Plenty of events to keep us busy this month. After three more days of teaching lessons, CMW will hibernate  until 2007. We will return with renewed vigor–and hopefully more frequent postings–in early January. -Heath Marlow, CMW staff

The PSQ collaborated with four members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in a performance of the first movement of the Mendelssohn Octet to lead off a December 15 event featuring Daniel Barenboim at Brown University.

Phase II members pose with Daniel Barenboim and Michael Steinberg of Brown University.

Boston’s Firebird Ensemble visited for a Friday workshop, bringing a team of musicians to perform Jon Deak’s "The Passion of Scrooge," a piece that included audience participation among a variety of most peculiar sonic effects.

The PSQ played Mozart with Minna and some wild under-the-sea creatures courtesy of Big Nazo at the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School.

A Phase II quartet performs at the December 9 Performance Party.

“I’m big and strong–what makes me so fit?
What is my secret?–you’re standing in it! Ha, ha, ha.
The nutrition I find is what you leave behind.
Never fear, nothing here goes to waste.”

“Round and round and round,
The world goes round,
Round and round and round I roll.”

-from Dung Beetle’s aria

Some images from The Bug Opera on Friday, November 17:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Gracer of Sunrise Land Shrimp and his edible bugs were a big hit during dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lobby at the Columbus Theatre was packed at around 7:15 PM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Families arriving early enjoyed a live bug exhibit (provided by the Roger Williams Park Zoo) and a live composer exhibit (provided by Geoff Hudson) upstairs at the Columbus Theatre.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

A terrific photo of the dress rehearsal of The Bug Opera, courtesy of our production manager, P. "Bugs" Linardos. Click here: Download bug_opera11.12.06.pdf
to read the Providence Journal’s preview of The Bug Opera.

Earlier this month, we invited the Miro String Quartet to town for a two-day visit…

Warming up at the West End Community Center

Performing for a full house in the Homew[ork Center]

Mendelssohn Octet at the John Carter Brown Library

Lunch at the (very full) CMW office

After years of being on the Community MusicWorks
Advisory Council, we were finally able to actively participate in some CMW
activities in Providence in early November. We were especially looking forward
to this, as many in the CMW family are old friends, fellow alumni from the
Oberlin Conservatory and numerous summer festivals. It was a reunion of sorts. When
we got down to work with them, we were all so impressed with what they had accomplished
in such a short time. With Korean meals and Mendelssohn Octets interspersed
throughout our residency, we witnessed firsthand the magical effect that music
can have on a community and we are happy to have been able to share even a
small part of those moments. A great time was had by all!

-Daniel Ching, Miro String Quartet

A few photos from the October files, as we zoom into November…


Chloe’s beginning viola students demonstrating new skills at their first Performance Party (Oct. 21).


Wolfgang Amadeus Schmutzenberry (a spoof on W. A. Mozart) teaches students how to be a very mediocre composer at the first Musical Workshop (Oct. 27), featuring a return visit by guitarist and composer Rami Vamos & Friends.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

No sooner had our Bugs arrived at Steeple Street, they
were attacked by the BIG NAZ0 Providence River Trolls, who started
singing "There ain’t no bugs on me.” I feared it would get
nasty. Instead, they all started dancing together, a scene I’ll never
forget.

We had ambitious plans to have our Bugs present two
segments of the Bug Opera but a snafu got in our way. When the Narragansett
technical crew tried to play our CD, it sounded like the CD was
skipping. Thereupon I walked to my home, to try downloading the excerpt
from the Bug Opera website. That didn’t work. Hoping that the
disc might not skip in another CD player, I grabbed my own
small portable one. It turned out that the technicians had three
Discmans connected to their stereo system, but it failed to play the CD
regardless. Another ten minutes or so passed as they were asking somebody else
to come help. While we were waiting for help, I gently insisted that they
should try my CD player. To our great surprise, it worked fine. But
at that point a jazz band right behind us started playing. A minute later
we were told that our time was up.

Regardless, the Bugs made the most out of the
circumstances. They distributed lots of flyers from Steeple Street to the
Verrazzano monument, always attracting ample attention.

We are grateful to the Bugs Cameron,
Jamie and Will. Many thanks for their
help with passing out flyers to the boys’ friend Nora, Cameron’s parents Nancy
and Bob and our star Bug Opera volunteer Stephanie. Bob and Nancy also did a
great job helping the boys put on the complex costumes – to my huge
relief, because I felt quite helpless on that matter.

–Petros
Linardos, Bug Opera Production Manager

"I
was just reading the article about [CMW] in The New Yorker. I love what your
quartet is doing and the whole philosophy and I had a small epiphany I wanted
to tell you about.

I’ve been kind of dissatisfied lately without understanding why, the so-called
profession of ‘playwrighting’ and theater is sometimes like a closed airless
room – get a reading, get a production, get a job whatever – who even goes
except New Yorkers (and tourists, but only to Broadway)?

I realized some of the most excited I get about it is when I turn someone on to
it who isn’t at all into it – like my students – I took four of my Dominican
students who had never been to anything below 125th Street to see a one-woman
show with a Latina, Marga Gomez and this one small act changed four lives. I
figured I could do it because it was a speech class but now I’m thinking I
should do it in English 101 or even Developmental Writing. Of course there’s at
least the annual high school play all over the place in America but it’s not
coming from the place that is discussed in the article – anyway, forgive my
rant.

I love what you’re doing and it made my day a little brighter thinking about
how I might do it in my own life."

–New
Yorker article reader [click here to download a pdf of the article that features CMW.]

On
October 14th there was a house concert at Tucker Densley’s house who’s is a
violinmaker and a photographer. Instead of the usual quartet we had an octet
featuring Sebastian, Jesse, Sara, Jessie, Minna, Lois, Chloe, and Laura.

The
concert started off with the Providence String Quartet playing Shostakovich
quartet #7. It was a beautiful piece that kept us all at the edge of our chairs
to hear more. Then the octet played Mendelssohn. They played so beautiful and
were all synchronized as if they were one. I had a great time and am sure that
everyone else did.

If
you missed this, bad mistake. I’m telling you, it was great. Next time you
should try to make it.  

~*~KiRbY~*~ (Phase II member)

The Providence String Quartet visited Community Preparatory School on Friday, the first of four visits this year funded through a three-year grant from Chamber Music America. The first visit was "Intro to the String Quartet" and included a demonstration of why you really need all four members to be present to be a functional ensemble!

"Sorry! I missed the bus and it was raining…"

"Sorry! My alarm didn’t go off and I overslept…"

"What an amazing program—our students loved it! The
interaction between the musicians and the students was incredible. Community
MusicWorks understands the key to students’ interest is to include them in the
performance. I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship between
Community Prep and Community MusicWorks."

-Dana
DiMarco, Community Preparatory School

[see the May 5, 2006 entry for a description of one ot the Providence String Quartet’s visits to the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School.]

This little cutie is the newest addition to the
Community MusicWorks family. Chloe, the other new Fellow, came across
the tiny feline after a long day at the Met School. Apparently, the kitty had
been abandoned near the school and was surviving off hidden morsels in the trashcans
outside. Chloe’s heart melted and she, Minna, and Sebastian tried to figure out
what to do with her. After spending a night at Minna and Sebastian’s house, the
cat is now a fixture in the CMW office…but not for long. My boyfriend Mark and
I are hoping to take the kitten in once our cat Moco arrives from Los Angeles
in late October. We feel really lucky; this cat is purrfect. She is very easy
going, lovable, and has a cute squeaky meow. Jessie is calling her
Pumpkin, others are calling her Sliva, Jujubee, and Olive, to name a few. Which
name will stick? Check in again and find out!

-Laura
Thomas-Merino, Fellow