Alex Ross has a new book coming out on September 28. Based on sixteen years of his writing for The New Yorker, it gives a "panoramic view of the musical world, from Bach to Björk and beyond." Listen to This includes the 2006 essay that Alex wrote about the crisis in music education in which he featured CMW as a "revolutionary organization in which the distinction between performing and teaching disappears."

For Listen to This, Alex provides an online audio guide, arranged by chapter. There are some useful links regarding information about CMW, and you even listen to an excerpt of the final movement of the Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor that the Providence String Quartet performed with Jonathan Biss during Alex's visit to Providence in November 2004.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

I just moved to Boston, and I'm about to begin classes next week as an Abreu Fellow at the New England Conservatory, where I'll learn all about El Sistema, the inspiring music program for youth in Venezuela. As part of this new fellowship, I've been given one afternoon a week to spend working with a community-based music organization in Boston. The timing will work out perfectly for me to be able to spend my Thursday afternoons with the Boston Public Quartet, an organization modeled after CMW. I'm glad that I'll be able to keep playing chamber music, teaching and making music with students here in Boston. I'm also happy that I'll be able to continue playing and working with Jason, who also moved to Boston at the end of his two-year CMW fellowship and is now also a member of the Boston Public Quartet.

I miss CMW, but I'm glad that I will be able to stay connected with the people that I got to know over the last two years, and that I'm close enough that I can visit often! 

-Adrienne Taylor, CMW Fellow (2008-2010)

[Editor's note: Don't be surprised to see Adrienne back in Providence in November performing some solo Bach on her cello…]

Throughout the season, the Providence String Quartet will be performing
iconic string quartets written by four American master composers between
1896 and 1994.

1. October: Charles Ives's String Quartet No. 1 (From the Salvation Army)
2. December: Samuel Barber's String Quartet, Opus 11
3. February: Steve Reich's Different Trains for string quartet and tape
4. May: Osvaldo Golijov's The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind for string quartet and klezmer clarinet

This season-long project is made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces program. Jesse's program notes coming soon…

Elsewhere, CMW’s roster of resident musicians and invited guest artists will blanket the City of Providence in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach between November 11-21. CMW's All-Bach Festival, in collaboration with Brown University's Department of Music, will include a solo works marathon on one weekend, large ensemble concerts on the next weekend, and in between, a series of impromptu/spontaneous performances in public spaces throughout the City.

Later in the year, an Experimental Music Festival is planned for April 28-May 8. CMW’s roster of resident musicians, students, and invited guest artists will present new and experimental music events in varied venues across the City, drawing on Providence’s rich culture of experimental and indie artists who populate the City’s urban arts scene, with special emphasis given to electronic and improvised music.

One other important theme for the year is composer Geoffrey Hudson's Quartet Project. Geoff is creating a pedagogically sound approach to making string quartet playing accessible to student and amateur musicians. In addition to having CMW students learn and perform Hudson’s music over the past two seasons, the Providence String Quartet will be performing several of Geoff's miniatures on each of their programs throughout the current season in order to promote the composer’s developing project.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

We warmly welcome Ariana Falk to Providence! A native of Portland, Oregon, Ariana studied with the same cello teacher as Sara while she was in high school. After attending Yale College for her undergraduate degree, she continued on to earn a Masters and Artist Diploma at Yale's School of Music. From New Haven, she headed north to study with Michael Reynolds of the Muir String Quartet at Boston University where she completed her Doctor of Musical Arts degree. [Editor: A marathon enthusiast, it is likely that Ariana ran the 150 miles from New Haven to Boston, although this is unconfirmed.]

Are there things in particular that you are looking forward to about this position? "I can already see that the sharing of ideas that takes place among all the staff and teachers is going to be a wonderful resource as I develop as a teacher. Things like sharing lesson goals, scale plans, and studio development ideas are all of great interest to me. And of course I look forward to the opportunity to connect in so many meaningful ways with the students and families. It’s not all about what the Fellowship can give me for the future; it’s also about the relationships that will form now, and all that facilitated by the warm and welcoming community that CMW has fostered."

We enthusiastically welcome Robin Gilbert to CMW! Robin grew up in Providence, attended Classical High School, and studied viola at the New England Conservatory and the State University of New York at Purchase. He is well known to those who have been around CMW for a while, as both he and his younger sister Gracie studied violin locally with Lois Finkel, and they would appear as special guests at CMW Performances Parties from time to time (circa 2001).

What drew Robin to CMW? "The CMW fellowship was particularly appealing to me because of the diverse challenges the position entails (teaching, performing, administrative duties), as well as the opportunity to learn from experienced teachers and leaders and incorporate their ideas and methods into my own. Growing up in Providence, I have been exposed from an early age to the good that CMW provides to the community, as well as the music world. The cost of playing an instrument effectively excludes families that don't make x amount of dollars from having such an opportunity. I know firsthand the joys and benefits that come with learning an instrument, and no one should be deprived of that because of financial standing. It's very exciting to share something as valuable as playing music with those who may not have started otherwise."

What we lacked in numbers, we made up for in enthusiasm!

More photos by Jori in CMW's Flickr account.

Comments captured during the first day of our all-staff planning retreat:

Added opportunities for kids to play music and socialize together
Semester-long Media Lab classes
Alignment of programming, establishing more lines of connection between programs and students
Three streams of artistic programming (PSQ, Fellows Quartet, CMW Players)
Laura and two Brown University PhD students helping with Media Lab
Passion for experimental programming and experimental music
New schedule will maximize people's creative impulses
Students develop new skill sets so that they can "hang" in any musical situation that they encounter
Freedom to more around within a stable environment

Coming soon!

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff