Lord Nelson and Count Chocula supervise Jesse’s Sunday practice session.

Last Friday, Jessie Montgomery’s husband Jumaane Smith brought a couple of friends to town from the Big Apple for a Musical Workshop at the Met School. Two of the afternoon’s highlights were James Marcil joining the guests for a number on electric guitar and the entire assembled group of CMW students and teachers providing a 12-bar groove for Jumaane & Company to solo above, as parents and friends watched and tapped their toes in approval.

It is the Monday following the annual Chamber Music America conference and the Providence String Quartet’s successful journey to perform Franz Schubert’s exquisite Cello Quintet in New York City. As good a day as any to begin a reasonable attempt at compiling the stories and images of the day-to-day successes and challenges that the Providence Quartet faces while building its permanent home in Providence, Rhode Island.