Enjoy this slideshow of our recent and very cool collaboration with Ken Ueno.

CMW cellists performed Sunday, May 17th at CityFarm’s annual plant sale. Every student received a plant, pot and soil as a thank you from City Farm’s Steward, Rich Pederson.

In case you missed this event from Saturday, here’s a lovely video from CMW’s YouTube page with highlights from our commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the events of the Civil Rights Act. Many folks gathered at the Southside Cultural Center to celebrate this collaboration with the Rhode Island Black Storytellers that featured the CMW Players with Daniel Bernard Roumain, along with a newly commissioned piece by Jessie Montgomery.

The theme flows nicely into our End of Year Gala Performance!

Join us in celebrating our students’ accomplishments as they perform for our year end gala in the fabulous Columbus Theatre. Our all-student CMW Symphony will celebrate “Voices of Civil Rights”, and we’ll also honor graduating seniors and fellows.

From the BBC news:

Eight years ago, one of Europe’s best-known orchestras moved their rehearsal rooms to a secondary school on this housing estate and pupils from Tenever found themselves sharing their corridors and lunch tables with professional musicians.

Since then the school’s results have improved, its drop-out rates have fallen to less than 1% and the atmosphere in the wider neighbourhood has been “transformed”, according to Joachim Barloschky, a local official who oversaw a programme of renovation and regeneration in the area.

Read the full piece here.

“I believe that musicians who play an instrument should know that first and foremost, your own body is still your primary instrument!”

Catch up with Fellowship Program graduate Arlyn Thobaben (her married name, we knew her as Arlyn Valencia), violin/viola (2007-2009), in this interview that recounts her transition from performing artist to healthcare professional.

Read Arlyn’s full interview here.