The BSW effort to bring classical music education to refugee students just expanded

Buffalo String Works, a creative grassroots program serving refugee students on the Lower West Side is launching ‘The Bridge’, a new, free concert series designed to bridge gaps within the refugee community as well as between the refugee community and the rest of the people of Buffalo itself. The public is invited to join the teachers and students of the Buffalo String Works for the inaugural performance of ‘The Bridge’ on Saturday February 10 at 2pm at the First Presbyterian Church of Buffalo on Symphony Circle, across from Kleinhans Music Hall.

The series will be inaugurated by the group known as Decoda, which is the first affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall in New York City. Decoda is a New York City-based modular chamber ensemble dedicated to creating meaningful musical experiences through dynamic performances, education, and a quest for social impact. “Anything can happen (and it frequently does) when the sensational musicians of Decoda—alumni of the acclaimed Ensemble Connect—perform, whether it is works from the standard chamber-music repertoire or works written today. Their performances shatter traditional concert conventions—Decoda surprises and delights”.

Decoda at Metropolitan Museum

Decoda has put together an eclectic program based upon the theme, ‘Between Two Worlds’, exploring a composer’s cultural background – their sense of homeland, folklore or traditional music – coupled with their personal, spiritual, or physical journey to a new place. The program is a journey about traveling between worlds and forging a connection between them. The unusually eclectic program will include Bagatelles by Antonin Dvorak, Contrasts by Béla Bartók, a work commissioned by the great jazz clarinetist Benny Goodman for clarinet, violin and piano, The Fence, The Rooftop, and The Distant Sea by Kinan Azmeh, Piano Miniature No.11, ‘for Syria’, by Mohammed Fairouz and the Clarinet Quintet by Paul Hindemith.

It is the hope of the Buffalo String Works that this sense of journey and discovery will resonate with our city’s newest residents who have traveled to Buffalo from all over the world in search of a new home.

Buffalo String Works (BSW) is inspired by the highly successful international El Sistema model, which originated in Venezuela, and which cultivates music students to be agents of social change. Founded and led by local musicians, violinist Yuki Numata Resnick and violist Virginia Barron, BSW is a nonprofit organization providing high quality music instruction on violin, viola and cello to young students from Nepal, Burma Myanmar, Thailand, Liberia and Somalia. Recognizing the significance of music as a universal language, the Buffalo String Works offers a creative outlet for immigrant children and their families who are searching for a sense of belonging in a new community.

Admission to this event is free.

Virginia Barron

Yuki Numata Resnick

Buffalo String Works Benefit Concert

Buffalo String Works will hold a Benefit Concert featuring great food and great music on Saturday February 17 at 5pm at 500 Seneca Street, Buffalo NY 14204, featuring David Ying and Philip Ying who are members of the Eastman School of Music-based Ying Quartet, along with BPO violinist Andrea Cone, and BSW directors Virginia Barron and Yuki Numata Resnick, with Drew Cone. Tickets are $60 per person. RSVP by February 10: [email protected] or phone: 513.515.6173.