Resonate is a multi-year collaboration that explores the African Diaspora through the lens of contemporary American chamber music. The project, under the direction of Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings and the Carr Center, has commissioned seven American composers to create new works to be performed by each of the collaborators during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.

Ranging in age from their 20s to their 80s, the selected composers represent a wide range of musical styles and aesthetic sensibility. They are creating works for a variety of instrumentations, using woodwinds, brass, strings, percussion and piano. Each new work will utilize between three and eight performers, with instrumentation mutually agreed upon by each composer and the collaborators.

Resonate will conclude with a culminating symposium bringing together all of the composers with musicians from each of the collaborating institutions in April 2023.

Click to read more about the collaboration and composers.

The Resonate collaboration brings together resources from seven prominent institutions in Michigan and Ohio:

• Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings 
• The Carr Center 
• Oberlin Conservatory 
• Bowling Green State University 
• The University of Michigan/Ann Arbor 
• Michigan State University 
• Western Michigan University 

Musical Elements is an original education program of Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings. The program uses hip-hop to introduce young people to the acoustical instruments of jazz and classical music.  The work is designed to help break down those barriers.  A hip-hop artist serves as “narrator,” with a “back-up” trio of instrumentalists, representing string, wind, and brass instrument groups. Students will explore musical elements such as melody, harmony, unison, articulation, and tempo. In addition to the musicians and narrator, a recorded hip-hop track produced by Kris Johnson is integral to the presentation.  One entire assembly includes the Musical Elements presentation as well as an instrument “petting zoo” and meet-and-greet with the artists. Students are encouraged to go up to the musicians to ask questions and see the instruments up close.  

Established in 2016, Community heART is a program that utilizes the arts to strengthen community life. In valuing arts and culture as a crucial asset, we aim to support and develop collaborative activities between artists, residents, nonprofits and businesses owners in two overarching ways. The first is to promote the vibrant arts and cultural community that already exists in a region.

The second is to provide access to resources and tools to residents through deeply embedded community engagement.

Community heART has worked in Highland Park, MI, over the past three years, connecting bridges of access and professional development opportunities to community stakeholders. We have structured a re-granting process that assists in the implementation of arts and cultural activities led by local artists. Collaboration is a key component to successful projects in order to advance sustainability. The programs that have been funded impact youth and adults alike across the community. In 2018, Community heART re-granted $50,000 with plans to re-grant another $50,000 in 2019.

Support for Community heART in Highland Park is supported by a generous grant from the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation.

ArtOps, an LLC owned by Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings, provides a customized suite of managerial services. Its purpose is to foster organizational development and capacity so that arts organizations may reach their full potential. We provide value-driven management service options that free clients to focus on their artistic and creative missions. The mission of ArtOps is to develop and deliver efficient collaborative management and administration solutions that free organizations to focus on their own creative missions, encourage their growth and support sustainability. ArtOps provides value-driven, customized management services at exceptional rates.