I attended a chamber music concert at the Community MusicWorks Center yesterday evening. Although I have now spent time in the new building on several occasions since it opened in September 2024, it is still a head-spinning experience to turn left on Westminster Street, instead of turning right to visit the former storefront office, and see the realization of a twenty-year dream occupying two stories, clad in beautiful wood, at the corner of Dexter and Westminster Streets. The playful "s t r i n g q u a r t e t" painted in vibrant red letters on the old storefront window, with a small audio speaker hidden above the air conditioning unit for broadcasting occasional rehearsals onto the sidewalk, has been vastly upgraded to a state-of-the-art concert chamber (capacity: 250) with a wall of glass that can generously open outward onto Westminster Street when the weather allows. Community MusicWorks was founded in 1997, and, as of 2025, has clearly reached a new level of permanence in the local community as it wraps up its 28th season this month. Spend more time with the Community MusicWorks Center here, or view many beautiful photos on 3SIX0's site.
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The musician-led initiative that totally captivated my imagination this spring was pianist Miki Sawada's Gather Hear tour of Louisiana. This was her fifth such tour, carting an upright piano in a moving van, but the daringly unique twist this time was that she did not pre-plan any performance venues. Rather, she allowed the tour to unfold based on conversations with ordinary (and fascinating) people that she met along the way. I remember being inspired by cellist Matt Haimovitz's Listening Room tour in 2002, and dreaming up a potential road trip challenge, crossing the country from living room to living room with a solo Bach program and eventually making it all the way to San Francisco from Boston. I figured that the even greater adventure would have been to rely on house concert guests to introduce me to the next host in the next location. I never followed through on that idea, and I'm so inspired by Miki's bravery and tenacity, not to mention her artistry. And her storytelling and promotional skills, too! See her photos and videos here. I wish there was a way to better share the email updates that she provided across the timeline of the tour. Here's one excerpt: We continued along the southern Louisiana coast through the land of swamps and bayous (with an alligator sighting right next to a strip mall), to the Chitimacha Reservation. The Chitimacha are one of four federally recognized tribes in Louisiana. I walked up to all of the tribal buildings, hoping to maybe play at their school, but all were deserted. I even wandered into the maze of their tribe-operated casino to ask for intel, and was told that the day after Easter is a holiday and everyone is hanging out at home. No luck. "Commissioned by ANAM and designed by Melbourne-based BB3, part of Bluebottle, the 'concert hall in a box' accommodates an audience seated in two circles around an imperceptibly rotating central stage. No audience member is more than two meters from the performers."
Read the entire article here. “We believe music-making should be radically participatory, driven by the audience as much as the musicians.” So impressed with how, throughout the pandemic, the work has only deepened and matured at the Iris Music Project. Founder and cellist (and Community MusicWorks Fellowship Program alum) Lauren Latessa shares much, much more that's worth listening to in this recently recorded conversation for Charles E. Smith Life Communities in Rockville, Maryland. |
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June 2022
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