Final Performance Party

Saturday’s Performance Party in Olneyville Square brought to a close a fantastic semester of performances and hard work by Community MusicWorks students. Sebastian handed out certificates to each of the graduating seniors who performed, including Vanessa (violin) who will attend Rhode Island College and Joe (cello) who will attend the University of Rhode Island.

Joe was in the program for about a year and a half, and at seven years, Vanessa was one of the CMW stalwarts who have seen the program develop almost from the beginning. [You can read more about Vanessa in The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine profile found in the Media section of the CMW website.]

Perfparty1 Perfparty2

As is always the case, the end of the year brings both recognition and change to the Community MusicWorks family. Among many people who were recognized and appreciated, Sebastian singled out Sara and Jesse for their five years as Resident Musicians and members of the Providence String Quartet. (Can it really be five years already?) Also, Anne will be leaving CMW at the end of the summer, and she will not be an easy person to replace. As Sebastian told everyone at the Performance Party, Anne was integral to almost all aspects of the program and is responsible for many positive and important developments over the past three years. She will be missed and we wish her well in her next job.

Along with two new fellows TBA, Minna Choi will be re-joining Community MusicWorks after the summer as the coordinator of the new fellowship program and additional violin teacher. Having three new teachers for our tenth season means that we can take 35 students off of our long waiting list, something that we have been looking forward to for several years. Congratulations to Minna for completing her Masters of Violin Performance at The Hartt School of Music this month!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff