Community MusicWorks has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Jabez Gorham Award. This award, administered by the Arts & Business Council of Rhode Island, recognizes "outstanding arts/cultural organizations in Rhode Island for
unwavering commitment to excellence, significant impact on the
community, and success in organizational development." Click here to read about the other 2009 award winners.

The Jabez Gorham Award will be presented* on Thursday, May 14. Tickets to the Encore Awards are available here.

*The Encore Awards have been postponed until February 2010.

Phase II retreated to Jamestown for the day today, for rehearsals, Youth
Salon planning, and hiking on the rocks. They're primed and ready for
an awesome Youth Salon, so get ready! Saturday, April 25 @ 7 PM…

-Sebastian Ruth, PSQ

After Phase III quartet rehearsal let out on a beautiful Thursday afternoon, Louis Ortiz posed in front of the CMW storefront rehearsal studio.

Early (WAY too early) Monday morning, the Phase III student quartet met at the CMW office to head over to Warwick’s Crowne Plaza Hotel, where the quartet had been invited to play for the RI Kids Count breakfast. The breakfast was to celebrate the release of the 2009 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook, which reports on 63 indicators of child well-being across five subjects: Family and Community, Economic Well-Being, Health, Safety, and Education.

The breakfast was held in the Grand Ballroom at the hotel, where more than 300 supporters of Kids Count gathered to enjoy French toast and fresh fruit. The quartet was seated onstage at the front of the room, near the podium where Kids Count Executive Director Elizabeth Burke Bryant greeted guests. Also featured on the program were Senator Jack Reed, Harriet Meyer, President of the Ounce of Prevention Fund, who gave a great keynote address, and Amber Johnson, winner of the RI Poetry Out Loud Competition. The quartet played Lift Every Voice, We Shall Overcome, and the first movement of the Mozart Quartet in G Major, K. 156. The audience was very appreciative, and the quartet later showed up on Channel 10’s coverage of the event!

The quartet was able to grab a quick breakfast after their performance, and enjoyed chatting with Tom Brady (that’s the Superintendent of the Providence Public Schools Tom Brady, not the Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady). Then it was back to school, after a great performance, and a great start to the week.

-Phase III (Luis, Kirby, Sydney)

Well, you probably had to be at Jeff Louie's songwriting Musical Workshop on Friday for that to make sense…

Photos by Jori. More at CMW's Flickr account.

On Sunday, Rachel and Arlyn chaperoned a bus filled with CMW families to hear the PSQ members perform as guest soloists with the RI Philharmonic Community Orchestra. Rachel solicited some feedback on the way back to the CMW office after the concert.

Through a grant from the Argosy Foundation Contemporary Music Fund, Community MusicWorks commissioned two new works for the Providence String Quartet to perform during the 08-09 season.

One piece, The Kompa Variations by Daniel Bernard Roumain, received it premiere at Providence's RISD Auditorium in October. The second piece, Earned by Anthony Green, will be performed for the first time at Providence's John Hope Settlement House on Friday evening, May 15. The performance will be repeated the following afternoon (May 16) at the United South End Settlements in Boston, MA.

Historically, settlement houses have fulfilled a dual role, providing
both a place of refuge for immigrants, and a haven for the arts in
chronically under-served neighborhoods. Most were located in crowded
immigrant neighborhoods of industrial cities, where settlement workers
provided services for neighbors and sought to remedy poverty. As it deals with the related themes of immigration and citizenship, we feel that it is most appropriate for Earned to receive its debut performances at two settlement houses.

Anthony was recently in Rochester, NY for the performance of another work, 3 Groups. Read about it here.

More information about the "mini-tour" will be shared next month…

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Yesterday at the Providence Public Library, the Phase III Quartet performed Mozart and Hitch by Geoff Hudson. More photos by Jori are in CMW's Flickr account.

Photo by John Chiafalo. More photos from the Listen Local composers forum will be posted on the unofficial Providence Athenaeum blog soon.

Photos courtesy of Jori. More in CMW's Flickr account.

The CMW Pavement Raiders were in fine form at Saturday's 5K, running for fun, exercise, and also raising $1,646 (to date) for CMW's pilot summer program.

It was a cold morning on the first day of Spring

Jessie was prepared to cut down any glare from the sun

Arlyn mid-race

Jessie heading to the finish line

Sara and Jason clad
in official race attire

Ladies of CMW in front of the State House

Monty, Rachel, and Arlyn posing with Richie, CMW's secret weapon

CMW Pavement Raiders, March 2009 edition