Welcoming our new Fellows

Community MusicWorks warmly welcomes violinists Carole Bestvater and Aaron McFarlane to Providence to participate in our two-year Fellowship Program for professional musicians.

Carole recently graduated from Brandon University (Manitoba, Canada) with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance.

How did Carole learn about CMW? "A magazine article! A family friend sent an article from The Christian Science Monitor with a post-it note attached reading 'I think this is something Carole would be interested in!' After I read the article about CMW in the West End of Providence, I was so excited about this kind of music, this kind of community! I knew I wanted to be involved in any way possible. I kept my eyes open for things in Canada that resembled the program, but even though there are programs in place all over Canada that cater to inner city youth, I never got the same sense from anything else…"

Learn more about Carole here.

Last year, Aaron was the Director of the Strings Department at the
Mount Kenya Academy in Kenya, the largest program of its type in East
Africa.

What drew Aaron to CMW? "Mostly what drew me to CMW was the sense of community. I came and visited before auditioning because I wasnʼt entirely sure I understood what was happening with the organization. Meeting with members of the Quartet, seeing the office, absorbing Lizʼs enthusiasm, having Sebastian sit and talk with me for literally hours–that visit was pivotal. When I left the office I had no question that CMW was where I wanted to be in September.

Read more about Aaron here.