'Community MusicWorks' of Providence, Rhode Island on 'The Community String Project'

[Community String Project Participants]

CommunityMusicWorks.org of Providence, Rhode Island has often been featured at AfriClassical. Its website describes the group's mission:

“What We Do

Through the permanent residency of the Providence String Quartet, Community MusicWorks provides free after-school education and performance programs that build meaningful long-term relationships between professional musicians, children, and families in urban neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island.”

The above photo of participants is from a News Update:

August 07, 2011

The Community String Project

The Community String Project (CSP) is a non-profit organization founded in July 2009 with the goal of serving disadvantaged and at-risk youth in Rhode Island's East Bay area through an innovative music program centered on string instruments. Fall, Spring, and Summer sessions are offered to both children and adults.

Community MusicWorks of Providence, Rhode Island Hosts Boston Symphony Violists for Masterclass

[Community MusicWorks Masterclass with Boston Symphony Violists]

CommunityMusicWorks.org of Providence, Rhode Island has often been featured at AfriClassical. Its website describes the group's mission:

“What We Do

Through the permanent residency of the Providence String Quartet, Community MusicWorks provides free after-school education and performance programs that build meaningful long-term relationships between professional musicians, children, and families in urban neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island.”

The above photo is from the 14th Season News & Events May Update. The CMW Blog tells of the masterclass with violists of the Boston Symphony Orchestra:

“On Friday, two Boston Symphony Orchestra violists visited All-Play Day to give a masterclass. In the photo above, Ed Gazouleous and Kazuko Matsusaka worked with CMW student Alexis Nelson.”

'I am changing my position from your Teacher, to your Worldwide Advocate in the Arts.'

[Jessie Montgomery]

AfriClassical has followed the violinist and composer Jessie Montgomery for some time as she served as a Violinist-in-Residence with the Providence String Quartet and Community MusicWorks of Providence, Rhode Island. Now she has returned to New York City to study composition:
August 11, 2009
CommunityMusicWorks.org
“Good luck Jessie, and we'll miss you!
Community MusicWorks staff, students, and board bid a very fond farewell to Jessie Montgomery who, after five years in Providence, has relocated to New York City to pursue her dreams as a composer. Below is an excerpt from Jessie's recent letter to her violin and Music Lab students.

“Dear Students,
“This spring marks the end of my term here as your teacher at Community MusicWorks. I want to send my personal farewell to you all and I want for you to know that I will miss you very, very much. I am going to move back to New York City, my hometown, to focus on new creative projects in composition and to team up with old friends in music.

“I am planning to attend school again for a higher degree, to learn to compose music for movies and TV and for the many musicians who live in New York. As you know, I have been composing music the whole time I have been here, and now I want to spend as much time doing that as possible so that I can share even more of my music with even more people.

“New York City is really not that far away, after all, and Sebastian even has me signed up next year for a concert or two already! So this is not a 'goodbye forever' goodbye. Just think of it as if I am changing my position from your Teacher, to your Worldwide Advocate in the Arts. If there is ANYTHING you need as you go through your studies that connects you to places beyond Providence, I will do anything I can to help.
Your adoring Teacher and Friend,
Jessie”

Violinist Jessie Montgomery Performs String Quartet No. 8 of Shostakovich Feb. 19

[Jessie Montgomery]

CommunityMusicWorks.org

“Jessie Montgomery, violinist, joined the Providence String Quartet in 2004. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she studied with Sally Thomas. Jessie won second prize in the 2001 Sphinx Competition and was previously a member of The Young Eight, an all-African American string ensemble. During her summers, Jessie has participated in the Spoleto Festival, the National Orchestra Institute, and Meadowmount School of Music. Also a composer, Jessie was the recipient of the Composer's Apprentice Award, given by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She has been a guest faculty member at the Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.”

Thursday, February 19, 7:00-9:00 pm

Providence String Quartet

Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8

The Providence Athenaeum, 251 Benefit Street, Providence, Rhode Island 

$30 members, $35 non-members

“Based on the permanent residency of the Providence String Quartet, Community MusicWorks is a 'revolutionary organization' (The New Yorker) that builds long-term learning and mentoring relationships between children and professional musicians in the West End and South Side neighborhoods of Providence, Rhode Island. As the quartet-in-residence for Community MusicWorks, the Providence String Quartet provides free after-school music education and performance programming to youth in Providence's most underserved neighborhoods. In tandem with these activities, the Providence String Quartet fills the role of the City's resident professional string quartet by performing throughout Providence and across the state.”