Patrons at Louie’s Restaurant on Providence’s East Side got a little guerrilla with their grill this Friday afternoon, courtesy of the Providence String Quartet.

Spirits were raised and cholesterol levels lowered as the musicians stormed the infamous diner and played Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 as a warm-up to the weekend’s concerts at Tazza Cafe and Temple Beth-El.

-Liz Cox, CMW staff

It was the Thursday before the big day when my mom and I spontaneously decided to make the pilgrimage to DC. It was convenient for us since my mom’s sister lives in Maryland and we would have a place to stay. Mom and I hadn’t done anything together like this I think EVER! So the power of the moment brought us together to make the decision to go. 

We were among the last, say, 300,000 people to enter the National Mall on Tuesday morning. We couldn’t manage to wake up at 3:30am and get there to stand in the cold for 5 hours. But we arrived at the Mall at around 9:00am and took our places in front of the Jumbotron right near the Washington Monument.

We cheered and booed along with the crowd as the past presidents and officers came through the front doors of the Capitol Building. There was a ton of slander blurted out towards our former Commander and Vice-Commander in Chief that I will choose not to repeat. But it was clear that everyone on that field was glad to see them go and eager to cheer for our new President. 

It’s hard for me to describe the level of anticipation that was in the crowd. Every time they even showed Obama on the Jumbotron before he exited the building, everyone went totally nuts. We just could NOT WAIT to make it official. As he was sworn in my mother wept beside me. I did not weep with her. I was moved in a different way, I think because I was brought up in a world that did not separate me from the rest. I didn’t have to go through what she went through growing up in DC and Columbus, GA in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. As much as I KNOW of the history, I could not feel the pain, and the relief of that pain, the way she did that day. And in part, I am grateful to her for that. I am grateful to all who came before me to make it possible for me to stand there and be a witness to something I actually DID believe, personally, could happen in my lifetime. Perhaps it was sooner than I expected…but we really have come a long way. For the first time in my life, I am proud to be an American. We did good.

-Jessie Montgomery, PSQ

PSQ violinist Jesse Holstein spoke about Shostakovich's Quartet No. 8 at the Providence Athenaeum earlier this season. If you are attending either of the performances this weekend–at Tazza Cafe on Saturday and Temple Beth-E on Sundayl–tune in for some pre- (or post-) game analysis.

Click here to download the MP4 file.

Diane Ragsdale, Associate Program Officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, delivered a speech titled "Surviving Cultural Change" in New York City in October that contains many good ideas for arts nonprofits to consider during an economic downturn. Here is an excerpt that I especially liked:

As many of you probably know, the Slow Food Movement grew up in opposition to the Fast Food Industry. It encourages people to focus, to attend to, the experience of eating-it reminds people of the pleasure and satisfaction that comes with savoring well-made locally-grown food, appreciating the place it came from and the farmers and artisans that grew and prepared it, and enjoying the company of the people with whom you're dining. In other words, the Slow Food Movement has given people a reason to make time for eating.

I wonder: What would a major Slow Arts Movement look like?

Download a pdf of Diane's entire speech here.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

What are you doing on Monday, January 19?

Consider spending Martin Luther King Day participating in a national day of service. Click here or here for more information.

Last week I had the great pleasure to work for two days with my colleagues practicing the Shostakovich Octet. I was a little apprehensive going in, not having rehearsed in this configuration before, and hoping to live up to the great musicians around me. And with any eight personalities in a room, I wondered, how do you balance the contrasting, and sometimes conflicting, ideas that are are part of the rehearsal process? What I experienced was each of us having a voice in this rehearsal process, with PSQ leading the way, and Fellows holding their own.

Of course, even with all the time spent on the octet, there was room for good food and good fun. Two brilliant teams (Fellows vs. PSQ, of course) tapped their creative juices in Cranium on Tuesday night over the course of three games: final tally 2-1.

-Rachel Panitch, Fellow

Great news! In late December, CMW learned that we had received a three-year grant of $300,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support our Fellowship Program, as well as two new projects–a "facilitated visits" initiative and a collaboration with Brown University’s Cogut Center for the Humanities–that will help us extend the impact of our work.

The facilitated visits will enable us host musicians from around the country for several weekends a year, to take part in CMW events, give performances, and learn about the CMW model. This project will let others learn about our unique model, and also create important connections for our Fellows. The first facilitated visit is tentatively planned for later this spring for members of the Sphinx Organization, a non-profit organization based in Detroit dedicated to furthering the careers of minorities in classical music.

The second project is a three-year partnership with the Cogut Center for the Humanities at Brown University. Look for a performance later this year by the Providence String Quartet at the Cogut Center, and a Cogut Center Fellow at CMW in the near future!

We’re all excited to get to work on these new initiatives, which we hope will both deepen the work we do in Providence, and influence the national dialogue about the role of musicians and arts education in social justice work. Thank you, Mellon Foundation!!

-Chloe Kline, Writing Coordinator

[Editor's note: expect an official announcement with more detail later this month.]

Nick Kitchen, who visited Community MusicWorks last month with the Borromeo String Quartet to present a Musical Workshop, has created a website where you can stream high quality videos of his Quartet's recent concerts.

During vacation, I spent some time with a few of my favorite chestnuts
of the chamber music repertoire: the Mendelssohn Octet, Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence, Beethoven's Quartet Opus 132…

In Nick's words, "there was often the feeling that something special had occurred [in a concert], that a
unique beauty had come to life. It was wonderful to know that
performers and audience members might treasure a memory of the event,
but sad that there was so often no chance of revisiting the events of
the concert, enjoying them again, studying them, learning more from
them."

I love this idea of a "unique beauty" coming to life on the concert stage. What Nick has offered the public through the Living Archive is a new way–thanks to technology– to recreate our experience in the concert hall. A chance to revisit a treasured memory, for the eyes as well as the ears. 

Click here to visit the Living Archive.

-Heath Marlow, CMW staff

Photos by Jori from the December 20 concert at Providence's Bell Street Chapel. The PSQ performed Ravel and Schubert, and the Fellows Quartet contributed Borodin's Quartet No. 2.