2021-2022 season

Click HERE for COVID-19 Updates Affecting In-Person Events

Click HERE to Read and Download Our Season Press Release

upcoming

remembrance

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Lecture-performance with musicologist-pianist Dr. Samantha Ege, featuring works for strings and piano by Florence Price, Undine Smith Moore, Margaret Bonds and Frederick Tillis.

PAY-WHAT-YOU-LIKE
May 18, 2022, Lecture 6:00pm; 7:00pm concert @ Tufts University Distler Hall
Co-sponsored by the Tufts University Department of Music

Massq Ball 2022 origin - making a mythos workshop

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Led by Castle of our Skins’ Director of Education Taylor Lena McTootle, “Making a Mythos” focuses on the creative power of storytelling. Young participants will experience firsthand how fictional tales can reflect our cultural values and create them. Appropriate for youth ages 8-12 years old.

MassQ Ball 2022: Origin is co-produced by Castle of our Skins, visual artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, and the Arnold Arboretum. A series of lectures, panels, and interactive experiences designed to deepen our collective understanding, MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will culminate in a final, large-scale celebration called MassQ Ball that will take place on July 9, 2022, at the Arboretum.
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May 21, 2022 3:00pm @ The Arnold Arboretum
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Learn more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin at MassQBall.com
MassQ Ball 2022: Origin Press Release
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Massq Ball 2022 origin - massqing workshop

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Learn the origin, technique and meaning behind Daniel's artistic practice of MassQing, which uses the human face as a canvas to reveal one's inner state. Engage firsthand in the conception and creation of your own MassQ.

MassQ Ball 2022: Origin is co-produced by Castle of our Skins, visual artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, and the Arnold Arboretum. A series of lectures, panels, and interactive experiences designed to deepen our collective understanding, MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will culminate in a final, large-scale celebration called MassQ Ball that will take place on July 9, 2022, at the Arboretum.
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June 4, 2022 1:00pm @ The Arnold Arboretum
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Learn more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin at MassQBall.com
MassQ Ball 2022: Origin Press Release
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Massq Ball 2022 origin - making of ceremonial vessels

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Led by Bengali culture worker Pampi, this audience participatory workshop allows attendees to weave love letters into hand-crafted ceremonial vessels to their loved ones. Vessel will be fashioned out of natural materials sourced from the grounds of the Arboretum and displayed in the MassQ Ball.

MassQ Ball 2022: Origin is co-produced by Castle of our Skins, visual artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, and the Arnold Arboretum. A series of lectures, panels, and interactive experiences designed to deepen our collective understanding, MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will culminate in a final, large-scale celebration called MassQ Ball that will take place on July 9, 2022, at the Arboretum.
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June 25, 2022 1:00pm @ The Arnold Arboretum
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Learn more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin at MassQBall.com
MassQ Ball 2022: Origin Press Release
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

Massq Ball 2022 origin - the massq ball

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The MassQ Ball will feature the diverse artistic expressions of and for Boston’s communities of color. A space for connection and healing, this intergenerational, cross-cultural exhibition of the arts asks the question “If we, together, could author our own creation story, what would we create?

MassQ Ball 2022: Origin is co-produced by Castle of our Skins, visual artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, and the Arnold Arboretum. A series of lectures, panels, and interactive experiences designed to deepen our collective understanding, MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will culminate in a final, large-scale celebration called MassQ Ball that will take place on July 9, 2022, at the Arboretum.
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July 9, 2022 2:00-7:00pm @ The Arnold Arboretum
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Learn more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin at MassQBall.com
MassQ Ball 2022: Origin Press Release
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

2021-2022 ​SHIRLEY GRAHAM DU BOIS CREATIVE IN RESIDENCE

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The 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 2021-2022 Creative in Residence: Marlanda Dekine-Sapient Soul

Celebrating Black Artistry Through Music

Recent happenings

Love and Justice

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Featuring the debut performance of Shirley Graham du Bois Creative in Residence, poet Marlanda Dekine-Sapient Soul, this virtual performance includes original poetry and songs for soprano and piano with music by Margaret Bonds, Undine Smith Moore, R. L. Owens, and Adolphus Hailstork's MLK-inspired art song "Songs of Love and Justice." Musicians include pianist Julia Scott Carey and soprano Brianna J. Robinson.

July 27, 2021 @7:30pm: Watch HERE
As part of the Apple Hill Chamber Music Virtual Summer Concert Series.

#BCMC 2.0

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Composers who identify as Black and part of the African diaspora are challenged to compose pieces for flute and harp! 

Each piece must be approx. 30 seconds or less and scored for solo flute (piccolo, C, and alto), solo harp, or flute & harp duo.

Questions? Please email anthony@castleskins.org.

The August 1, 2021 by 11:59PM deadline has passed.
​For MORE INFO, please visit our BIBA Blog

misodzi yamarimba

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In collaboration with the Boston Lyric Opera, we are excited to co-present the world premiere performance of an original musical narrative by Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa-Nzou Mambano: Misozdi YaMarimba, the story of how the mbira came to be.

August 28, 2021, 4:00pm: DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
RSVP HERE: FREE for member adults and children; $18 for non-members

#BPMC 

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Poets who identify as Black and part of the African diaspora are challenged to write a haiku or a tanka! All ages are encouraged to participate, and each poet will receive a $75 honorarium (via PayPal or check). Your poem can be submitted as written text, recorded voice, or a video recording of you reading the poem.

Poems are due August 31, 2021 by 11:59PM
​For MORE INFO, please visit our BIBA Blog

 be still and know 

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Lectures and a concert hosted by the University of Baltimore featuring works for piano quartet and subsets by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, Jeffrey Mumford, Carlos Simon, Adolphus Hailstork and Brian Raphael Nabors.

October 12, 2021, 7:00pm: An Die Musik, Baltimore & Livestream
FREE! RSVP HERE

safika: dr. bongani ndodana-breen portrait concert

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Castle of our Skins is excited to be back in residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College! As part of our third annual residency, we will feature an immersive three-day residency focused on the music of Dr. Bongani Ndodana-Breen complete with lectures, master classes, open rehearsals and concerts culminating in our portrait concert: Safika.
Castle of our Skins is an Ensemble in Residence at the Longy School of Music at Bard College.

Miniature festival

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Featuring world premiere 30 second miniatures for flute and harp submitted as part of our Black Composer Miniature 2.0 Challenge, PLUS haikus and tanka poems submitted as part of our Black Poet Miniature Challenge, PLUS performances by Project STEP, Boston City-Wide String Orchestra, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras' Intensive Community Program students of viola works from our inaugural Black Composer Miniature Challenge!

​September - December 2021: On Facebook, YouTube & Instagram 

sound & appliqué

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Featuring world premiere compositions inspired by African American quilting traditions by Elizabeth Brown and Lauren McCall, plus Florence B. Price's Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for string quartet. New quilts and poetry commissions by quilters L'Merchie Frazier and Alpha M. Bruton and Shirley Graham du Bois Creative in Residence poet Marlanda Dekine-Sapient Soul.

January 22, 2022 (PURCHASE TIX)
    1:00pm Pre-concert lecture (virtual)
    7:00pm Performance
​Brattleboro Music Center, VT

sound & appliqué

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A concert film version of Sound & Appliqué, which will be filmed at the Longy School of Music of Bard College, will be released later this season and include spoken word, narration, music, and poetic imagery stitched together. A perfect way for you to enjoy this experience from the comfort of your own home!
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Castle of our Skins is an Ensemble in Residence at the Longy School of Music of Bard College.

What is black creativity?

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 Over the past five months, students from the Longy School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Boston Conservatory at Berklee's Black Student Unions gathered for fellowship, mentorship, learning, and creation.
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What Is Black Creativity? is a co-curated concert experience that seeks to answer just that by showcasing the breadth, depth, and ever expansive world of Black artistry.

RSVP (it's FREE) HERE  |  Learn more about the fellowship HERE
Co-Sponsored by Boston Center for the Arts where Castle of our Skins is a Launchpad Resident.

Thresh & hold


Co-Sponsored by Boston Center for the Arts where Castle of our Skins is a Launchpad Resident. Supported, in part, from the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency, through a CIP Project grant; the Boston Cultural Council, administered by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture; and the Fromm Music Foundation.
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THRESH & HOLD is a book of poems re-coded into a collaborative ceremony of composed and improvisational music, dance, poetry, and short film. “Exhausted of singing in an empire’s hopeful choir”, Dekine’s poems play with past, present, and future, all held within any moment, remembering the power of Black imagination for collective ancestral healing. 

Featuring Shirley Graham du Bois Creative in Residence poet Marlanda Dekine, Victoria Awkward (Dance), Brittany J. Green (Composer), Mahkia Greene (Film), Zahili Gonzalez Zamora (piano), and Emily Bearce (Lights).

March 13, 2022 4:00pm @ The Boston Center for the Arts + Livestreamed
​Tickets: PAY-WHAT-YOU-LIKE 

Massq Ball 2022 origin - Culture | Identity | Arts pAnel

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A panel discussion featuring visual activist L’Merchie Frazier, dancer Jenny Oliver, and restaurateur Biplaw Rai, this conversation explores the deeply intertwined relationship between identity and artistic expression, and how both can be leveraged for cross-cultural connectivity.

MassQ Ball 2022: Origin is co-produced by Castle of our Skins, visual artist Daniel Callahan of Create & Record, and the Arnold Arboretum. A series of lectures, panels, and interactive experiences designed to deepen our collective understanding, MassQ Ball 2022: Origin will culminate in a final, large-scale celebration called MassQ Ball that will take place on July 9, 2022, at the Arboretum.
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March 26, 2022 1:00pm @ The Arnold Arboretum
​RSVP in person
RSVP livestream

Learn more about MassQ Ball 2022: Origin at MassQBall.com
MassQ Ball 2022: Origin Press Release
File Size: 243 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

SEEN

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Seen explores the power of storytelling and one's authentic voice. Curated and featuring flutist and composer Nathalie Joachim, Seen features the works of Allison Loggins-Hull, Nathalie Joachim, and Valerie Coleman.

April 10, 2022, 1:30pm @ Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Reserve Your Ticket

Thresh & Hold: a poetry reading

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Thresh & Hold is the newest work by 2021 winner of the New Southern Voices Poetry Prize Marlanda Dekine. Dekine will read poems from her work and engage in a lively discussion + Q&A moderated by Faraday Publishing founder and winner of the 21st Annual Massachusetts Book Awards for Poetry Enzo Silon Surin. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase Thresh & Hold and get their copy of the work signed by Marlanda Dekine.
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April 29, 2022, 7:00pm @ Bolling Pearce Building
Pay-What-You-Like RSVP
This event is co-produced with Faraday Publishing. 

Massq Ball 2022 origin - soul: an ancestor workshop

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