I have always been inspired by the connection between dance and music. Growing up my first exposure to live music was seeing Atlanta Ballet productions of the great hits such as Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. I was transfixed by the dancing and the talented musicians in the pit orchestra (including my then-violin teacher). Still today ballet music is some of my favorite music of all time, and though I’m not a dancer myself I have a great appreciation for the many connections and interactions between our two professions.
As you can imagine I was very excited for Community MusicWorks students to witness and learn more about this connection up close and personal this past Tuesday evening. Students and teachers braved the rainy evening and gathered in the lobby of the Holy Ghost School for a workshop with the dancers of Festival Ballet Providence. They presented three dances from their upcoming performance “Up Close On Hope” (Nov. 13th-22nd), accompanied by CMW Resident Musician Adrienne Taylor and CMW Fellow Hannah Ross. Our students made very keen observations about the dances, picking up emotions from the gestures and asking poignant questions about the choreographing process and the life of a dancer.
Then the real fun began! Dividing into two groups, half of our students learned an 8-beat dance, while the other half learned to play an 8-beat melody on their instruments. The workshop culminated in a performance of the music with the dancers, during which a relentlessly quickening tempo eventually dissolved into joyous laughter from everyone!
Throughout the evening I was thrilled to see so many students smiling, engaged, and seeing their musicianship in a whole new light. Many thanks to Festival Ballet for this valuable experience!
Many of you already are familiar with my exclamation marks and bubbling voice, but some of you reading this blog post may not be.It constantly blows my mind that time continues to move forward, even though it feels like I lived in Providence just yesterday. Since participating in the Fellowship program from ’09-’11, CMW and the souls that make it so special have never been too far from my thoughts.
For the past two seasons, I have been piloting a program called the Suncor Energy Strings Program through the Newfoundland Symphony Youth Orchestra.It was an interesting juxtaposition between the El Sistema and Community MusicWorks models. Last spring, the scheduled conclusion of funding from our primary sponsor came to its end, leaving me at a turning point.
I made the decision to step out on my own, to continue to grow the mission of this program independently. It felt like the right direction to take- it would enable the program to be its own artistic and cultural entity, and work towards the social and musical goals that are at the heart of this community music program.After much deliberation and thinking, Strong Harbour Strings came to be. The change came with encouragement and support from the NSYO.We continue to find ways to work together as community partners.
There are currently 20 students in Strong Harbour Strings, most of whom have been with us since the beginning of the program, when it was the Suncor Energy Strings Program. They stayed because they love music, because they love learning, because they thrive under the mentorship of the teaching artists, because they are getting good and want to keep on getting good, because they are a community now and have made important friends that they only see at music lessons. They stayed because they didn’t know how curious they were, and now the floodgates have been opened.
Each student comes twice a week, once for individual instruction, and once for chamber music.This year, we are starting even the beginning-est of beginners in chamber groups, because we want to teach them from the start that their voice is important, that their part matters, and that among many other things music is about communication and growing together.
The Teaching Artists with Strong Harbour Strings are also the members of my String Quartet. The Strataphoria String Quartet was an independent project, but it is my hope that Strong Harbour Strings will become a viable career option for not only the quartet but for other professional musicians in Newfoundland and Labrador.
It’s all very exciting.Things are still stabilizing, but there is a palpable energy in the air that reassures me that everything is going to work out. At every corner, I meet more people who are excited to support this program and offer encouragement along the way.
In between setting up Strong Harbour Strings and developing a String Quartet, I also got married!In June 2014, I tied the knot with Sheldon surrounded by both of our incredibly large families.We then drove 3,000 km from SK to NL (including an 8 hour ferry from Nova Scotia to the west coast of Newfoundland) to put down a few roots together in St. John’s. You’ll all meet Sheldon, someday, I promise!
Aware Engagements: Musicians at Work in the 21st Century
New England Conservatory’s Music in 2050 presents a conversation about the future of music, musicians, and music schools with Sebastian Ruth, MacArthur Foundation Fellow and founder of Community MusicWorks. Students, faculty, and staff—all are welcome. Please join our conversation!
Thursday, November 19, 2:30—4:00 pm
New England Conservatory
Jordan Hall building, room 118
30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA 02115
Sebastian Ruth is a professional musician and educator committed to exploring connections between the arts and social change. He is the Founder and Artistic Director of Community MusicWorks, a nationally recognized organization that connects professional musicians with urban youth and families in Providence, RI. In 2010, Sebastian was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for “creating rewarding musical experiences for often-forgotten populations and forging a new, multifaceted role beyond the concert hall for the twenty-first-century musician.”
NEC’s Music in 2050 is dedicated to exploring the role of music, musician, and conservatory in a drastically changing world. Our inquiry springs from the urgent need to understand the future opening before us, and to imagine how music will be shared, how musicians must engage, and what musicians must know in a world shaped by the cultural, economic, and natural forces we now see converging. Music in 2050 is first and foremost a Conservatory-wide dialogue, energized by the culture of diversity that defines NEC, and devoted to inspiring change where change is vital, conservancy where traditions enrich, and innovation to challenge both, all in service to the art and the extended communities that bind us.
Bach Around The Clock has come to an end, and it was a wonderful week for us! From our performances at Providence College and the John Carter Brown Library, to our more casual guerrilla-style performances in all kinds of places around the city, to the transformative experience of Bach To The Future III (the all night long Bach marathon at Brown University), we very much enjoyed spending our week steeped in Bach.
We also enjoyed seeing many of you in the audience, catching up with friends, meeting new friends, and providing small moments of musical beauty in unexpected places around the city.
In case you missed us, here are a couple of snapshots from the week:
CMW Players took to the stage at Providence College in attire fitting the spirit of October 31st! We celebrated the changing of seasons with two of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons and two of Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, in addition to a gorgeous Bach Cantata, featuring our friend Fred Jodry as soloist, and a Bach Concerto with student soloists. (photo by Laura Cetilia)
With Halloween shenanigans behind us we performed the same program at the John Carter Brown Library on Brown University campus. (photo by CMW parent Tresavan McClary)
As part of Bach Around Town Lisa Barksdale performed Bach’s E Major Partita for Solo violin at CAV Restaurant.
Chase Spruill performed selections from Bach’s D minor Partita for solo violin under the very resonant dome of the State House. (photo by Lisa Barksdale)
For our third ArtPlace Inhabit event of the season CMW Players performed Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins in D Major with CMW students Alana Perez and Heather Arguenta as soloists at La Lupita Tacos Mexicanos. (photo by Bryony Romer)
Bach to the Future III ran from 7:00 PM Friday November 6th all the way until 7:00 AM the following morning. Around 4:15 AM Sebastian Ruth revived the audience with a lively performance of Bach’s Suite No. 1 played on the viola. (photo by Lisa Barksdale)
Many many thanks to everyone who came out for any of these performances! We have some exciting new projects in the future, so stay tuned and check the CMW Events Calendar to see what’s coming up next!
CMW’s Annual Celebration of Bach It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Pardon the nerd talk to follow, but Bach’s works are catalogued by their BWV number or, their Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue in ‘merican), so our events will each have their own BWV number.
BWV 1: CMW Players at Providence College
Kickoff is on October 31 at 4pm at the Ryan Concert Hall at Providence College with a program of Bach, Vivaldi and Piazzolla. CMW students Heather Argueta and Alana Perez will be featured in the iconic first movement of Bach’s Double Concerto for 2 Violins while Karl Oung and Ruby Espinoza will play the beautiful second movement from the Vivaldi Double Concerto for 2 Cellos.
Following the concertos will be this year’s Bach cantata, Widerstehe doch der Sünde (Just Resist Sin) BWV 54, featuring our long-time friend, the inimitable Fred Jodry, who will be strapping on his counter-tenor pipes for the occasion. As Fred will not be playing and singing simultaneously Billy Joel style (though he is quite good at it), a new musical friend and colleague, harpsichordist Catherine Gordon-Seifert will be joining us for this concert as well.
After the Cantata will be a fun experiment of contrasting two of Vivaldi’s Seasons with two of Astor Piazzolla’s Seasons of Buenos Aires featuring new CMW fellows Josie Davis, Kate Outterbridge as well as the old-guard of Minna Choi and Jesse Holstein.
This being Halloween, please come in costume! Extra credit will go to Bach themed costumes or costumes with the word Bach or some derivation of Bach as part of the ensemble. Examples are Baby Bok Choy, Chewbacca, Burt Bacharach, baby Bach ribs, etc.
CMW Players at Providence College Saturday, October 31 at 4pm Ryan Concert Hall, Smith Center for the Arts Admission is free Map and Directions
BWV 2: CMW Players at the John Carter Brown Library
The following day, Sunday, November 1 at 2pm, is the ever-popular concert at the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. On the menu is the same program as the previous day. Also, the Patriots are playing the Thursday night game that week so no conflicts with that. The concert is free but a reservation is required and spots are limited!
CMW Players at the John Carter Brown Library Sunday, November 1 at 2pm 94 George Street, Providence This concert is sold out.
BWV 3: Bach Around Town
From Monday, November 2nd until Friday, November 6th there will be pop-up, guerrilla-style performances around the city at various restaurants, cafes, bookstores, and other venues. Please consult the CMW website for times and places.
Perhaps you’ll witness a gorilla-guerilla Bach performance!
Bach Around Town
Tuesday, November 3 Noon: Providence Public Library–Minna Choi Noon: Elmwood Retirement Home–Josie Davis and Kate Outterbridge 7:15pm: CAV restaurant, 14 Imperial Place, Providence–Lisa Barksdale
Wednesday, November 4 Noon: Cafe La France, Amtrak Station, Providence–Sebastian Ruth
Noon: City Hall–Minna Choi 4pm: Olneyville Public Library–CMW student Aaron Grijalva and Hannah Ross
Thursday, November 5 Noon: State House Rotunda–Chase Spruill and Lisa Barksdale
1pm: Providence Place Mall/Macy’s–Chase Spruill and Lisa Barksdale
BWV 4: CMW Players at La Lupita Thursday, November 5th at 7pm marks our third Inhabit Event at La Lupita Tacos Mexicanos. Come have some free food and listen to more Bach and other related works in our favorite local taqueria.
Arrive early for the pre-concert talk-o.
Inhabit Event at La Lupita Tacos Mexicanos Thursday, November 5, 7pm 1950 Westminster Street, Providence RI 02909 Map and Directions
BWV 5: Bach Marathon
Next up is the return of “Bach to the Future”-the wild and crazy All-Night Bach Marathon! Bring your pillow and sleeping bag to Manning Chapel at Brown and snuggle up to hear all things Bach and Bach inspired. The concert will feature CMW staff, friends, guests, and all sorts of interesting creatures.
7pm: Welcome
7:15: Sara Stalnaker (cello)
7:35: RISD PIGEON COOP (Bevin Kelley & Luke Moldof)
7:55: Josie Davis & Colin Wheatley (violin duo)
8:00: Matt McLaren (of Barnacled / the Eyesores)
8:15: Josie Davis (violin)
8:25: Houseboy (Reba Mitchell & Dylan Going)
8:45: Adrienne Taylor (cello)
9:00: Andrius Zlabys (piano)
9:25: Ben Eberle (of Sandworm / Clean)
9:40: Morgan Evans-Weiler
10:00: Vinny Bucci (viola)
10:05: Brendan Glasson (of Vio/Mire)
10:20: Assembly of Light Choir
10:30: Heath Marlow & Laura Cetilia (cello)
10:45: Vic Rawlings
11:10: Minna Choi (violin)
11:30: La Neve (Joey DeFrancesco of Downtown Boys / Malportado Kids)
11:35: Jake Meginsky
12:00: Ealain McMullin (violin)
12:10: JJB Buckmaster (of the Terribles / Dungeoneers)
12:30: Donny Shaw (of Fat Worm of Error)
1:00: Hannah Ross (viola)
1:10: Isabella Koen
1:40: Joe DeGeorge 1
1:55: Dan Talbot
2:10: Michael Unterman (cello)
2:35: Jeremy Harris (Xerome / Lazy Magnet)
2:50: Thorns (Tayla)
3:05: Kate Outterbridge (violin)
3:20: Alexis Nelson (viola)
3:30: James Falzone
3:45: Joe DeGeorge 2
4:00: Lisa Barksdale (violin)
4:25: Low Bun (Rachel Lewallen & Francesca Caruso)
4:40: Jacob Berendes
4:55: Matt Underwood
5:10: Sebastian Ruth (viola)
5:20: Kristin Hayter
5:45: Betsy Hinkle (violin) 6:15: Work/Death
Link to the Bach to the Future Facebook page here. Bach to the Future III-The All-Night Bach Marathon! Friday, November 6, 7pm until Saturday, November 7, 7am Manning Chapel at Brown University 69 Brown Street, Providence RI 02906
BWV 6: CMW Musicians with the Festival Ballet CMW musicians Hannah Ross, viola, and Adrienne Taylor, cello, perform solo works of Bach in a collaboration with the Festival Ballet’s “Up Close on Hope” Series.
November 13, 14, 20, 21 and 22 FBP Black Box Theatre 825 Hope Street, Providence
Our dear friend, mentor, and long-time leader of Community MusicWorks, Liz Hollander, has passed away.
I met Liz in 1999 after a chance meeting with Vartan Gregorian, the past president of Brown, who suggested that Liz would want to know about Community MusicWorks. I called Liz, she took me to lunch, and so began a sixteen-year friendship that would lead to her becoming a central figure in the growth and life of Community MusicWorks.
Liz joined the Community MusicWorks board in 2005, worked closely with Karen Romer, our then President, including chairing the strategic planning committee that produced CMW’s 2010 strategic plan, and served as President for four years.
Liz “got it,” as she would say, and helped other people “get it” too. At one point we were sitting with a potential supporter who didn’t seem to understand that CMW was about students and professional chamber musicians, and didn’t understand how the two groups were related. She said, “think of it as socially responsible chamber music. Right?!”
Then there was her manner—forthright, determined, focused, combined with a bright smile and easy laughter. Part of this style was the speed of her intellect. Liz would be sitting in a board meeting with her needlepoint, looking at her stitching and listening to a presentation, and then pick her head up and say, “Sebastian, we need to emphasize that it’s about social justice, and we need to get to the black preachers, because they’re the ones who have the ear of people, right?” And then that look—raised eyebrows, nodding, waiting for you to see the conclusion she had reached so quickly! And that’s the thing—she was right. Then she was ready for the next item of business.
Liz set up the board buddy system, and she paired herself with Kirby Vasquez as her board buddy—our beloved student cellist who, with Liz’s mentoring, became an awesome role model and leader among students.
Liz’s frank, honest warmth worked with anyone sitting in front of her—a CMW parent or student, a staff member, a donor, or a national foundation representative. I remember sitting with Karen and Liz at the Mellon Foundation in New York in 2007, explaining CMW to the five foundation officers sitting around the mahogany conference table. Liz, with total ease, said to them “and you know what’s really amazing to me about this is that the musicians are making their careers doing this. It’s really a model for our communities and for musicians around the country.” (We got the grant.)
One of the many people who thought of Liz as a central mentor was Michelle Obama. Liz served on her board when Michelle was running the Chicago Public Allies office, and they remained connected in Michelle’s subsequent work at the University of Chicago. When the Obamas won the election, Liz served on a transition committee for service and helped write plans for the first administration. But she was disappointed that there was no easy way to get a message to Michelle to congratulate her.
Although Liz didn’t once ask, I knew it would be great fun to somehow pass along a message when CMW won the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the First Lady in 2010. We were instructed in the protocols meetings before going to the White House that we were not to speak to the First Lady, but just to shake her hand, say thank you, and accept the award. However, being who she is, the First Lady was warm and inviting with everyone, and I decided to use my 15 seconds on stage for a quick comment. When shaking her hand I said that Liz Hollander sent her greetings, and that she was our Board President. The First Lady smiled a huge smile and said, “I should have known Liz was behind this! Send her my love!”
Community MusicWorks is indebted to you, Liz, for the incredible blessing of mentorship, leadership, and example-setting. We weren’t finished learning from you, but we will keep on working toward beauty and justice in this world in your honor, and in your footsteps.
This post kicks off a new blog series! In these “Not Far From The Tree” posts we’ll be reporting updates on the current activities of former fellows, IMPS participants, and CMW alums.
This week we caught up with Annalisa Boerner, the CMW Viola Fellow from 2012-14. This past June, she accepted a position as Resident Violist at Music Haven, a similar program in New Haven, CT. This handy chart compares her experiences at CMW with the past six weeks’ experiences at Music Haven. Click the diagram for a closer look!
Community MusicWorks is now accepting viola and cello applications for the 2016-2018 Fellowship Program!
The Fellowship Program is a two-year intensive immersion that gives career-bound musicians the experience of participating in the Community MusicWorks model. This model is an ongoing experiment of a brand of musicianship where careers braid together strands of performance, education, community building and reflective practice.
Over Community MusicWorks’ nearly two decades, we have experimented with a new brand of musicianship, where our careers are about braiding together the strands of performance, teaching, community building, and reflective practice, with the conviction that the combination is valuable for artists and valuable for our communities.
In this nineteenth season, we are launching an ambitious strategic plan that recommits to this vision, and sets many exciting goals for the coming five years. But as we look ahead, we also look back at the important traditions that precede our work.
In the 1930s, for instance, the United States implemented various programs to pull the country out of the Great Depression. Because of the familiar plaques that still adorn sidewalks, park buildings, and post offices, it’s easy to remember that the Works Progress Administration (WPA), as one of these initiatives, accomplished a great number of infrastructure improvements in that decade.
But less visible eighty years later are the arts projects funded through the WPA: iconic public murals, orchestras, theaters and community arts centers aimed to make arts experiences an integral part of American life, and accessible to everyone.
The administrators of the WPA programs promoted the belief that art and artists were central to a healthy country. In this spirit, President Roosevelt expressed the belief that the American dream relied both on economic and social justice, and on people having access to cultural enrichment. Fundamentally, he thought, the country could not be whole without people—and not just the rich—having access to arts and culture.
At CMW, like in the WPA, we employ musicians to make their work in the context of a community, with the clear goal of building an inclusive society that comes together around experiences in the arts.
This season we celebrate this tradition through music and discussions. We explore themes of social justice with our students, our community members and our city. We feature our musicians’ solo and collective voices through the Sonata Series, fall concerts of Vivaldi and Piazzolla concertos, a spring performance of a twentieth century cello masterpiece, and sonatas and partitas in our Bach Around Town performances.
Also this season we celebrate artistic collaborations, including a first with Festival Ballet in the company’s “Up Close on Hope” series; with the Rhode Island Black Storytellers for a reprise performance of the new “Twelve Moods” by Jessie Montgomery; and a return of the Bach to the Future overnight Bach marathon, curated by Sakiko Mori. We continue our collaboration with the RISD Museum to present a multimedia experience combining the sculpture of British artist Martin Boyce with music that traces themes in popular music from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. And these concerts are just a few among a rich season of musical voices from Haydn to Brahms to the Polish composer Wojciech Kilar.
Thank you for joining us, for participating in the ongoing experiment to bring together artistry and community, to expand access and to ensure all people can participate in the joy of making this a thriving community.
Free concert and community dinner as part of our Inhabit ArtPlace Event Series
CMW is pleased to announce the second installment of its “Inhabit” series, funded by a highly competitive national grant from ArtPlace America.
This fall, we present a new performance series at La Lupita Tacos Mexicanos, a well-established family restaurant in Olneyville Square. CMW Musicians and the owners of La Lupita invite all to sample “authentic Mexican fare” and “authentic classical music” for all comfort levels! Come and sample new items on the La Lupita menu and sample selections from Haydn, Brahms, Bach and other favorite composers.
Thursday, November 5 at 7pm La Lupita Tacos Mexicanos 1950 Westminster Street, Providence
