AS STUDENTS

Castle of our Skins' BSU Intercollegiate Fellowship is an opportunity for musicians from Black Student Unions at select Boston/Cambridge colleges and conservatories to collaborate, create, and build a network of peers beyond institutional affiliation; a network informed by identity, experience, and aspiration.

In our time together, students will gain:

Artistic engagement and fellowship with a collaborative cohort of other Black music students.

Professional development around their career, concert curation, entrepreneurialism, and self-care practices.

Creative agency to make art that reflects their most human experiences.

Complimentary social outings to local performance highlighting Black creatives.

Access to a growing library of solo and chamber works by African diasporic composers.

Documentation of their recorded performance at the Boston Center for the Arts.

Meet, listen and learn about our past fellows below:

Testimonials

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“It was such a huge privilege and honor to participate in the Caste of Our Skins Cohort this year. There are not enough positive things I can say about the experience and the appreciation I have for everyone on the COOS team and program! Thank you so much for everything!” - Emma, BSU Fellow

Music

In Their Footsteps (world premiere)

Composed and performed by 2022 BSU Fellows Joi Harper for flutist DeShaun Gordon-King.

Program note: “I wrote this work as part of a larger project centered around Soul Food and Black Ancestry. In Their Footsteps is the story a Black perseverance. I am always in awe of how the Black community has overcome so much and still continues to push for more progress. It is In Their Footsteps that I have learned to face my own hurdles head on and keep moving forward.” - Joi Harper

Multiverse by Chloe Smith, Trey Flores, Anthony R. Green (world premiere)

Jointly composed by 2023 BSU Fellows Chloe Smith and Trey Flores with guidance from Associate Artistic Director Emeritus Anthony R. Green.

Program note: “The endless possibilities of colors within our visual spectrum are akin to the multiversal possibilities of our identity, the shades of our background, the blending of our existence.” -Chloe Smith

Karibu by Regina Harris Baiocchi

Box breathing activity led and performed by 2024 BSU Fellows Emma Boyd and clarinetist Chasity Thompson.

Program note: “Karibu (Ka-REE’-boo), Swahili for “Welcome”. Regina Harris Baiocchi was inspired to write Karibu after writing this poem, titled “When”. As you listen to this piece, I would love for you to embody a welcoming spirit.” - Chasity Thompson

String Quartet No. 1 by Maxwell Fairman (world premiere)

Composed by 2024 BSU Fellow Maxwell Fairman and performed by BSU Fellows Aidan Daniels (violin) and Emma Boyd (viola) with special guest COOS cellist Francesca McNeeley.

Program note: “The first section of this quartet features chords that evoke suffering through the use of dissonance. There is slow, deliberate movement between the chords, and this movement halts to a stop in the middle section. The middle section features pedal tones in the lower three voices to make it feel grounded, while the first violin soars above these voices with an improvisatory melody. After this brief repose, movement picks up with impulses traveling between the lower voices, building up to a repetition of the first section. This repetition is more intimate, using softer dynamics.” - Maxwell Fairman