"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

Dung Beetle, Paper Wasp and Caterpillar hanging out on the sidewalk outside of the CMW office. Obviously, The Bug Opera is coming to Providence soon!

Could there be a better place for a picnic to kick off our tenth season of activities with our program families than at the "Temple to Music" in Roger Williams Park?

Following the potluck picnic, the Providence Quartet, Fellows, and Phase II members headed out to Canonicus for an overnight retreat that including chamber music, a ropes course, and some good time for bonding after a summer apart.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

When
I first got to Apple Hill, I was nervous and scared. Most music camps are
usually really competitive and hard to be comfortable in. But when I got to
know all of the kids, I realized that everyone was a lot like me, there to play
music and have fun. There was no stress, it was fun, and the food was great. So
there’s nothing that you should be uncomfortable about.

-Jovanne Jean-Francois, Phase II

Laura Thomas-Merino, one of two new Fellows to start work for Community MusicWorks in September, emailed from the road that her moving company had been delayed ten days and so her cross country trip from Los Angeles to Providence is not going as smootly as planned. She’s been waiting out the delay in Virginia.

Turns out that Laura, using the acronym LRTM, is a part of the electronic music scene. Her LA-based group mem1 may have to come to Rhode Island one of these days for a performance at AS220.

PS-Laura, if you have successfully arrived today per your new timeline, welcome to Providence! CMW’s got recommendations for our favorite restaurants right here.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Friday was Anne’s last day working for Community MusicWorks. Now she’s packing up her car and preparing to move to St. Louis for adventures unkown.

Anne was at the center of all CMW activity over the last three seasons, from keeping the office functional to creating the annual teaching schedule (more complicated than a Rubik’s Cube) to challenging CMW’s pedagogical philosophies during staff meetings, and everything in between.

At the Board retreat last week, Anne was toasted (engraved glass pitcher) and roasted (a short film entitled "Cash Flow" with fictional footage of Anne dipping into the CMW donation basket at a PSQ concert).

Goodbye Anne (middle row, in red) and thank you for everything!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Coming soon to a theater near you. In fact, very near you if you live in the West End of Providence.

Geoff Hudson and Alisa Pearson have collaborated to create a new opera designed to appeal to the entire family. How could it not? All the characters are bugs. There is the mosquito that doesn’t want to drink blood, the caterpillar that doesn’t like change, the scat-singing dung beetle. They venture on a journey of self-discovery that "ultimately leads them back to themselves."

When I learned about this new (almost-completed) opera, created in partnership with the Indian Hill Music Center in Littleton, MA, I felt that we had to bring it to Providence to share with our students and families. With co-presenter Opera Providence, we will be able to do just that.

Mark your calendars for Friday, November 17 for The Bug Opera at the Columbus Theatre. Beginning September 1, tune in to www.BugOperaProv.com for information, tickets, other events, bug related  facts and anecdotes, and opportunities around the Ocean State to learn about bugs or experience the insect world.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff