CASTLE OF OUR SKINS
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2017-2018 Season

Castle of our Skins is the 2017 Cultural Ensemble-in-Residence at the Roxbury YMCA!
Visit our Roxbury YMCA Residency page to learn more about our Cultural Days programming

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Photo Credit: www.RobertTorresPhotography.com
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Free Fun fridays - "umoja"

Castle of our Skins brings a program celebrating unity, community, cultural pride, and creativity. This FREE, family-friendly "edu-tainment" recital features string quartets by Valerie Coleman, Jessie Montgomery, Chevalier de St. George, Florence Price, Bill Banfield and Daniel Bernard Roumain.

​August 25, 2017: 11:00am & 1:00pm - Museum of African American History
This program is made possible with support from the National Parks of Boston "Art on the Trails to Freedom" initiative, the National Park Service ​Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, the New England Foundation for the Arts and the Boston Foundation.

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Musicians of Color "meet and greet"

It's a new season! Meet, greet and connect with fellow classical musicians of color. 

September 10, 2017: 12:00-1:00pm - AT&T Flagship Building (699 Boylston Street)
RSVP (FREE) HERE

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Black orators: by word and by pen

The program is a poetic and musical dedication to the unwavering persistence shared in three literary giants:  Maria Stewart (1803-1879), David Walker (c.1797-1830) and Samuel Allen (1917-2015).

September 28, 2017: 6:00-8:00pm - (full schedule and tickets) Museum of African American History
This program is made possible with support from ​the National Parks of Boston "Art on the Trails to Freedom" initiative, the National Park Service ​Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance Program, and the New England Foundation for the Arts.

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Franklin Park, BSO and Boston pops

Castle of our Skins is excited to join in the Boston Symphony Orchestra/Boston Pops pre-concert festivities with a special performance of string quartets by Black composers! Catch Castle of our Skins - and a host of other local groups - for music, an interactive mural, instrument playground, crafts, photo booth, live animal demonstrations, and more!

Pre-concert festivities begin at 1pm. The Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops, in partnership with the City of Boston, will present a special FREE concert in Boston's Franklin Park at 3:00pm. 

October 1, 2017:
  • 1:00pm pre-concert activities (Castle of our Skins will perform at 1:30pm)
  • BSO/Boston Pops concert will begin at 3:00pm
  • Franklin Park Playstead (25 Pierport Road, Dorchester)

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"Percentages," graphite, 18”x18” ~Taryn Wells
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identity

Castle of our Skins teams up with the New Gallery Concert Series to present a program of works and visual art in conversation with race and the struggle for equity. The program features the portraitures of visual artist Taryn Wells, whose work explores the complicated subjects of race and identity, and the music of Dr. Jonathan Bailey Holland, Alvin Singleton, Gary Powell Nash, Tania León and Anthony Green.

  • November 4, 2017: 7:00pm - New School of Music, Cambridge
  • November 5, 2017: 1:00-3:00pm (*new schedule) - Razzo Hall, Traina Center for the Arts at Clark University, Worcester 
Click HERE for more

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Click HERE for more info and
to purchase tickets
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BLACK IN EUROPE AND BEYOND

Castle of our Skins is excited to join in the MusicUnitesUS Intercultural Residency Series at Brandeis University offering lectures, a panel discussion and workshops culminating with an 8:00pm concert on November 18th. With a focus on Black composers and musicians with connections to the European Classical music world, COOS is especially excited to welcome Chi-chi Nwanoku, Dr. Kira Thurman, Dr. Julius P. Williams and Renèe Baker as invited lecturers, panel members and artists for this residency. 

November 15-18, 2017 - Brandeis University


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Photo Credit: www.RobertTorresPhotography.com
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Celebrity series - Roxbury stringsfest

Castle of our Skins joins Boston City-Wide String Orchestra and City Strings United as part of Celebrity Series of Boston's Roxbury StringsFest. This annual, family-friendly event features an afternoon of chamber and orchestral music inspired by folk songs and is our first ever collaboration with youth performers.
​
December 3, 2017, 3:30pm - Hibernian Hall, Roxbury 

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Musicians of color "meet and greet" Pt. 2

Following up from our first event in September, we welcome your thoughts for other community building events/actions you'd like to see/co-organize.

December 17, 2017: 12:00-1:30pm - AT&T Flagship Building (699 Boylston Street)
RSVP (FREE) HERE

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2018 - 2019 Composer-In-residence

Castle of our Skins is opening a composer-in-residence position for the 2018 - 2019 season for composers of African decent or belonging to the African diaspora. The selected composer will receive a compensation package worth $1500, including at least one world premiere performance and an interview.

Deadline: DECEMBER 17, 2017 - Composer-in-Residence 2018 - 2019: Brian Raphael Nabors

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Photo Credit: www.RobertTorresPhotography.com
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Lowell Lecture Series with Bernice King

Castle of our Skins performs Daniel Bernard Roumain's "King" and Eleanor Alberga's "Remember" string quartets in a program aptly titled "Remember King".

May 10, 4:30pm "Remember King" performance*
May 10, 6:00pm Bernice King lecture*

Copley Square Library, Boston

*Free, family-friendly and open to the public


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Photo Credit: www.RobertTorresPhotography.com
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Celebrity series - Neighborhood arts

Castle of our Skins performs Daniel Bernard Roumain's "King" and Eleanor Alberga's "Remember" string quartets in a program aptly titled "Remember King".

May 12, 2018: 4:00pm - Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit, Mattapan 

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All events to be held at
​The Boston Conservatory at Berklee


Full Schedule
CLICK HERE
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New music gathering

May 17, 2:45pm
"New Access to Neglected Repertoires: Black Music and the Archive" Lecture

May 17, 3:45pm
​
"Finding Your Place in a Densely Populated Community" Panel Member

May 19, 8:00pm
Closing Ceremony Concert

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Ain't i a woman

The "Ain't I a Woman" project will explore Black feminism through music, visual art, spoken word and history. Castle of our Skins will bring together local artists and creative entrepreneurs, musicians, historians, and the sounds - both old and newly created - from female composers in a celebration of Black women and their creative power.

May 26, 2017, 7:30pm - Hibernian Hall, Roxbury 
FULL CONCERT DETAILS HERE
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Boston Cultural Council, a local agency which is funded by the Mass Cultural Council, and administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. 

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May 31, 6:00pm
Codman Square Library, Dorchester​

June 1, 12:30pm
Copley Square Library, Boston

June 7, 6:00pm
West End Library, Beacon Hill 
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Crossing the line to freedom: a musical narrative

The Boston Lyric Opera and Castle of our Skins join forces to showcase the lives and stories of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr., and Paul Robeson through the music of opera. Paired with spoken word, art song, spirituals and history, their lives — and those of other legendary liberators — take center stage.
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Featuring the music of composers Nkeiru Okoye,
Adolphus Hailstork, Dorothy Rudd Moore,
​Margaret Bonds, and Undine Smith Moore.

​*All performances are free and open to the public.

Previous Concert & Education Series:

'16-'17
season

'15-'16
​Season


 '14-'15
​SEASON

'13-'14
​SEASON

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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ABOUT
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  • ABOUT
    • WHAT IS COOS?
    • LEADERS
    • ARTISTS
    • COLLABORATORS
    • CREATIVE IN RESIDENCE
    • CONTACT
  • CAREERS
  • SEASON
    • 2022-2023 SEASON
    • MassQ Ball
    • Black Poet Miniature Challenge
    • BSU Fellowship
    • REPERTOIRE
  • EDUCATION
    • EDUCATION
    • AS TOLD BY
    • BIBA Blog
    • RESOURCES
  • PRESS
    • IN THE NEWS
    • Videos & Images
  • CONTRIBUTE
    • DONATE
    • VOLUNTEER
    • Join the Board
    • SPECIAL THANKS
  • Store