Profiles

This page features our latest special projects and introduces new names and faces at Community MusicWorks. Please check back soon for updates.

Tenth Year Violin

Through a collaboration unique in the violin making tradition, three of Rhode Island's premier makers have created an exceptional violin and donated it to Community MusicWorks in April 2007 to commemorate our ten years of transformative presence in Providence's West End and South Side neighborhoods.

              

Rationale. It is simply a matter of time before a special child comes along with the exceptional talent and dedication to successfully pursue a career in music at the college level. Now, through the extraordinary generosity of three local craftsmen, Community MusicWorks is in possession of a fine violin that will help that child gain access to a world of opportunities that his or her family's resources would likely not otherwise permit.

The Violin. Modeled on a 1742 Guarneri del Jesu, the violin is constructed from the finest Boznian maple and high altitude Austrian spruce. Click here to view photos of the building process.

The Makers. Karl Dennis, Tucker Densley, and Andrew Ryan are the three premier violin makers in Rhode Island. Each is a member of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, and all three have acquired many accolades for their work. Fine violins made by these local craftsmen are in the hands of some of the most renowned violinists in the country.

Your investment is needed. The violinmakers' in-kind contribution is valued at $25,000, and they have challenged Community MusicWorks to raise 25 gifts of $1,000 or more to match their generosity during 2007, our tenth year. Please contact Heath Marlow, Director of Development, for more information.

Click here to read about the Tenth Year Violin in The Providence Journal.

10 Years... 10 Stories

An interview project celebrating the tenth anniversary of Community MusicWorks.

Interviews conducted by:

Fidelia Vasquez, Community MusicWorks cellist & board member

and Chloë Kline, Community MusicWorks Fellow

Listen Local

Throughout the 07-08 season, Community MusicWorks is proud to feature at least one work by a local composer on each concert program performed by the Providence String Quartet and the CMW Players.

Wherever the Listen Local icons appear, you'll find a work by a local composer on the concert program.
Click here to visit the calendar page for more information.

07-08 season local composers (click on each composer to learn more):

Mitchell Clark

Marilyn Currier

Anthony Green

Garrison Hull

Steven Jobe

Michael Kelley

Forrest Larson

Jessie Montgomery

Alec K. Redfearn

Elise Pittenger, cello

Community MusicWorks enthusiastically welcomes cellist Elise Pittenger to Providence in Spring 2008 to cover Sara Stalnaker's performing and teaching responsibilities while Sara is on leave.

After studying literature at Yale University and music performance at Rice University, Elise is currently bringing her artistic interests together by focusing on instrumental musical theatre at McGill University, where she is pursuing a doctoral degree with cellist (and Community MusicWorks friend) Matt Haimovitz.

Originally from Maryland, Elise has a background in a wide range of musical styles. In addition to her experiences at the Peabody Institute of Music, Rice University, McGill University, and festivals such as Tanglewood and Spoleto, she has also studied baroque cello with the Toronto-based ensemble, Tafelmusik, and worked with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, combining traditional eastern and western musics.

In Montreal, Elise is very active in performing contemporary music, including as a member of McGill's Contemporary Music Ensemble. She has played with the cello ensemble, UCCELLO, performing works by Boulez, Matalon, Zappa, and Led Zeppelin, in Canada and the United States. Elise works with clarinettist Louise Campbell and pianist Amy Zanrosso as the newly formed Maenad Ensemble, bringing chamber concerts and educational workshops to concert series, schools, and private homes in the States and Canada. Participation in these ensembles has taken her to venues as diverse as Weill Recital Hall, Philadelphia's World Cafe, local homeless shelters, and Montreal's La Société des Arts Technologiques.

Elise is particularly committed to bringing performers to underserved communities; she has helped to coordinate performances in schools and community centers in Houston, Baltimore, and Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She is a dedicated teacher of everything from English as a Second Language (ESL) to chamber music, and she has taught and coached at schools and festivals in Barcelona, Houston, Baltimore, New Haven, and Montreal.