It will take a little while for all of this season's information to make its way to our website calendar page and eventually into your mailbox via the US Postal Service. In the interim, if you like to plan ahead, here are some key dates to save.

15th Season Public Events (as of Sept. 10)

September 13, 5:30-6:30 pm: Open rehearsal and sidewalk reception (rain date: Sept. 15)

October 22, 6:00 pm: Free community dinner and concert featuring the CMW Players with special guest, the Cecilia String Quartet (winner of the 2010 Banff International String Quartet Competition)

Cecilia String Quartet

October 27, 7:30 pm: Sonata series event (Brahms and Prokofiev)

November 3, 7:00 pm: Bela Bartok's Divertimento for Strings in performance and discussion, presented by The Providence Athenaeum (during CMW's November 3-13 "Bach and Beyond" festival)

November 6, 4:00 pm: CMW Players and Haven String Quartet (quartet-in-residence for Music Haven) perform works by Bach, Dvorak, and Bartok (during CMW's November 3-13 "Bach and Beyond" festival)

Haven String Quartet

November 12, 5:00 pm: CMW Players with Fred Jodry, harpsichord, presented by the John Carter Brown Library performing music by Bach (during CMW's November 3-13 "Bach and Beyond" festival)

Fred Jodry

November 13, 4:00 pm: CMW Players with Fred Jodry, harpsichord, at the Bell Street Chapel performing music by Bach (during CMW's November 3-13 "Bach and Beyond" festival)

November 18-19: CMW and Brown University's Cogut Center for the Humanities co-present a conference on Music and Civil Society (details tba)

December 6-11: Residency by Frank Rosenwein, prinicipal oboist of The Cleveland Orchestra. Performing activities on December 8 (7 pm Providence Athenaeum), 10 (4 pm Brown's Cogut Center), and 11 (4 pm West Side loft)

Frank Rosenwein

January 21, 3:00 pm: Performance Party featuring CMW students and teachers

January 26, 7:30 pm: Sonata series event (details tba)

February 2, time tba: Fellows Quartet performance at John Hope Settlement House

February 5, 2:00 pm: Fellows Quartet performing works by Haydn and Bartok, presented by Roger Williams University (Bristol)

February 27-March 11: Residency by Knut Erik Jensen, pianist, including performing activities on March 8, 10, and 11 (4 pm free concert presented by Temple Beth-El)

Knut Erik Jensen

March 18, 3:00 pm: Sonata series event (details tba)

March 23, 8:00 pm: CMW and CTRL+ALT+REPEAT co-present an evening of new music (details tba)

March 30, 7:00 pm: Youth Salon featuring CMW students and teachers

March 31, time tba: CMW presents touring musicians from the Ravinia Festival's Steans Music Institute, including violinist Miriam Fried, performing Schubert's string Quintet in C Major (fundraising event)

Miriam Fried

April 8, 2:00 pm: Annual Fred Kelley Memorial Concert at the Bell Street Chapel featuring the Brahms Piano Quartet in A Major with guest artists Jeff Louie, piano, and Dmitry Kustanovich, viola

April 12, 7:30 pm: Sonata series event (details tba)

May 1-6: Residency by Duo Clarion (Chad Burrow and Amy Cheng), including performing activities on May 3 (7:30 pm at the Music Mansion), May 5 (details tbd), and May 6 (2 pm concert presented by Trinity Church in Newport)

Duo Clarion: Chad Burrow (clarinet) and Amy Cheng (piano)

May 19: Performance Party featuring CMW students and teachers

May 20: 2nd annual Jonathan
Biss all-Beethoven piano recital (fundraising event) note date change

Jonathan Biss

June 9-10: 15th season reunion concerts (details tbd)

Of course, details–including time and location–are subject to change over the course of the season. Please visit CMW's calendar page for the most accurate information.

-Heath Marlow, Managing Director

A cover of Summertime by My Chemical Romance performed at a house concert last month by CMW's alumni string quartet (with Kirby on guitar and Luis on vocals). More on the Nelson Quartet here.

An interview with Sebastian was featured recently in String Visions, the online "contemporary resource center for the 21st century classical musician" created by Ovation Press.

Philosophically there is an orientation that I think is very important. And that is, consider very carefully what role you have in the community, in any community setting. Consider what people’s perceptions are of you, and of classical musicians. Don’t assume that you will be embraced as offering a good thing. And be very conscious to think about how your interests and the interests of people living in the community you want to work in align.

You can read more here and listen to audio clips. Find Part Two of the interview here.

From Adrienne Gagnon, Education Director at Providence CityArts for Youth:

CityArts is currently searching for an Afterschool and Family Coordinator to help run their after-school programs smoothly and build positive relationships with youth and families. This is a part-time, year-round position. Here is the full job posting. Please forward it to anyone you know who is looking for work in youth development and arts education. The deadline to apply is September 12.

From Annette Mozzoni, Music School Director at the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra & Music School:

The Music School is seeking a Community Partnerships Manager to identify, cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships among arts, education and community-based organizations in order to advance arts in education and community building; plan and implement community education programs; identify and promote diverse and exemplary youth work in music focusing on quality programs for students across Rhode Island with specialized focus on work with students in urban areas. Learn more here.

In mid-August, CMW welcomed our first-ever Family Engagement Coordinator, Akina Ramos. Akina comes to us through the AmeriCorps VISTA national service program, which means that, before starting work for us, she had to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States! [Pictured: the oath was administered by Vincent Marzullo, Rhode Island's fantastic Director of the National Service Program.]

Akina brings a wealth of energy and optimism to this position, and is already hard at work getting to know CMW parents, adjusting our family volunteering system, and learning about the program. As a mother of five, Akina has first-hand knowledge of the many demands on parental time, and of the importance of volunteering! Three of her children are in a singing group called C3; we hope to have them appear at a CMW event before long.

Akina grew up in the West End, and is a proud graduate of William D'Abate Elementary School. She worked at Brown University and at Citizens Bank before coming to CMW. We're thrilled to welcome her, and we look forward to introducing her to everyone at the first Community Day later this month.

-Chloe Kline, Education Director

CMW warmly welcomes EmmaLee Holmes-Hicks, violin, to Providence as a new member of CMW's two-year Fellowship Program ('11-'13).

EmmaLee (known as Emmy) received her doctoral degree from SUNY Stony Brook, studying violin with Phil Setzer, Soovin Kim and Philippe Graffin. She completed her undergraduate work with honors at the Cleveland Institute of Music where she studied with Stephen Rose and Annie Fullard. As a chamber player, she has enjoyed the fine coaching of both the Emerson and Cavani String Quartets, and she has served as faculty at summer music festivals such as Birch Creek and the Allegheny Music Festival.

When not playing classical violin, Emmy is well-versed in old-time fiddle music. She has played lead fiddle with the Rusty Pickup String Band since she was ten years old, and she won the Illinois State Fair fiddle championship as a teenager.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

After spending many years in music school and focusing lots of energy on improving my own playing and my knowledge of music, I have been yearning for an outlet where I could use these skills to help a community and also to expand my horizons beyond the enclosed community of a music school. At times in my education, I felt a strong pull to leave the confines of the conservatory to put my knowledge to work in the broader world. But I always found ways of serving others within the academic world and so I stayed the course.

When I finished my doctorate, I finally had the time to devote to larger endeavors. I made some attempts to initiate my own mission of change. But I felt deficient in the skills or resources needed to make more than a tiny splash. When I found out about the Fellowship position at CMW, I was elated and I immediately applied. This seemed the perfect fit: a musical organization that worked to bring transformation and change to a community suffering from lack of opportunity.

CMW warmly welcomes Ealaín McMullin, violin, as a member of the '11-'13 class of our two-year Fellowship Program.

Ealaín (pronounced AH-leen) was first introduced to chamber music though concerts given by the Apple Hill Chamber Players near her home in Donegal, Ireland. This began a long connection with the Apple Hill Summer Festival in New Hampshire. For the 05-06 school year, Ealaín was an Apple Hill “Playing for Peace” scholar at Keene State College, enabling her to study with members of the Apple Hill String Quartet. This association led to studies at the Boston Conservatory, where she was a member of the Bricolage String Quartet, the  Conservatory's honors ensemble. A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the Boston Conservatory, Ealaín's teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley and Lenny Matczynski.

What drew you to Community MusicWorks?

I was drawn to CMW because I think programs of this kind send a very progressive and important message about music and about classical music in particular. In both its programming and its educational values, it strikes me as an organization which strives to open up chamber music to new audiences.

The holistic educational principles adopted by CMW are also very appealing to me. I feel very fortunate to have had musical mentors in my life that opened up new perspectives for me personally. I think that CMW understands the value and importance of this mentoring relationship.

While we won't begin posting public events on the website calendar until after Labor Day, here are a few morsels to whet your appetite while we prepare for our 15th season.

1. Another Bach Festival (possibly titled "Bach and Beyond")
2. Haydn Opus 20 string quartets
3. An unusual and beautiful program of music for oboe and strings
4. A season-long sonata series, curated by Minna
5. Plenty of Bartok!
6. A program of chamber music featuring piano and clarinet
7. More experimental music by local composers
8. A collaboration with the Haven String Quartet, resident musicians of Music Haven
9. Festivities to celebrate 15 years of CMW, bringing back past CMW musicians to perform alongside our current roster of resident musicians

Stay tuned!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

For the last three years, Elizabeth Hollander has been the fearless leader at the helm of CMW's Board of Directors. Liz completed her maximum term (six years) on CMW's Board in June and has since been recruited by Lynne McCormack in the Department of Art, Culture, and Tourism to help lead an effort to make arts education accessible to all Providence school children. So we know that we'll still be in close contact with her going forward. Liz, we are grateful for all that you accomplished and inspired while at CMW.

Stepping up to the plate is David Bourns, recently retired from his post as Paul Cuffee School's first Head of School (since 2000) and previously the Head of School at the George School in Newtown, PA (1979-2000). We warmly welcome David, and we look forward to his inspired leadership as we pass the midpoint of CMW's second decade this season.

 
Download a listing of CMW's 2011-2012 Board of Directors and Advisors here.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

The Community String Project (CSP) is a non-­profit organization founded in July 2009 with the goal of serving disadvantaged and at-risk youth in Rhode Island's East Bay area through an innovative music program centered on string instruments. Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions are offered to both children in adults.

Former CMW Fellow (and current adjunct Resident Musician) Laura Cetilia was hired recently to be the Project's first Executive Director. Congratulations Laura! Now that makes two former CMW Fellows leading related community-based music projects in Rhode Island…