2020-2021 season

upcoming


Boston Latin Academy residency

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Over 3 consecutive weeks in March, Castle of our Skins will lead its first ever virtual residency, presenting interactive, educational performance videos for students of the Boston Latin Academy strings program.
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This program is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.

Stopping Time with Castle of Our Skins

Presented in collaboration with the Cambridge Public Library.
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Join Castle of our Skins for Stopping Time, an hour-long program for children to explore the relationship between blues and poetry.

Through listening, writing and performing, participants are transformed by the legacy of blues musicians like Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Coco Taylor.

April 22, 2021 @2:00pm: Virtual
Register HERE.

Zoom link will be emailed to registrants one hour before the program begins.

WITNESS: SPIRITUALS AND THE CLASSICAL MUSIC TRADITIon:

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Presented by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
"Witness" is a  series of free, digital programs exploring the ways some Black American composers have found inspiration in the rich tradition of spirituals. Tune in below and save the dates for the next release!

May 21, 2021 - Episode 3: Wade in the Water
June 18, 2021 - Episode 4: Calvary
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dream-visions

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This program is supported in part by a grant from Cambridge Arts, a local agency which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
“Dream-Visions” is the first collaboration between Castle of our Skins and Winsor Music, and Project STEP. The program includes a world premiere chamber piece by David Sanford, a high energy work by British contemporary composer Hannah Kendall, and a monstrous, highly indulgent, Neo-Romantic work by British trailblazer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. The title “Dream-Visions” draws its name from Paul Laurence Dunbar’s “Over the Hill” poem, which Samuel Coleridge-Taylor set into song.

April 25, 2021 @2:30pm: Pickman Hall​

​Family "Edu-tainment" : african american spirituals

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Join COOS for music, history and more in this family-friendly "edu-tainment" concert featuring string quartets by Black composers that showcase African American spirituals. Presented by the Strand Family Theatre Virtual Series. 

Recommended for all ages. Littler ones will get a lot out of the music, and the historic context in between songs will resonate more with older kids and adults.

Streaming May 1st through 16th
​Pay-What-You-Can Tickets: HERE
($20, $10, $5, or $0)
A video link will be emailed to you after you purchase a ticket.
This program is funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

from the motherland

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Castle of our Skins’ first concert program dedicated entirely to the continent of Africa. Curated in partnership with our Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residence Tanyaradzwa A. Tawengwa, this program will include dance, music, visual arts, a creative of color meet and greet, and general celebrations for the diversity of music from the motherland.

June 4, 2021 @7:00pm: Boston Center for the Arts Plaza 

Castle of our Skins is a Launchpad Resident at Boston Center for the Arts. Co-Sponsored by Boston Center for the Arts.

Celebrating Black Artistry Through Music

Latest happenings


​FInal Founder's Chat

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On the eve of this 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment ratification, we're celebrating the resilience and artistry of African American women who, despite this constitutional amendment, still faced discrimination barring their full right to vote.

Presented by the Kennedy Center's "Arts Across America" series,  The Power of Her Voice will take place in the historic Museum of African American History and feature the music of Florence Price and Jessie Montgomery.

August 17, 2020 @ 4:00pm 

Final founder's chat

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This is the final installment of our conversational series where we sat down with an international roster of Black women leaders of several outstanding music organizations. Co-founders Ashleigh Gordon and Anthony R. Green will hold their final discussion with Pamela Coats, founder and clarinetist of the Germany-based chamber ensemble Sinfonietta Vivazza. 

August 20, 2020 @12pm


​Missed any of our earlier conversations?
Replay any and all of our seven-part series HERE

Black composer miniature challenge final Premieres

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Composers who identify as African descended were challenged to compose 30 second miniatures for co-founders Ashleigh and Anthony! 18 composers rose to the occasion and wrote works for solo viola, solo piano, and viola-piano duo. Catch the final three virtual world premieres at 12:00pm noon on Facebook and Instagram (@CastleSkins).
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August 21, 2020: Emerson Sudbury's "Sans Titre" for viola-piano
August 28, 2020: Charles Murrell III's "Fanfare" for viola-piano
September 4, 2020: Mel M. Fitzhugh's "Violaceous" for viola-piano
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See the full list of composers and video recaps HERE.

poetry nightcap session

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Join us for an evening nightcap of original poetry and bubbly, all from the comfort of your own home! Bring a drink to settle in; we'll provide the poetry.

In this special evening, we'll present poet Enzo Silon Surin who will read poems from his newly released book When My Body Was a Clinched Fist.

September 23, 2020 @8pm: On Facebook & Instagram 

Celebrity Series: the power of her voice

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Featuring vocal and piano selections by Florence Price, Jacqueline B. Hairston, Margaret Bonds and Zenobia Powell Perry, interwoven with poetry readings and history sharing.

With soprano Brianna J. Robinson, pianist Julia Scott Carey and spoken word/history telling by Ashleigh Gordon.

October 24, 2020 at 4:00pm - ZOOM

Castle of our Skins is proud performing ensemble on Celebrity Series of Boston's Neighborhood Artist series.

Black Love

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Castle of our Skins is an Ensemble in Residence at Roxbury's Hibernian Hall.
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Through multimedia, spoken word, dialogue, movement, and music, Black Love will explore themes of self-affirmation, self-care, healing and sexuality.

Black Love will also include a special month-long 3D digital healing space installation that will teach you how to build your own personal alter healing space, a virtual Black Love Market complete with 5%-15% off discounts to your favorite expressions of Black artistry, AND a post world premiere gathering space for healing led by The Wellness Collaborative, Inc.

Month-long events + a YouTube streaming concert performance November 13 - 15, 2020: MORE INFO HERE

IN BLACK & WHITE

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Inspired by The Phillips Collection’s "Riffs and Relations: African American Artists & the European Modernist Tradition," exhibit, Castle of our Skins presents In Black & White: a musical dialogue between African American composers of recent times and European composers with whom they were engaged. As Riffs and Relations seeks to draw visual connections, In Black & White showcases the lengthy and complicated intermingling with African American composers and European aesthetics.
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​January 15, 2021 @7:00pm

Castle of our Skins is a Launchpad Resident at Boston Center for the Arts. Co-Sponsored by Boston Center for the Arts and The Phillips Collections. 

CELEBRITY SERIES BOSTON STRINGFEST

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Castle of our Skins is excited to lead this year's Boston Stringfest! This season, we're teaming up with three youth string programs: City Strings United, Boston City-Wide String Orchestra, and the El-Sistema inspired Boston String Academy. AND, we're incredibly excited to welcome back NYC-based composer Jessica Mays as our guest composer to create new music this collab inspired by themes of unity and resilience.

January 18, 2021
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Castle of our Skins is proud performing ensemble on Celebrity Series of Boston's Neighborhood Artist series.

my favorite things educational workshop

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Join Director of Education Taylor Lena McTootle in this virtual, interactive workshop that introduces young learners to various genres and styles of music. You'll come away understanding that inspiration comes in many forms, and sometimes originality can be found in simply recreating a timeless classic. 

February 16, 2021 @ 1:00pm: Mattapan Public Library (Virtual)

This program will occur on Zoom. Register HERE. A link to the meeting and password will be sent via email on the day of the program.

Celebrity series "Remember King" community concert

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Castle of our Skins is excited to be back in residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College! As part of our residency, we will feature an immersive three-day residency focused on the music of Jessie Montgomery complete with lectures, master classes, open rehearsals and concerts culminating in our portrait concert "Break Away." ​
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work within the new landscape of presenting live music digitally while adhering to internal and state guidelines to keep our artists, staff, and production partners healthy.

Thank you to our performance sponsor, Foley & Lardner LLP, for their generous support of this performance.


​BREAK AWAY: JESSIE MONTGOMERY PORTRAIT

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Castle of our Skins is excited to be back in residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College! As part of our residency, we will feature an immersive three-day residency focused on the music of Jessie Montgomery complete with lectures, master classes, open rehearsals and concerts culminating in our portrait concert "Break Away." 

​"Break Away" Portrait Concert:
March 5, 2021 @8:00pm: Livestreamed: RSVP
Castle of our Skins is an Ensemble in Residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College.

Shirley graham du bois creative in residence

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The inaugural Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residency program is generously funded by donors Arlene and Larry Dunn and invites creative artists to collaborate in various ways with COOS throughout the season.

​Meet our inaugural Creative in Residence: Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa.

Previous Concert & Education Series:

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
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Black concert series and educational programs in Boston and beyond