Projects

Music for Refugees in Providence, RI

Syrian composer residency engages Syria’s culture, civil war and refugee crisis, creating a musical home for R.I.’s refugee community.

  • Project Created By

    Community MusicWorks

    Founded in 1997, CMW is a “revolutionary organization” (The New Yorker) that creates cohesive community through music education and performance that transforms the lives of children, families, and musicians in underserved neighborhoods of Providence, RI.

  • Composer
  • Project Dates
    Start Date
    September 1, 2020
    End Date
    May 31, 2021

Music for Refugees in Providence, RI

Syrian composer residency engages Syria’s culture, civil war and refugee crisis, creating a musical home for R.I.’s refugee community.

This project will create continued opportunities for joint experiences of music-making, as we help new Americans become part of the Rhode Island community. From September 2020 to May 2021, Music for Refugees will build community through two music sharing events, culminating in a third more formal food and music gathering featuring Middle-Eastern food, music and musicians. Kareem Roustom will create a new 18-20 minute work for string orchestra, harvested from the collective memories of the newly resettled refugee community, developed through workshops and interactions throughout the year as participants contribute, stone-soup-style, to a musical mix (“this is a song that I learned in school”… “we used to dance this at weddings”). Repertoire will also include Roustom’s arrangements of Iraqi folk songs, and the third movement of his A Voice Exclaiming string quartet, Dabké, which draws from the rhythms of a traditional middle-eastern wedding dance.

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival: VIRKO BALEY AT 85

March 29, 2024 | 7:00 pm

The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, 450 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

Plastic Dream Fugue – Aaron Larget-Caplan in Concert

March 29, 2024 | 7:30 pm

First Church Boston, 66 Marlborough Street, Boston 02116

NewMusicUSA Grantee Event

An Evening of Roots Music with Jalopy Records

March 30, 2024 | 8:00 pm

LeFrak Concert Hall 153-49 Reeves Ave Flushing, NY 11367

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