Whew! The last 6 weeks in CMW's Media Lab were a blur. In this short time, we came up with an idea for a movie, created characters, wrote out scenes individually, and combined them into a script. We talked about the mood of each scene and created (and recorded) music on our instruments to score the scenes. Then we filmed the scenes, revised our script a little, created some new music to fit the revisions, and put it all together into our final movie… the Pillow Monster!!!! Enjoy here.

-Jori Ketten, Media Lab Director

OUR HEARTFELT THANKS FOR YOUR GENEROSITY!

The Concert for Hope & Healing to Benefit Charles Sherba was a phenomenal success! The outpouring of support and generosity exhibited by the hundreds of contributors to the Charles Sherba benefit fund has been awe-inspiring. As much as we would like to thank each donor individually, it will be impossible to do so. Please accept our sincere gratitude for your gifts as we continue to pray for Chuck's complete recovery.

-Amy Goldstein, Aurea Board President

Editor: We hear that Chuck is doing well, and planning to resume performing activities this summer, including an Aurea concert and performances with the Vermont Symphony.

Commencement Forum – Education, Music, and Possibility: CMW at 15

From Brown University's website: The educational goals of CMW include creating what American philosopher Maxine Greene calls “openings,” where young people, through experiences with the arts, conceive of new possibilities for their lives and futures. CMW founder Sebastian Ruth ’97 describes the history of this organization, and discusses the educational experience with CMW alumni Sidney Argueta ’13, and Natasha Rosario ’16, followed by a musical performance.

Click here to view Sebastian's commencement forum.

Photos by Jori

Congratulations to Ariana and Robin on completing CMW’s two-year Fellowship Program. We wish you well in all of your endeavors! Photos by Jori, video by Liz.

This year's experimental music concert will feature pieces written by CMW student Liam Hopkins, Media Lab guest teacher Sakiko Mori, and local composer Forrest Larson. The performers include CMW's Music Lab and Phase II students, IMPS participants, and members of the CMW Players.

Our experimental music class started last fall as a part of CMW's Media Lab. The class has been focused on exploring different ways to make and listen to sounds and compose both in traditional and non-traditional ways. Our goal is to find a way of making sounds and compositions that works for each of us individually and excites us. See posts about this class on the Media Lab  website.

The concert on June 2 at 7:00 pm (venue TBD very shortly–check back in a day or two) is the result of our work together this year, and it will include a couple of pieces that we made in the class, and also there will be two pieces that are composed by local composers, specifically for us to perform in this concert.

We are very excited for the IMPS musicians to be a part of this concert. Even with limited rehearsal time, it will be fun!

-Sakiko Mori, Media Lab guest artist

Read the May 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.