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.

06 Owl and Raven – audio player, insert into post

06 Owl and Raven – file url, insert into post

06 Owl and Raven – attachment post url, insert into post

 

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 16^th
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.

Habanera:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-copy-31.mp3|titles=Habanera copy 3]

Slow Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Slow-RR-Dante.mp3|titles=Habanera Slow RR Dante]

Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-RR-Dante-1.mp3|titles=Habanera RR Dante 1]

Single Part:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Dante.mp3|titles=Habanera Dante]

Habanera:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera.mp3|titles=Habanera]

Slow Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-RR-Slow-Jose.mp3|titles=Habanera RR Slow Jose]

Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-RR-Jose.mp3|titles=Habanera RR Jose]

Single Part:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Jose.mp3|titles=Habanera Jose]

Habanera:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-copy-2.mp3|titles=Habanera copy 2]

Slow Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Slow-RR-Ruby.mp3|titles=Habanera Slow RR Ruby]

Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-RR-Ruby.mp3|titles=Habanera RR Ruby]

Single Part:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Ruby.mp3|titles=Habanera Ruby]

 

Habanera:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-copy-3.mp3|titles=Habanera copy 3]

Slow Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Slow-RR-Nohely.mp3|titles=Habanera Slow RR Nohely]

Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-RR-Nohely.mp3|titles=Habanera RR Nohely]

Single Part:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Habanera-Nohely.mp3|titles=Habanera Nohely]

Sarabande:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bach-Sarabande-Score-2.mp3|titles=Bach Sarabande Score 2]

Slow Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bach-Sarabande-Score-RR-Lyrids1.mp3|titles=Bach Sarabande Score RR Lyrids]

Rehearsal Recording:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Bach-Sarabande-Score-RR-Lyrids.mp3|titles=Bach Sarabande Score RR Lyrids]

Single Part:

[audio:http://www.communitymusicworks.org/medialab/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Single-Part-Bach-Sarabande-Score-Lyrids.mp3|titles=Single Part Bach Sarabande Score Lyrids]