In December, the CMW Players performed audiovisual compositions by Caroline Park, Stephan Moore, and David Len Elion, all participants in Betsey Biggs' class last fall at Brown University.

A look back at some of the year's exciting moments captured in photos and video.

January: Media Lab activities begin, including classes and open hours.

February: new 5-year Strategic Plan approved
February: IKEA rejuvenates CMW's seminar room (with help from Chloe and Liz)

March: Phase III performs at the State House during Arts Advocacy Day

March: St. Lawrence String Quartet residency

April: Youth Salon, including this Phase II jam with Jessie Montgomery

May: Providence Youth Arts Collaborative's first Youth Arts Day

May: Kim Kashkashian residency

June: Adrienne and Jason complete CMW's Fellowship Program

June: Congratulations to our graduating seniors!
June: 18-month participatory evaluation website goes live
July: CMW summer camp in Wickford

August: CMW staff refuel through summer adventures
September: Sebastian wins a MacArthur!

October: CMW receives national youth arts award!

October: CMW takes Anthem to DC for three performances

October: Celebratory Traffic Jam at 1392 Westminster!

November: 10-day Bach Festival throughout Providence

December: PSQ performs Samuel Barber's String Quartet

December: We all say a big "thank you!" to our families, friends, and supporters for making 2010 so memorable. We're looking forward to creating more memories in 2011!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

In mid-October, 25 students and their teachers traveled to Washington, DC to perform Anthem on the National Mall and in two other locations. To get a sense of the full story, you can view our collection of Anthem-related updates posted to this blog by starting here and working your way forward through the month of October. Also, click here to see a 3-minute companion video featuring CMW student voices.

Inspired by what you see? We are relying on you, our community of friends and supporters, to keep the music coming in 2011. Please click here to make a donation in any amount.

Anthem lyrics by Kirby Vasquez

Of the people, By the people, For the people
We are the future of the United States!
Power, freedom, understanding and now change,
Join hands to turn a new page.

Work together, build together, stand together
We live the dream of our forefathers today.
As we walk we make a pledge to march ahead
We prove what Doctor King once said.

For we now have a sense of pride above all,
We stand tall,
We stand tall…

Keep our spirits high because we will fly.
No matter who we are as one we will rise.
No matter our age, our color, or race.
There are still similarities in the problems we face.

We’ve seen the same suffering and sorrow,
But we still make our way to a better tomorrow.
And though we’ve seen it all, we refuse to fall.

So keep our spirits high because we will fly.
Through all the pain and tears, we move on by.

When once the road wasn’t clear,
We now make our way without fear
For we are the future of the United States.
What was once our goals, now become our fate

This is our American Dream.
To make the world safe from hypocrisy,
Like an unstoppable team.

So come on, this is our destiny,
Our moment to be.
Hold a sense of pride above all,
Stand tall.
For together, we will never fall.

Keep our spirits high, because we will fly.

Inspired by what you see? We are relying on you, our community of friends and supporters, to keep the music coming in 2011. Please click here to make a donation in any amount.

Community MusicWorks mourns the passing of Eric Rosenblith, master pedague and respected performer, and director of the string department at the New England Conservatory of Music for 25 years. Closer to home, he was also an important teacher and mentor for both Minna and Sebastian for more than a decade.

"He took the long view of where people would grow as musicians… He would just keep influencing them, sometimes over the course of an entire lifetime. For him, teaching was not an activity; it was a way of being in the world." Continue reading Mr. Rosenblith's obituary here.

Listen to Mr. Rosenblith interviewed by Christopher Lydon in 2000 here.

One of my cello classes and the beginning ensemble took a Holiday Tour on Saturday, stopping at Amos House, St. Elizabeth Place, and two downtown hotel lobbies.

-Sara Stalnaker, PSQ

CMW musicians were thrilled to be able to collaborate with Bill Harley in two December 11 concerts at the Lincoln School that raised money for the RI Food Bank.

The Providence String Quartet sharing Samuel Barber's String Quartet, Opus 11 with students at the William D'Abate Elementary School in Olneyville. Photo: Rachel Panitch

PSQ performing Barber String Quartet, Opus 11

Fellows Quartet performing Shostakovich Quartet No. 9

Concert curator Jesse Holstein moderates the post-concert conversation

Longtime CMW collaborator Geoff Hudson's Quartet Project was featured in the most recent issue of Chamber Music, a publication of Chamber Music America.

Easy contemporary music for string quartet—a gap in the repertoire. Geoffrey Hudson, an American composer, has begun to fill it by writing pieces that progress in difficulty. He hopes to offer “a new entry point into chamber music,” he says, “that grapples with the music of our time.”

Most of his quartets are short, witty, instructive pieces, contemporary in their rhythms and harmonies. Hudson hopes to publish six volumes, titled the “Quartet Project,” in the fall of 2011. He envisions each volume containing 20 miniatures and one full-length work.

“I’m enough of an old fuddy-duddy,” says Hudson, “to think that kids today need to broaden their communication skills. I would have quit the cello long ago if I hadn’t started playing with other people. If you learn three chords on a guitar, you can play in a band with your friends. Rock music is so satisfying that way, with no authority figure telling you what’s right or wrong.”

Download the entire article by Katherine Millett here. View a December 2008 post about CMW's involvement in the Quartet Project here.