Dearest Friends,
As musiConnects enters its 9th Season, there is so much to celebrate and reflect upon. Nine years ago this Fall, I eagerly and nervously unloaded nine generously donated rental instruments from my car and carried them into the Chittick Elementary School in Mattapan. I had no idea what this new adventure in my life would bring except that it would involve teaching children whose school had no music classes, and who didn’t know the difference between a violin and a viola.
The educational portion of the program was a solo venture in 2007. Some colleagues and I, including Joshua Addison, formed the Chittick String Quartet and performed our debut concert at the old Mattapan Community Health Center - planting seeds for growing and transforming a community through music.
Almost a decade later, musiConnects is now a team of nine talented, dedicated, and fearless Resident Musicians, eight of whom form two string quartets, the Sumner Quartet and the Boston Public Quartet, and a violinist/composer/improvisor who adds infinite richness to the organization. And the very reason I can actually write this letter as the Artistic Director is the addition of our new Managing Director, the fearless, generous, and organizing force, Jill Carrier.
Collaboration, Commitment and Community. These have always been the guiding principals of our work, from day one. This year we are wearing them on our sleeves (and on our new t-shirts!) as our core values that define everything we do. In the case of working with our students, we can point to these as reminders of why we have all come together in this way - to practice daily in order to learn a new piece, to really listen carefully to peers and exchange ideas, to invite family and neighbors to a concert. As performers, it is also a reminder of why we spend hours honing the craft of playing our instruments, rehearsing the art of chamber music, and emoting to an audience of strangers now friends - not to keep it to ourselves, but to share our experiences intimately and widely.
We will center our season of concerts and events around these three core values. In November and December, we explore the art of Collaboration. The Boston Public Quartet will team up with pianist extraordinaire Joy Cline Phinney in performing the exquisite Piano Quintet by Johannes Brahms. This program will be presented in a Boston neighborhood community venue, and we also are excited to return to the Harvard Musical Association for a performance, also collaborating with pianist and host Jim McDonald. Also in November, the Celebrity Series of Boston presents a collaborative concert featuring the Boston Public Quartet and Pan-Latin artists Sol y Canto in Sabor y Memoria (Flavor and Memory) which touches on themes of memory and nostalgia for one's home country, as well as immigration, agricultural sustainability, and hunger relief.
March brings Commitment. Both the Sumner Quartet and the Boston Public Quartet will perform on a series of concerts designed to explore and reiterate our commitment to the work we do, and the neighborhoods we serve. This includes our showing our commitment to our growing Mattapan audience by performing for the fifth consecutive year at the beautiful Mattapan Library. You may stumble upon one or both of the quartets rehearsing at the Mattapan post office in preparation for this concert! In addition, our joint quartet concert at the Newton Free Library will engage listeners with music of Bartok and Mendelssohn, and stories of our work at the Chittick and Sumner Elementary Schools. We will also perform for the third time at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall, alongside the Boston City Singers, presented by the Celebrity Series.
The idea of Community means a great deal to us, and it can have different meanings depending on the context. In the case of our April concerts, including our annual fundraising event at Emmanuel Church and a free Celebrity Series-sponsored event at Mattapan’s Church of the Holy Spirit, we hope to harness feelings of communion with members of different communities, and remind us all of our shared membership in the human race. Imagine a liturgical dance ensemble whose home is a Mattapan church, followed by a Debussy string quartet movement, followed by a chamber orchestra piece featuring all members of the musiConnects community and guest performers. I hope you’ll join us to witness the feeling of connection our students will have when they perform side by side with their teachers and other musicians!
At the end of September, dozens of violins, violas, and cellos lined the walls of our office, awaiting their car ride to the Chittick and Sumner elementary schools to be reunited with eager children who were so excited to get started playing music again. Now their sounds fill the school's’ hallways, matching scale pitches, harmonizing in string quartets, and playing an essential role in helping musiConnects continue its mission--now in its 9th year--to transform the lives of young musicians and their families.
Please join us!
My Very Best,
Betsy Hinkle
Artistic Director
As musiConnects enters its 9th Season, there is so much to celebrate and reflect upon. Nine years ago this Fall, I eagerly and nervously unloaded nine generously donated rental instruments from my car and carried them into the Chittick Elementary School in Mattapan. I had no idea what this new adventure in my life would bring except that it would involve teaching children whose school had no music classes, and who didn’t know the difference between a violin and a viola.
The educational portion of the program was a solo venture in 2007. Some colleagues and I, including Joshua Addison, formed the Chittick String Quartet and performed our debut concert at the old Mattapan Community Health Center - planting seeds for growing and transforming a community through music.
Almost a decade later, musiConnects is now a team of nine talented, dedicated, and fearless Resident Musicians, eight of whom form two string quartets, the Sumner Quartet and the Boston Public Quartet, and a violinist/composer/improvisor who adds infinite richness to the organization. And the very reason I can actually write this letter as the Artistic Director is the addition of our new Managing Director, the fearless, generous, and organizing force, Jill Carrier.
Collaboration, Commitment and Community. These have always been the guiding principals of our work, from day one. This year we are wearing them on our sleeves (and on our new t-shirts!) as our core values that define everything we do. In the case of working with our students, we can point to these as reminders of why we have all come together in this way - to practice daily in order to learn a new piece, to really listen carefully to peers and exchange ideas, to invite family and neighbors to a concert. As performers, it is also a reminder of why we spend hours honing the craft of playing our instruments, rehearsing the art of chamber music, and emoting to an audience of strangers now friends - not to keep it to ourselves, but to share our experiences intimately and widely.
We will center our season of concerts and events around these three core values. In November and December, we explore the art of Collaboration. The Boston Public Quartet will team up with pianist extraordinaire Joy Cline Phinney in performing the exquisite Piano Quintet by Johannes Brahms. This program will be presented in a Boston neighborhood community venue, and we also are excited to return to the Harvard Musical Association for a performance, also collaborating with pianist and host Jim McDonald. Also in November, the Celebrity Series of Boston presents a collaborative concert featuring the Boston Public Quartet and Pan-Latin artists Sol y Canto in Sabor y Memoria (Flavor and Memory) which touches on themes of memory and nostalgia for one's home country, as well as immigration, agricultural sustainability, and hunger relief.
March brings Commitment. Both the Sumner Quartet and the Boston Public Quartet will perform on a series of concerts designed to explore and reiterate our commitment to the work we do, and the neighborhoods we serve. This includes our showing our commitment to our growing Mattapan audience by performing for the fifth consecutive year at the beautiful Mattapan Library. You may stumble upon one or both of the quartets rehearsing at the Mattapan post office in preparation for this concert! In addition, our joint quartet concert at the Newton Free Library will engage listeners with music of Bartok and Mendelssohn, and stories of our work at the Chittick and Sumner Elementary Schools. We will also perform for the third time at Roxbury’s Hibernian Hall, alongside the Boston City Singers, presented by the Celebrity Series.
The idea of Community means a great deal to us, and it can have different meanings depending on the context. In the case of our April concerts, including our annual fundraising event at Emmanuel Church and a free Celebrity Series-sponsored event at Mattapan’s Church of the Holy Spirit, we hope to harness feelings of communion with members of different communities, and remind us all of our shared membership in the human race. Imagine a liturgical dance ensemble whose home is a Mattapan church, followed by a Debussy string quartet movement, followed by a chamber orchestra piece featuring all members of the musiConnects community and guest performers. I hope you’ll join us to witness the feeling of connection our students will have when they perform side by side with their teachers and other musicians!
At the end of September, dozens of violins, violas, and cellos lined the walls of our office, awaiting their car ride to the Chittick and Sumner elementary schools to be reunited with eager children who were so excited to get started playing music again. Now their sounds fill the school's’ hallways, matching scale pitches, harmonizing in string quartets, and playing an essential role in helping musiConnects continue its mission--now in its 9th year--to transform the lives of young musicians and their families.
Please join us!
My Very Best,
Betsy Hinkle
Artistic Director
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