This June, Community MusicWorks is pleased and proud to present the Ninth Annual Senior Gala (watch it online here!) where our graduates played their final performance pieces and teachers, friends, and families payed tribute to Vanessa, Dravy, Roma, Rupert, Cecily, Gaby, Frankie, Sophia-Joy, and Zoe.
Take a moment to meet our fabulous 2021 graduating seniors!
Vanessa is a multi-instrumentalist who has been learning violin at CMW for 5 years. “I know that music is going to stay a huge part of my life,” she says, “singing, piano, and violin are all things that I’m going to keep with me because I don’t know how I would ever function without music.” Vanessa particularly enjoyed the community of Phase II inside of the wider CMW community, saying “We have really great discussions. I’ve met so many people and talked to so many people, I just think it’s beautiful what has been created here.” Vanessa will attend the URI School of Pharmacy in the fall.
Roma has been part of the CMW family for ten years. “I think I grew up in the program. For the first few years it was like my little family and then when I got older I was able to participate in different aspects of the program.” In addition to being a violin student, Roma has brought so much to the CMW community by participating as a mentor, Phase II and board member. Roma will be attending Bard College in New York. “I’m really excited to be going off on my own path but I’m going to miss CMW a lot.”
Dravy, a cellist, has been part of the CMW community for four years. “Why I love CMW so much,” he says, “is that anyone can go here and play an instrument, learn from it, grow from it.” Dravy will be continuing his cello studies at the University of Maine, where he’ll major in electrical engineering. “My big, big dream is to put my mind towards the future of technology. I want to help create the future of our generation.” Dravy worked hard in preparing his final senior performance, saying “one of my favorite CMW moments is when I learn something new or challenging and I finally accomplish it.”
Rupert has been taking violin lessons at CMW for seven years. “CMW is a program that brings communities all together by playing music all in harmony and sets the mood to bring people together as a community.” Rupert shares a CMW story that he recounts as “one of the greatest experiences of my life,” so you won’t want to miss that memory captured in our Gala presentation! After graduation, Rupert plans to enlist in one of the armed forces.
Cecily joined CMW as a violinist 5 years ago and found in the program a way to reconnect with her community and make new friends. “It was a really welcoming environment for me and shaped who I am socially in a really good way.” Cecily plans to attend Bennington College in Vermont after a gap year in which she’ll explore musical endeavors and her visual art (her pottery is spotlighted in Tuesday’s performance, which also features her guitar playing!) while looking for ways to give back to her community. “Thank you just about sums it up for me.”
Gaby has been participating in CMW programming for over 9 years. Her teacher, Jesse Holstein, says that Gaby has been a powerful and inspiring example of intrinsic motivation as she prepared for the senior performance she’ll share in Tuesday’s Gala. “She has grown tremendously as an artist and as a violist, and every lesson this year has been a voyage of discovery and progress.” Gaby will go on to study criminal justice at either URI or Roger Williams University.
Frankie started playing the cello at CMW when he was six years old, making him a 12-year veteran of the program. “CMW has always been a community space that I felt at home in, especially in Phase II weekly check-ins, it was an opportunity to share with the group how I was feeling and get advice from my friends.” Frankie remembers his early morning group cello classes fondly. “It was so fun to be playing with people that were all learning at the same time.” This fall, Frankie heads southwest to the University of New Mexico to study chemistry.
Sophia-Joy is a cellist that has been participating in CMW for four years. “One of my favorite CMW memories was preparing for the Phase II Youth Salon. We made a skit about political polarization, and I enjoyed getting to know the other people in my group.” For Sophia-Joy CMW is “a place where I can express myself creatively, a safe space where I can make mistakes and grow from them, a place where I can challenge myself.” After CMW, Sophia is off to college to study Public Health on a pre-med track.
Zoe plays violin and viola (but likes viola better!) and has been at CMW for 11 years. She also plays bass. And sings. Join us for Tuesday’s Gala and you’ll be treated to all that and more in Zoe’s cool Radiohead cover! “I have spent most of my life in the program,” she says, “and now music feels like an important part of my life and my identity and CMW is a really big part of my involvement in music.” Zoe will be studying linguistics at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but plans to continue to make music an important part of her life.