Welcome to Season 25!

Our Sonata Series premiere shines a spotlight on a frequently maligned instrument: the viola. Often the subject of derision, jokes about the viola abound. Not cool. With this piece, guest pianist (and husband of a violist) Ivan Tan gives the instrument some well-deserved love.

“Its career has been an interesting and singularly checkered one: originally the oldest and most important of the string family, its prestige gradually diminished until it became a mere drudge, necessary for the balance of part-writing, but hardly considered worthy of much notice in itself…

…The tone of the viola is apt to become slightly monotonous in an entire recital, as it has not as large or brilliant a range of tone-color as the violin or the cello…”

– Rebecca Clarke, “Viola”, Cobbett’s Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music (1929)

“Oops.”

– Jake Pietroniro and Lisa Sailer (2021)

Though often playing a purely supportive function in ensemble textures, the viola can also be a powerful soloistic force in its own right; the ability of skilled violists to navigate seamlessly between these disparate roles makes them particularly attractive chamber music partners. Especially since the turn of the 20th century, and inspired by pioneering virtuoso performers like Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, composers have written works that showcase the viola’s distinctively dusky timbre.

In fact, George Rochberg’s Viola Sonata was commissioned by the American Viola Society in honor of Primrose’s 75th birthday in 1979. Fascinated with the interplay between performers inherent in the duo sonata format, Rochberg had begun working on his own violin sonata in 1942, but abandoned the project after he was drafted into the army. The sonata’s pre-war origins are especially apparent in the first movement, whose harmonic content is influenced by Rochberg’s interest in the music of Béla Bartók. The heart of the piece, however, is the bluesy second movement: Rochberg has written that its “dirgelike, singing character” was what convinced him that the sonata would sound “natural” on the viola. Eventually, Rochberg’s wife Gene convinced him to add a third movement, though Rochberg resisted the traditional “stormy finale” in favor of a short epilogue that contains fleeting reminiscences of themes from the first movement.

Unlike Rochberg (whose main instrument was the piano), Rebecca Clarke was a virtuoso violist, and her 1919 Viola Sonata has become a repertory staple. Throughout the sonata, Clarke uses her intimate knowledge of the viola to show off its technical capabilities and timbral palette: the striking cadenza that opens the first movement and the shimmering harmonics in the quicksilver second movement belie Clarke’s description of the instrument as “awkward and difficult,” while more lyrical themes in all three movements explore the viola’s melodic potential. As with Rochberg, Clarke inserts themes from the first movement into a formally looser, almost improvisatory last movement, though here the thematic recall works in favor of a large-scale dramatic ending.

The viola’s importance extends behind the scenes of this concert, performed at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in Nelson, NH, where many CMW faculty and students go every year to participate in its Summer Chamber Music Workshop. Mike Kelley, the violist of the Apple Hill String Quartet, recorded and produced the concert, and both Jake and Lisa have studied viola with Lenny Matczynski, Apple Hill’s director. In preparing for this performance, we’ve enjoyed celebrating the longstanding association between Apple Hill and CMW, and prominently featuring a well-deserving but underappreciated instrument!

— Ivan Tan, pianist

Watch the premiere of Sonata Series Event #1, featuring MusicWorks Collective violists Jake Pietroniro and Lisa Sailer, joined by guest pianist Ivan Tan, for two remarkable duo pieces that showcase the rich and soulful sonorities of the viola.

Spotlight on the viola!

This season the Sonata Series returns online and presents varied programs with less-often heard works along with several mainstays of the repertoire, and features illuminating conversations with the performers.

Sonata Series Event #1 features MusicWorks Collective violists Jake Pietroniro and Lisa Sailer, viola, joined by guest artist Ivan Tan on piano for two remarkable duo pieces that showcase the rich and soulful sonorities of the viola.

Join us on YouTube on October 14 at 7 pm EST for Sonata Series Event #1, where the rich and soulful sonorities of the viola are showcased in two remarkable pieces.

Twentieth-century American composer George Rochberg wrote serial music for much of his career, but took a sharp turn in style after a tragic life event left him feeling that atonal writing didn’t contain enough expressive range for his grief. His Viola Sonata demonstrates a departure that is romantic in nature with its bold expressiveness, that at times hints of his earlier style. Also featured  is the majestic Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke, written in 1919 shortly after the composer emigrated to the United States from Britain. From its riveting opening notes, the piece draws the listener into a singular sound world and dramatic arc.

Thursday, October 14 at 7 pm EST
CMW’s YouTube Channel

At the end of this summer, my partner Ealáin encouraged me to take a retreat to get centered for the upcoming CMW season. After a short look around the internet, a barn loft on a working farm in Willington, Connecticut, popped up on Airbnb for a five day stay. Bluebird Farm is a lovely spot in the town of Willington, a small rural hamlet about thirty minutes from Hartford.

While there, I was able to practice, run, meditate, visit friends in nearby Windsor, CT and spend lazy afternoons doing crossword puzzles in the farm’s lovely gazebo. However, I think what was most special to me about my time on Bluebird Farm was the menagerie of animals who lived there. Pigs, sheep, goats, chickens, guinea hens, ducks, and a cow named Jojo lived in harmony in a field next to the barn. Also in residence were eight cats and seven dogs, three of whom were professionals – livestock guardians that kept an eye on all of the animals and looked out for any potential nighttime predators. These working dogs were a lovely breed called Maremma Sheepdogs, and they kept a strict rotating schedule and took no guff from the other animals. The friendliest cat was a large Tom named Jean Valjean who was on regular patrol of the grounds. Carmen, one of the owners of Bluebird Farm, showed me where the grain was kept for the animals, and said I could feed them whenever I wanted. It was awesome to see the goats and sheep emerge from their little shelter to run towards me when I appeared with the grain bucket.

Jojo the cow, ½ Angus, ½ Holstein (no relation) would also come running for grain, seemingly unaware of his size or the power of his tongue. Curious about how he would respond to the violin, I played an improvised tune for JoJo, what I’ll call a Bovine Bourrée, and he seemed to enjoy it. Two of the sheepdogs also came over for the short serenade. As you can see from the video, they were an attentive and receptive audience!

All in all, a little solitude and quality time on the farm was just what I needed to get ready for Season 25 at CMW. I hope to see you at an event soon. Music-loving barn animals are always welcome!

– Jesse Holstein

Inspiration, commitment, and full hearts abound!

In late August, participants wrapped up CMW’s fifth annual summer MusicWorks Network Institute by gifting each other heartfelt wishes. Fifty people, including staff members and students from CMW and our peer network organizations, gathered on zoom for workshops, discussions, and sharing around the theme of anti-racist practice.

Poet and Social Justice Facilitator Ama Codjoe (photo, left) provided framing for the three days of the Institute, which featured a keynote presentation with violinist and educator Dr. Chelsey Green (photo, right) from Berklee College of Music speaking about her experiences in music and her thoughts about the centrality of improvisation to musicians’ learning.

Participants also engaged in powerful and engaging sessions by a range of presenters:

Dancer and educator Sokeo Ros explored various approaches to addressing the four forms of trauma experienced by historically marginalized and excluded communities;

Cellist, actor, lawyer, business advisor, and thought leader David Blasher led a participant-engaged session to practice listening for when we are lost and found, as students and educators, using personal story as a gateway to common bonds;

Marji Gere and Dan Sedgwick, Co-Founders and Directors of Around Hear, a free chamber music series and music education project, envisioned the way in which performance, teaching, and community-building can happen in joyous symbiosis;

CMW’s Director of Racial Equity and Belonging, Ashley Frith and artist and educator MJ Robinson facilitated affinity groups.

A concurrent Youth Institute was offered alongside this Institute, with students participating in Wednesday’s keynote and various other Institute workshops, while engaging in sessions tailored specifically for them.

Learn more about the MusicWorks Network Summer Institute here.

Jake Pietroniro, viola
Jake, a Teaching Artist Fellow at CMW, began his studies in New Hampshire through a Waldorf school program. Jake now holds two degrees in viola performance from the University of California at Santa Barbara and The Hartt School, where he studied with Helen Callus and Rita Porfiris. Jake has appeared as a soloist with the Kankakee Valley Youth Symphony, and was a founding member of the Luna String Quartet, which was awarded a fellowship at The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in 2019. In competition, Jake won first prize in the Hartt Chamber Music Competition and was recently a finalist in the Coltman Chamber Competition in Austin, TX. Jake has also appeared as a guest teaching artist with Arpeggio Peru and El Sistema de Guatemala. In his spare time, Jake likes to learn about physical therapy as it relates to healthy playing, and enjoys playing basketball, reading, and hiking in the White Mountains.

Lisa Sailer, viola
Lisa joined CMW in 2019 as a Beginning Strings Specialist and Resident Musician. In addition to teaching individual lessons, she directs the newest and youngest ensembles in CMW’s Daily Orchestra Program. She also teaches at the Community Music Center of Boston, and was a Teaching Artist Fellow in the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s META (Music Teachers/Teaching Artists) Fellowship’s first cohort. A certified Alexander Technique teacher, Lisa incorporates body awareness and freedom of movement into her string teaching. She has been a guest Alexander Technique teacher and Teaching Assistant at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire, and has run Alexander Technique workshops in Alaska, Florida, and in between. She earned a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from SUNY Purchase and a Master of Music in viola performance from The Boston Conservatory. When not playing or teaching music, Lisa can be found doting upon her two cats and her sourdough starter.

Ivan Tan, piano
Equally at home playing classical piano or rocking out on a keytar, Ivan Tan has performed in venues ranging from the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music to the Rochester Fringe Festival. He is on faculty at Brown University, where he teaches courses on music theory, and is a Ph.D. candidate in music theory at the Eastman School of Music, where he is completing a dissertation on keyboard performance in 1970s progressive rock. Ivan also holds degrees from Brown and SUNY Purchase in music and applied mathematics.

https://communitymusicworks.org/29may_/donate/

Also, mark your calendar for March 20th, 2022 for the next Fred Kelley Scholarship concert featuring members of the MusicWorks Collective and the fabulous American tenor, Frank Kelley in a performance of Schubert’s incredibly moving song cycle, “Die Schone Mullerin.”

The program, featuring violinists Jesse Holstein and Ealaín McMullin, was recorded at Bell Street Chapel in Providence, and at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in Nelson, N.H.

THE ANNUAL FRED KELLEY SCHOLARSHIP CONCERT

Ishirini
Alvin Singleton, composer (1940- )

Duets on Folk Themes                                            
Grazyna Bacewicz, composer (1909-1969)Prelude
Krakowiak No.1
Nocturne
Kujawiak
Krakowiak No.2
Grotesque March
Song

A Tale for Two Violins         
Kristapor Najarian, composer (b. 1991-)
Introduction/Over the Plateau
Kef/Loy Loy
Rendezvous
Capture/Groung
Misty Morning/Lament
Escape

Ferdinand the Bull for solo violin and narrator
Alan Ridout, composer (1934-1996)
Based on the children’s book “The Story of Ferdinand” by Munro Leaf

MUSICIAN BIOS:

Jesse Holstein, violin

Jesse Holstein graduated from Oberlin where he studied with Marilyn McDonald. He then received his Master’s degree with James Buswell at the New England Conservatory. Prior to Oberlin, he studied violin with Philipp Naegele in Northampton, Massachusetts. Jesse would be remiss if he did not send a huge thank you to his wonderful Suzuki teacher Diana Peelle who started him at age 5 and was extremely patient with his posture for years.

An active recitalist, orchestral and chamber musician, Jesse is currently concertmaster of the New Bedford Symphony. In recent summers, he has performed at the Bravo! Festival in Vail Colorado, the Montana Chamber Music Festival in Bozeman, the Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, and the Apple Hill Festival in Sullivan, New Hampshire.  Jesse also has attended the Violin Craftsmanship Institute in Durham, New Hampshire, where he learned about instrument repair. Since 2013, he has been on the faculty at the Greenwood Music Camp at the foot of the Berkshires in Cummington, Massachusetts. Greenwood is where he himself was bitten by the chamber music bug as a teen. While an undergraduate, Jesse taught for the Oberlin Preparatory Program in the Lorain, Ohio public schools. Also at Oberlin, he served as Assistant Concertmaster and later as Music Director of the Royal Farfissa Disco Juggernaut.

Currently, Jesse is a teacher and resident musician for Community MusicWorks and was a founding member of the Providence String Quartet, With the Quartet, Jesse performed with the Muir, Miro, Orion, and St. Lawrence Quartets, as well as pianist, Jonathan Biss; cellist, Matt Haimovitz; Cleveland Orchestra Principal Oboe, Frank Rosenwein, and violist Kim Kashkashian, among others.  Community MusicWorks is a youth and family-mentoring program that provides free instruments, lessons and a variety of programs for youth in urban neighborhoods in Providence. Jesse has been a Violin Professeur at L’Ecole de Musique, Dessaix Baptiste in Jacmel, Haiti. He is currently on the faculty at Brown University.

One of his interests is how Buddhist mindfulness practice and meditation intersects with teaching and performing music. In the fall of 2013 he was granted a sabbatical from Community MusicWorks to attend the Plum Village Monastery in Bordeaux France. He has a cat, Lord Nelson. Lord Nelson is an ordained on-line minister (this is true) and is available for weddings and services (this is probably not true).

Ealaín McMullin, violin

Inspired by the opportunity to blend chamber music with education and community building, Ealaín co-founded the Newport String Project (Rhode Island) in 2012. The project is anchored by the community based residency of the Newport String Quartet. Alongside a concert series that takes place in diverse venues throughout Newport, the quartet provides free lessons in violin, viola and cello to forty young students (K-6) in a dynamic youth mentoring program that aims to engage youth who experience economic or other barriers to participation in the arts.

Ealaín was first introduced to chamber music through concerts given by the Apple Hill Chamber Players near her home in Donegal, Ireland. This led to many happy summers studying at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music in New Hampshire and since 2014, Ealaín has served on the faculty at Apple Hill’s summer festival. She studied at the Boston Conservatory, where she was a member of the Bricolage String Quartet, the Conservatory’s honors ensemble. She has performed with members of the Apple Hill, Brooklyn Rider, Lydian and Miro String Quartets and has performed at the West Cork Chamber Music Festival (Ireland) and Music From Salem (New York). A graduate of Trinity College, Dublin and the Boston Conservatory, Ealaín’s principal teachers have included Michael D’Arcy, Elise Kuder, Mike Kelley and Lenny Matczynski.

PROGRAM NOTES:

Ishirini is the Swahili word for “Twenty.” It is also the title of American composer Alvin Singleton’s short fanfare for two violins that was commissioned in 2003 to celebrate the 20^th anniversary season of the Music from Angel Fire Chamber Music Festival in New Mexico.

The two violins do their best to imitate snare drums and a brass band in the opening with both violins playing tremolo chords with tremendous force. A sudden break leaves a descending lyrical snippet atop a lone distant snare drum before returning to the boisterous opening. A quick oscillating chatter and an insistent rhythmic pounding are other principal characters in this pithy but highly dramatic and effective fanfare.

Grazyna Bacewicz was an important Polish composer and violinist whose life was cut short by a heart attack in 1969, one month shy of her 60^th birthday. She composed prolifically in her brief life and rose to prominence as a violinist and composer under the specter of the 2^nd World War and the Nazi occupation of Poland, but also during the post-war rebuilding of Europe. Her musical language bridges classicism with its reliance on conventional scales and key signatures, and modernism which embraces harmonic dissonance. Also, as a superb violinist, she wrote in a virtuosic style with propulsive rhythmic drive, but also with a lyricism inspired by both the violin’s vocal quality and by folk song.

Her Duets on Folk Themes from 1946, like their Hungarian cousins the 44 Duos for Two violins by Bela Bartok, were intended for pedagogical use to not only expand a student’s technique, but to celebrate the folk song, albeit filtered through a more contemporary language. They are a combination of folkloric simplicity of melody, dancing rhythms, deft and organic writing for the violin along with subtly applied harmonic dissonance. They are superbly written for the violin and contains many of her own fingerings and bowings in the parts. They just “lie well in the hand” and are an absolute joy to play. While not as well known as the Bartok duos, they certainly deserve to be.

Written to commemorate the 100^th Anniversary of the Armenian genocide, A Tale for Two Violins by the young Armenian American composer Kristapor Najarian is a 7-movement suite that, like the Bacewicz, is heavily influenced by folkloric material.

Here are Najarian’s own words about his compositional process and particularly about the Tale for Two Violins.

“I wouldn’t say I have any particular philosophy or ‘modus operandi’ when I compose. To me, at this moment, composition feels very spontaneous. If an idea comes to me honestly, in the moment, then I haven’t much need to criticize or change it.

Of course, composition is a long process, with much editing and orchestrating involved. However, I feel that every cell of a piece must begin with an honest and spontaneous energy. Just as many streams flow into a single ocean – each with its own natural energy – a composition for me represents thousands of spontaneous instances, woven together to create a piece more meaningful and comprehensive than each of its individual parts.

‘A Tale for Two Violins’ represents this philosophy. The piece is heavily influenced by Armenian, Turkish, and other music from the Middle East, both folk and classical. Two movements are based on traditional Armenian melodies, two on Turkish ones, and two are original.”

Indeed, Najarian’s suite is a pastiche of textures, colors, evocative atmospheres and distinct rhythmic grooves that seem intuitive and improvisatory rather than pragmatically planned. The narrative often vacillates between deeply felt lyrical yearning and powerfully driven dance rhythms, though not dance steps we are accustomed to in the West. Another feature heard towards the works opening is a passage that is tuned in quarter tones and not on western classical music keys and scales. It may seem, “out of tune,” but this is a very specific mode of tuning and requires great precision. As Najarian, like Bacewicz, is a violinist, he knows the instrument intimately and uses the full pallet of sound from the violin to great effect.

Finally, a retelling of Munro Leaf’s classic children’s tale, Ferdinand the Bull told through a narrator and a violin with music by the British composer, Alan Ridout. The story will literally speak for itself, but the violin provides the “soundtrack,” as it were, with motifs, melodies, and virtuosic displays representing the drama and characters of the story. On a personal note, in 2019, I was able to perform this at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music with my friend, composer and bassoonist John Steinmetz and Munro Leaf’s son was in the audience. I had added quite a few theatrical embellishments to the performance, with snorts, pawing at the ground, leaps and other shenanigans so there was a bit of trepidation as to what Mr. Leaf would think of my additions. Thankfully, he was thrilled and thought that his dad would have loved it! Phew….

-JH

Performance videography by Dave Jamrog and Rich Ferri
Event edit by Liz Cox

This June, Community MusicWorks is pleased and proud to present the Ninth Annual Senior Gala (watch it online here!) where our graduates played their final performance pieces and teachers, friends, and families payed tribute to Vanessa, Dravy, Roma, Rupert, Cecily, Gaby, Frankie, Sophia-Joy, and Zoe.

Take a moment to meet our fabulous 2021 graduating seniors!

Vanessa is a multi-instrumentalist who has been learning violin at CMW for 5 years. “I know that music is going to stay a huge part of my life,” she says, “singing, piano, and violin are all things that I’m going to keep with me because I don’t know how I would ever function without music.” Vanessa particularly enjoyed the community of Phase II inside of the wider CMW community, saying “We have really great discussions. I’ve met so many people and talked to so many people, I just think it’s beautiful what has been created here.” Vanessa will attend the URI School of Pharmacy in the fall.

Roma has been part of the CMW family for ten years. “I think I grew up in the program. For the first few years it was like my little family and then when I got older I was able to participate in different aspects of the program.” In addition to being a violin student, Roma has brought so much to the CMW community by participating as a mentor, Phase II and board member. Roma will be attending Bard College in New York. “I’m really excited to be going off on my own path but I’m going to miss CMW a lot.”

Dravy, a cellist, has been part of the CMW community for four years. “Why I love CMW so much,” he says, “is that anyone can go here and play an instrument, learn from it, grow from it.” Dravy will be continuing his cello studies at the University of Maine, where he’ll major in electrical engineering. “My big, big dream is to put my mind towards the future of technology. I want to help create the future of our generation.” Dravy worked hard in preparing his final senior performance, saying “one of my favorite CMW moments is when I learn something new or challenging and I finally accomplish it.”

Rupert has been taking violin lessons at CMW for seven years. “CMW is a program that brings communities all together by playing music all in harmony and sets the mood to bring people together as a community.” Rupert shares a CMW story that he recounts as “one of the greatest experiences of my life,” so you won’t want to miss that memory captured in our Gala presentation! After graduation, Rupert plans to enlist in one of the armed forces.

Cecily joined CMW as a violinist 5 years ago and found in the program a way to reconnect with her community and make new friends. “It was a really welcoming environment for me and shaped who I am socially in a really good way.” Cecily plans to attend Bennington College in Vermont after a gap year in which she’ll explore musical endeavors and her visual art (her pottery is spotlighted in Tuesday’s performance, which also features her guitar playing!) while looking for ways to give back to her community. “Thank you just about sums it up for me.”

Gaby has been participating in CMW programming for over 9 years. Her teacher, Jesse Holstein, says that Gaby has been a powerful and inspiring example of intrinsic motivation as she prepared for the senior performance she’ll share in Tuesday’s Gala. “She has grown tremendously as an artist and as a violist, and every lesson this year has been a voyage of discovery and progress.” Gaby will go on to study criminal justice at either URI or Roger Williams University.

Frankie started playing the cello at CMW when he was six years old, making him a 12-year veteran of the program. “CMW has always been a community space that I felt at home in, especially in Phase II weekly check-ins, it was an opportunity to share with the group how I was feeling and get advice from my friends.” Frankie remembers his early morning group cello classes fondly. “It was so fun to be playing with people that were all learning at the same time.” This fall, Frankie heads southwest to the University of New Mexico to study chemistry.

Sophia-Joy is a cellist that has been participating in CMW for four years. “One of my favorite CMW memories was preparing for the Phase II Youth Salon. We made a skit about political polarization, and I enjoyed getting to know the other people in my group.” For Sophia-Joy CMW is “a place where I can express myself creatively, a safe space where I can make mistakes and grow from them, a place where I can challenge myself.” After CMW, Sophia is off to college to study Public Health on a pre-med track.

Zoe plays violin and viola (but likes viola better!) and has been at CMW for 11 years. She also plays bass. And sings. Join us for Tuesday’s Gala and you’ll be treated to all that and more in Zoe’s cool Radiohead cover! “I have spent most of my life in the program,” she says, “and now music feels like an important part of my life and my identity and CMW is a really big part of my involvement in music.” Zoe will be studying linguistics at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, but plans to continue to make music an important part of her life.

Watch the 2021 CMW Senior Gala here:

This year’s virtual Senior Gala features final student performances from our nine graduates and heartwarming tributes from teachers, family, and friends. The online format gives our seniors the chance to present performances that reflect their creative passions, and this year we’ll feature the voices of the Vanessa, Dravy, Cecily, Rupert, Gaby, Frankie, Sophia-Joy, Zoe, and Roma sharing memories of their years in the CMW community.

Click here to watch!
CMW’s YouTube Channel