The Resonate Project
About Resonate
Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings launched Resonate in 2020 as a multi-year collaboration exploring the African Diaspora through contemporary American chamber music. This partnership has since expanded to unite the resources of eight prominent institutions across Michigan and Ohio:
- Bowling Green State University
- The Carr Center
- Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings
- Michigan State University
- Oberlin Conservatory
- University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
- University of Michigan/Ann Arbor
- Western Michigan University
A panel of musicians from each collaborating organization selects the composers invited to participate. In the latest round, four composers have been commissioned to create new works for the collaboration.
Resonate Composers Scheduled for 2025-26
- Marcos Balter
- Jonathan Bailey Holland
Student performers from each partner institution come together for a culminating symposium, where they perform all the works and receive coaching from the participating composers. The next Resonate Symposium is scheduled for October 18, 2025 at Bowling Green State University.
Previously Commissioned Resonate Composers
- Jordyn Davis – Protect Your Peace – Premiered on February 7, 2025
- Michael Frazier – blackportrait – Premiered on November 7, 2021
- Adolphus Hailstork – Monuments – Premiered on February 5, 2022
- Nathalie Joachim – Radical Revelations – Premiered on January 27, 2023
- George Lewis – Tightrope – Premiered on April 12, 2024
- Brian Raphael Nabors – String Quartet – Premiered on October 25, 2024
- Patrice Rushen – The RESONATE Suite – Premiered on May 21, 2022
- Pamela Z – Differences – Performed on April 2, 2023
A DCWS recording of most of these works is set for release in late 2025, made possible by the generous support of DCWS donors Christine Kuzma and Dave Arney. The Resonate project has also received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Watch Resonate Performances
Resonate Partners
Bowling Green State University
For more than 111 years, Bowling Green State University has been a public university for the public good, always moving forward.
Within the College of Musical Arts, in a vibrant community of nearly 500 music students, undergraduates and graduates work side by side and form lasting connections with their peers and faculty. By honoring traditions and embracing innovation, we prepare students for diverse musical lives and life-long career growth. The College presents over 600 public events each year and is a major cultural resource for the campus and northwest Ohio.
The Carr Center
Originally incorporated as The Arts League of Michigan, Inc., the Carr Center has become one of the leading organizations to present African American arts, in all disciplines, in the country. The center’s core programs include: The Carr Center Artist Hub, home to local and regional artists as well as special guest artist residencies; The CarrCenter Presents … a series of performance, film, and visual arts events for the public and The Carr Center Arts Academy, an educational umbrella which includes classroom instruction, summer intensive studies and early career professional development programs.
Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings
Since its founding in 1982, Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings (DCWS) has set the standard for chamber music in Detroit. By bringing together the top musicians from the metro area, most of whom are members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Detroit Opera, DCWS immerses audiences in a chamber music experience that is innovative, entertaining and unsurpassed anywhere in the region.
With chamber music as its foundation, DCWS’ mission has evolved to address the ever-changing, ever-challenging Detroit arts landscape with grand achievements. Some 75 new works have been premiered. Five compact discs have been released. Tours have stretched throughout the United States and as far as Switzerland. Learn more at detroitchamberwinds.org
Michigan State University
Oberlin Conservatory
Oberlin uniquely combines an outstanding professional school of music with a leading undergraduate college of arts and sciences. The Oberlin Conservatory of Music provides flexible programs to prepare students as professional musicians and teachers of music.
Oberlin seeks students who are talented, highly motivated, personally mature, and tolerant of divergent views. The conservatory in particular seeks talented musicians with considerable potential for further growth and development. Performance is central to all of the curricula including music education, history, theory, composition, and technology.
University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music
A preeminent institution for the performing and media arts, CCM offers nearly 120 possible majors, along with a wide variety of pre-collegiate and post-graduate programs. The synergy created by housing CCM within a comprehensive public university gives the college its unique character and defines its objective: to educate and inspire the whole artist and scholar for positions on the world stage.
The University of Michigan/Ann Arbor
Western Michigan University
Western Michigan University is a learner-centered, research university, building intellectual inquiry and discovery into undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in a way that fosters knowledge and innovation, and transforms wisdom into action. As a public university, WMU provides leadership in teaching, research, learning, and service, and is committed to enhancing the future of our global citizenry.