Meet the Fellows

This Fall, Community MusicWorks welcomes new Fellows to our team! 

Violist Hannah Ross recently completed her Masters of Music at the Juilliard School in New York City. She is an active performer and dedicated teacher, and moved to Providence after spending a summer abroad in Tanzania and Denmark. In Tanzania, Hannah completed her fifth summer co-directing and working in Art Powers Arusha, a student-run, multidisciplinary outreach group which she helped to found. Since 2009, the Art Powers Arusha team has been supporting and encouraging students’ personal development and individuality throughout the Arusha community through a curriculum of performing arts.

At the beginning of their Fellowship, all new fellows are asked to respond in writing to questions about the upcoming Fellowship experience. When asked what drew her to Community MusicWorks, Hannah wrote, “I very much believe in sharing my love of music with others, particularly in the fields of teaching and playing chamber music. CMW offers both of these opportunities for fellows to learn and share together. I am also interested in non-profit work, which I hope to learn about in my time here.”

Asked about what other things she looks forward to in the Fellowship: “I'm really looking forward to meeting all of the students! Meeting people from all walks of life is what I love the most about the world. I think each person in the world can learn something from every person they meet, and I'm excited to see what my students and I will learn from each other.”

As Hannah settles in to her new home in Providence, she also confides that “at the age of 23 and 3/4, I’ve joined the Millennial generation with the purchase of my first smart phone.” In her free time, she enjoys knitting scarves to be worn during polar vortexes, as well as baking a variety of desserts to be shared with friends. She also loves writing snail mail letters to her closest friends, a hobby she began before email took over the world.

Cellist Clara Yang recently received her Doctor of Musical Arts in cello performance from Rice University. While at Rice, she collaborated with the Watercolor Art Society in Houston and lead six workshops and an interactive performance displaying children’s art works for the Children’s Cancer and Hematology Centers at the Texas Children’s Hospital. Having witnessed firsthand the positive influence music can have on individuals and their community, Clara believes that such forms of teaching and outreach are an integral part of music education.

Clara is also an active and accomplished performer and is currently a member of the Ardelia Trio with whom she performs educational concerts and performances for diverse audiences. Clara is enthusiastic to join the Community MusicWorks team, and in particular looks forward to “learning from the other fellows and staff, to building strong teacher-student relationships with my students, and learning more about what goes into building and sustaining a program like this.”

Clara was drawn to CMW because “the idea of reaching out to the community through music in a much more direct and influential way is really inspiring.” She hopes to search and seek out opportunities to create or join projects inspired and modeled by CMW in the future.

Clara also looks forward to getting to know the CMW community and people, and has joined husband Tristen, a medical resident, in Providence. When she is not teaching or performing, Clara loves listening to jazz, finding good eats and exploring Providence.

–-Minna Choi, Fellowship Program Director