On Friday afternoon, CMW musicians and ten Sistema Fellows crowded into CMW's third floor meeting space. It felt a bit like a family reunion, with shared core values and aspirations instantly creating the glue to bind together people who had not previously met.
Over several hours together, the group engaged in a discussion of what it means to be a teaching artist in an organization–such as CMW–with a mission of social change. How do your core values manifest in your teaching practice? The conversation was guided by the incomparable Eric Booth.
Trivia quiz: Can you identify four former CMW Fellows in this photo? (Click on the photo to enlarge.)
-Heath Marlow, Managing Director
Dear friend,
I’m writing to let you know that after nearly five amazing years as
the Executive Director of New Urban Arts, I will be returning to New
York to join the senior staff of the Queens Museum of Art where I will take on the position of Director of Education.
In this role I will oversee all of the museum’s education programs
which include teen, after-school, school, family, teacher, access
programs and more. Like New Urban Arts, the Queens Museum of Art is
nationally recognized as a leader and innovator in using the arts to
bring together and engage diverse communities. I am very excited to
build on the work I’ve done at New Urban Arts at this cutting-edge
museum.
I will start my new position on December 17, 2012 and my last day at New Urban Arts will be December 7th, the day of our annual Artist Mentor Exhibition opening.
This is fitting as being an artist mentor remains the most important
position I have ever had and is what sparked my long relationship with
New Urban Arts…
Continuing reading Jason's letter on the New Urban Arts website by clicking here.
Norwegian pianist Knut Erik Jensen will visit Providence later this month to offer a solo recital at the Bell Street Chapel. Many CMW concertgoers met Knut when he spent two weeks in residence at CMW last March, rehearsing and performing works by Grieg, Mahler, Schubert, and Shostakovich with the CMW Players. He is such a wonderful musician; we hope to have him back at CMW during a future season!
Information about Knut's October 30th solo recital is here.
On a sunny afternoon in the middle of September, a CMW Players quartet, composed of Ealain, Chase, Annalisa, and myself went to the nearby home of Linda Daniels and Bill Hopkins to play Beethoven's string quartet, opus 18, No. 1. The afternoon sun brightened their open living room, and the musical set-up was accompanied by a variety of delicious homemade snacks and beverages. While the house concert was advertised as starting at 3 pm, I found myself mingling and just enjoying the company of the people around me until about 3:30. At that point I looked at Chase and asked him, “So, do you think we should play something” Chase’s response echoed my own thoughts: “Oh, yeah, I forgot that we were going to perform!”
It is rare for me, as a classical musician, to walk into a performance situation and immediately feel so comfortable and at home. I am used to the conventional performance rituals; studying at Peabody Conservatory and Northwestern University, I have been taught that a performance involves many months of preparation leading up to one singular defining moment. During this defining moment, the performer makes contact with his/her audience by playing his/her instrument, “speaking” only through the music. This approach places the art of music-making on a pedestal, separating it from the types of interactions that we all have on a daily basis.
Our afternoon with Beethoven was not at all like that! People sat all around us snacking on delicious desserts and, during our introductions, we joked about my ryhming job title (I am CMW's “Cello Fellow"). And when we started to play, I could feel that same level of comfort and safety from my colleagues. There was a new level of trust between us; we were listening more closely, taking more risks, and generally just making better music than I had anticipated!
After our performance, conversations continued, and mixed in with other chatter, now there were discussions about Beethoven and the inspired nature of his composition. For me, the highlight of the afternoon, and the greatest satisfaction that we could ask for, was the sound of young CMW students practicing upstairs as the party started to die down.
More recently, I can't help but think how our performance in Bill and Linda’s home was more successful than when we had presented the same work in a more formal concert hall setting. Simply by moving the performance to a more intimate and comfortable environment, we were more able to connect with the sense of exploration and joy that Beethoven felt when composing his early works.
I’m not advocating for the removal of the concert hall experience; the tradition and ritual surrounding those performances allow both performers and audience members to focus in ways that may not be replicated in other settings. But, I do ask that musicians think about why we have chosen this specific career. For me, the end goal has always been to gain a deeper understanding of beauty, and to share that beauty with others. This sharing of beauty should not occur only in our sacred concert halls. Our Beethoven concert proved to me that this music also belongs within the very structures that define our everyday lives: our homes, our schools, our workspaces and community centers.
-Lauren Latessa, Fellow
Read the October edition of The Ensemble, Tricia Tunstall and Eric Booth's
monthly publication about the growing El Sistema-inspired movement in
the United States, by downloading it here.
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We have a rich season to share with you beginning in October, marked by CMW’s continuing
spirit of experimentation and innovation.
A centerpiece of our 16th
season will be the opportunity to deepen our commitment to the intersection of
community and performance. CMW is one of
47 organizations around the country to have received funding from ArtPlace, a
national initiative interested in the ways artists and arts organizations make
a positive impact on their communities. Our ArtPlace-funded project entails nine
events in Providence’s West End that experiment with how performance can become
part of community and vice versa. Expect commissioned works, performances
around the neighborhood, pop-up events in vacant commercial storefronts, and concerts
in homes.
After a year-long sabbatical from Providence String Quartet
activities, we are continuing in the vein of last year, having the CMW Players
be the primary ensemble-in-residence. We recognize that, in so many ways, our
growth calls for an ensemble larger than four. That said, string quartets are
still an essential and favorite form, and we will be presenting all of Beethoven’s
string quartets in F, both major and minor, that represent the first, last, and
two quartets from his middle period. The
Sonata Series that launched last year, featuring CMW musicians in solo roles,
will continue at the elegant main gallery of The RISD Museum.
We’ll be hosting several guest artists to enhance the season
of music making, including a return by violinist Jonathan Gandelsman, who will travel
to Providence in May to premiere a new violin concerto that CMW is
co-commissioning from Venezuelan composer Gonzalo Grau, and that will involve both
the CMW Players and our students!
Student programs and performances continue to grow and deepen.
Tenth-grader Liam Hopkins’ compositions last spring were such a
milestone—student works performed by professionals in an experimental music
concert. We plan to see where this strand of programming can lead as we
continue the experimental music series. You can expect to see these experiments
chronicled on CMW’s Media Lab website.
A daily string orchestra program, led by former Fellow
Adrienne Taylor, is the most ambitious innovation CMW is launching this
year. Adrienne will combine her understanding
of CMW methodology with that of El Sistema, the wildly successful Venezuelan
youth orchestra system, to create opportunities for twenty first graders to
begin musical study in a program that meets every day after school. Adrienne brings a nuanced understanding of
the potential for this program, having spent a year as a Sistema Fellow at the New
England Conservatory.
In addition to Annalisa Boerner and Lauren Latessa, our two new
Fellows, we’re delighted to welcome Chase Spruill and Lisa Barksdale who, as resident
musicians, will help us meet the demands of our expanded educational programs
as well as adding new violin voices to our chamber music ensembles.
Please join us to help make these innovations come to life
this season, at events in the West End, concerts around Rhode Island, and at
student performances too. I look forward to seeing you!
-Sebastian Ruth, Founder & Artistic Director
The
CMW Players performed Joachim Raff’s Octet in C Major at the Armory Farmers
Market on September 13, and the experience served as a microcosmic
view of the world my colleagues have created at Community MusicWorks.
When
I arrived at the Farmers Market, Sebastian was warming up on violin
and had already attracted a small herd of children around his knees. He
played children’s songs for them as he smilingly engaged them in
conversation. A
few yards away was the spot where we would perform (following
the end of a drum circle performance), so we set up our octet under a
tree at the edge of the Dexter Training Grounds.
Liz
Cox, who I’ve discovered to be a blend of superhero, comedienne, and
all-around facilitator, brought a stack of literature and our iconic red stickers from the office so that we had something tangible about CMW to offer to
the crowd. This was essential as we were going to be unable to effectively
introduce ourselves from the grassy “stage” with our audience of
shoppers in near-constant motion.
When
we had eight instruments in tune, eight binders of music settled on
eight stands, and eight pairs of eyes in contact, the ensemble launched
into the Raff. Given our new and disconcerting acoustic (Mother Nature
furnishes no reverb), the Players leaned in, watching, listening, and
focusing with the sort of attention that adrenaline and acoustic
uncertainty readily provide. Our pages flew about in the breeze and the
sun indiscriminately shone in our eyes, but we held to one another when
the musical going got tough. The Raff is a roller coaster of emotional
content, and it was a pleasure to ride it with my colleagues.
The
performance and its environment appear to me, even at this early stage
of my Fellowship Program experience, to be quintessential CMW. We offered our music to a
new audience that day, and several of the people we met were so
enthusiastic as to donate on the spot. We took on a performance that
that would stretch and challenge our understanding of the music, and we
learned volumes from the experience. We made new connections in our
neighborhood and took a step toward expanding the space that the arts
occupy in our local landscape, and I’m excited for our neighborhood arts
adventures of the year to come.
-Annalisa Boerner, Fellow
The most recent creation of Geoff Hudson and Alisa Pearson, the wonderfully inventive team that brought the Bug Opera to Providence in 2006 and the Quartet Project in 2008, Quartetville is the place for string quartet musicians of all ages and
interests to connect, share, and learn from each other online! Upload
clips of your quartet, participate in regular challenges, and learn
from some of this country’s best-known and most celebrated professional quartets.
Learn about Quartetville, including their exciting 50 State Challenge during the month of October, by clicking here.
Annalisa Boerner, Viola Fellow, hails from Columbus,
Ohio, where she grew up studying viola, playing chamber music and loving Ohio
State football. She spent six years in Cleveland, gaining her Bachelor of Music
degree and most recently completed her Master of Music degree at the Cleveland
Institute of Music. Annalisa grew up playing chamber music at the Chamber Music
Connection in Columbus. From 2010 to 2012, Annalisa served as the organization's Assistant Artistic Director.
Despite Cleveland's cliched mediocre
reputation, Annalisa will defend her favorite city to anyone who will listen,
and this year will be the first time living outside of her home state. In addition
to playing music, Annalisa enjoys cooking, and makes a
mean soup. She can also be found playing ultimate frisbee, painting,
thrifting, and drinking about six cups of coffee a day.
Annalisa’s
thoughts about the beginning of the Fellowship:
“I feel that I have thus far led a life of incredible
opportunity, and in my professional life I want to use my skills and experience
to create what opportunity I can for kids who were not given the same
advantages. Community-based non-profit
work appears to me to be a personally and artistically rewarding context for the practice of any of the fine arts, and in particular I
have come to believe that music has a unique capacity to unlock and reveal
potential in those who study and perform it.
I am happy to be entering a position where I can both play
music and act as a creative, thinking individual. I look forward to having the
opportunity to work with private students consistently over the next two
years.”
We're delighted to welcome Annalisa to CMW and the Fellowship Program!
-Minna Choi, Fellowship Program Director
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