From Aaron's most recent report, sounds like things are going well for his El Sistema-inspired program up in New Brunswick, Canada.

Music is Sistema’s means, not its end. “I don’t even necessarily want them to be musicians, I just want them to be able to excel at something and, by doing that, be able to dream,” McFarlane said. Read the article in its entirety here and here.

Emmy (pictured) played the part of Bela Bartok on April 5 at three shows we performed for the Paul Cuffee Elementary School and TAPA (Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts), in which Bartok gets mad when musicians don't play his music with feeling. Helped by the students in the audience, the musicians do a better job bringing his music to life, and then finish the show with an original composition created by the students. Bartok's accomplices included Sara, Minna, and Sebastian.

-Sebastian Ruth, Founder & Artistic Director

Earlier this month, we were all shocked to learn that Chuck Sherba, one of Rhode Island's best-known and most beloved musicians, had been diagnosed with cancer and would need immediate surgery.

Last week, Chuck's operation at Lahey Clinic in Boston was successful. Rhode Island's musical community is now attempting to help Chuck and his wife Consuelo pay for his extremely expensive medical procedures.

A CONCERT OF HOPE AND HEALING to benefit Charles Sherba

Saturday, May 12 at 7:00 pm 
First Unitarian Church

Kathryne Jennings – soprano, Alexi Shabalin – violin, Chloe Kline – viola, Sara Stalnaker – cello, Cheryl Bishkoff – oboe, Ian Greitzer – clarinet, Judy Stillman – piano, Fred Jodry – piano, Chris Turner – reader, and Nigel Gore – reader
 
Schubert: Shepherd on the Rock 
Mozart: Oboe Quartet in F  
Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat
Mozart: Variations for piano four hands

Donations of any size are welcome, suggested levels are $100+  Angel, $35 General, $20 Senior, Student, and Artists.

To help fund medical bills, make checks payable to Charles Sherba. All checks may be sent to: Aurea Ensemble, 195 Sessions Stree, Providence, RI 02906.

During the year after my CMW fellowship experience ended, I participated in the Abreu Fellows Program at the New England Conservatory, where studied El Sistema, the world-renowned Venezuelan youth orchestra and social action program. The Abreu fellowship culminated in a trip to Venezuela, where I traveled around the country observing and working in various nucleos, or centers for music.

Adrienne in Venezuela

Nucleos in Venezuela reminded me of CMW in that they are places where students and teachers come together as a community. In Venezeula, because they come together every day, their musical and social experience is magnified, leading to exciting musical progress and deep relationships. This deepening of musical and social experiences is one of CMW's main strategic goals, and I want kids in Providence to experience the kind of intensity that was so powerful to witness in Venezuela.

This year, in addition to working with CMW's new beginner class, Phase II, and the Green Magic Orchestra (during All-Play Day), I have been working on plans to launch a daily, after-school orchestra program in Providence, drawing on what I learned from my experiences at CMW and as an Abreu Fellow in Boston and in Venezuela. I’m excited for our kids to have the musical and social experience of playing together in an orchestra every day. You can expect to hear more details in the coming months.

I am looking for a violinist or violist to help me build this program. Please click here for more information about this opportunity.

-Adrienne Taylor, Third-year Fellow

It's been a busy semester for the Media Lab, and there's still much more to come! Since Fall 2011, a dedicated group of students has gathered weekly with local composer, pianist, and piano technician Sakiko Mori, Media Lab Director Jori Ketten, and Media Lab #1 Volunteer/Liam's Chemistry Tutor David Lee to explore the wide, weird world of experimental music.

Most recently, the students performed as part of CMW and Ctrl+Alt+Repeat's Cage Centennial Concert.

Next up for this intrepid bunch is a new collaboration with composer Forrest Larson, a few other local musicians, and the June IMPS.  To read more about what the class has been up to, visit the Media Lab.

This week, Laura Cetilia and Jori are also starting a "Scoring for the Screen" class with a group of new students. Participants will make short narrative videos and create musical scores for the movies.

-Jori Ketten, Media Lab Director

A note from Sistema Fellow David France during his Venezuelan residency:

“Greetings from Coro, Venezuela. If I don’t return from Venezuela, you can find me in a small neighborhood in Coro called Panela. It is the most dangerous neighborhood in town, and here you will find a small music initiative founded less than one year ago by Isandra Campos. Since starting with five kids in her living room, she has moved out of her home and is now living with her mother so that the neighborhood kids can have orchestra rehearsals every day of the week in her former house.

Today when I arrived, there was no room for me to have violin lessons, so a neighbor across the street let me and three kids practice in their living room. By the end of our time the entire family was in the living room listening, and a crowd of kids fought for space in the window to listen to the music. At the back of her house Isandra keeps chickens, selling the eggs for one bolívar each to buy music for the students. It has been a profound week.”

Read more in the April edition of The Ensemble, Tricia Tunstall and Eric Booth's monthly publication about the growing El Sistema-inspired movement in the United States.

More photos by Jori is CMW's Flickr account. Download the concert program.

Visit our friends at Music Haven here.

Thanks to FirstWorks, CMW students were treated to a special workshop featuring visiting musicians from Pakistan, including Arif Lohar, a folk singer who performs contemporary interpretation of traditional Punjabi songs.

More photos by Jori in CMW's Flickr account.

Earlier this month, CMW's own "violinist virtuoso" Jesse Holstein was invited to perform Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 with the Tri-County Symphonic Band (Cape Cod). Fortunately for us, a local critic with a video camera was in the audience.