all the pain and tears, we move on by.

When once the road wasn’t clear,
We now make our way without fear
For we are the future of the United States.
What was once our goals, now become our fate

This is our American Dream.
To make the world safe from hypocrisy,
Like an unstoppable team.

So come on, this is our destiny,
Our moment to be.
Hold a sense of pride above all,
Stand tall.
For together, we will never fall.

Keep our spirits high, because we will fly.

Eric Rosenblith (1920-2010)

Community MusicWorks mourns the passing of Eric Rosenblith, master pedague and respected performer, and director of the string department at the New England Conservatory of Music for 25 years. Closer to home, he was also an important teacher and mentor for both Minna and Sebastian for more than a decade.

Rosenblith2

Rosenblith1
"He took the long view of where people would grow as musicians… He would just keep influencing them, sometimes over the course of an entire lifetime. For him, teaching was not an activity; it was a way of being in the world."
Continue reading Mr. Rosenblith's obituary here.

Listen to Mr. Rosenblith interviewed by Christopher Lydon in 2000 here.

Holiday Tour

One of my cello classes and the beginning ensemble took a Holiday Tour on Saturday, stopping at Amos House, St. Elizabeth Place, and two downtown hotel lobbies.

Sara2

Sara1

Sara3
-Sara Stalnaker, PSQ

Quartet Project featured

Longtime CMW collaborator Geoff Hudson's Quartet Project was featured in the most recent issue of Chamber Music, a publication of Chamber Music America.

Student_quartet

Easy contemporary music for string quartet—a gap in the repertoire. Geoffrey Hudson, an American composer, has begun to fill it by writing pieces that progress in difficulty. He hopes to offer “a new entry point into chamber music,” he says, “that grapples with the music of our time.”

Most of his quartets are short, witty, instructive pieces, contemporary in their rhythms and harmonies. Hudson hopes to publish six volumes, titled the “Quartet Project,” in the fall of 2011. He envisions each volume containing 20 miniatures and one full-length work.

“I’m enough of an old fuddy-duddy,” says Hudson, “to think that kids today need to broaden their communication skills. I would have quit the cello long ago if I hadn’t started playing with other people. If you learn three chords on a guitar, you can play in a band with your friends. Rock music is so satisfying that way, with no authority figure telling you what’s right or wrong.”

Download the entire article by Katherine Millett here. View a December 2008 post about CMW's involvement in the Quartet Project here.

St. Lawrence String Quartet residency

In March 2010, the internationally renowned St. Lawrence String Quartet visited CMW and shared a concert with the PSQ and Fellows. Here is a video of Jesse and Sara sharing the stage at the West End gym with violinist Scott St. John and violist Lesley Robertson.

Thanks to Jori's documentation skills, you can now reclaim a piece of the excitement of those two days through both photos and video found here on CMW's website.