What is CMPW?

Launched in 2023 by violinist Shannon Lee, Chamber Music Perspectives Workshop (CMPW) is a unique summer program for advanced young string players in the Dallas-Fort-Worth area to explore both chamber music and music composition.

What does that mean?

Learning and performing chamber music is a wonderful way for musicians to build relationships and collaborate with one another, as it involves listening, initiating, imagining, and exchanging ideas. CMPW students will hone all these skills while working on a colorful array of chamber music repertoire, which they will have the opportunity to perform at the end of the workshop.

Chamber music also involves engaging with a composer’s musical language through a written score, created before any of the performers have come together. CMPW aims to provide insight into this composition process, allowing students to explore how pieces are conceived, and in turn, how they might compose music themselves. Regardless of composition experience, CMPW will help students build confidence in translating their ideas and interpretive choices into their own pieces of music, which they will then workshop and present in front of a live audience.

Unlike most other chamber music programs across the country, CMPW was founded on the belief that performance and composition go hand in hand—that to build on one is to build on the other, and that both are crucial for young musicians’ abilities to communicate ideas, both in and beyond the music world. We hope that CMPW can be an inspiring nucleus for developing musicians everywhere.

What is the schedule like?

Over the course of 9 days, students will engage in a wide range of performance, composition, and collaboration opportunities. All students will participate in:

• daily chamber music rehearsals/coachings

• performance class for solo repertoire

• sessions on practicing, scales, and etudes

• sessions on music composition, where they will build a foundation in music theory, as well as explore repertoire by composers from different centuries, countries, and cultural backgrounds

• workshops on their own original pieces

• a final concert presentation at the end of the workshop featuring all groups and student compositions

CMPW offers a 3:1 student-to-teacher ratio and stellar faculty from all over the world, who have designed the program specifically for young string players who have been able to reach a significantly advanced level, thanks to their regular teachers and supportive communities in the DFW area.

This year's coaches/staff (more information at our website):

• Shannon Lee, violin

• Arseniy Gusev, composition, piano

• Julián Fueyo, composition

• Mafalda Santos, cello

• Reshena Liao, production, violin/viola

What's our budget?

Such an initiative, of course, takes funding. CMPW depends solely on in-kind contributions and the generosity of individual donors to cover all our faculty, venue, and operational expenses. We are still raising funds towards our $12,000 goal, and we hope you will help us reach it.

Donation Guide:

With the following gift amounts, your contribution would help us cover:

$100 Supplies and snacks for the students

$500 Piano accompanist

$700 Tuition for one financial-aid student

$2,500 Commissioning Partner**

$5,000 Faculty travel and housing

**Donors at this level and above will be recognized as Commissioning Partners on all student compositions created at CMPW 2024, and will be credited on all scores/parts, programs, and online materials.

Whether you are a longtime supporter of the arts, a music education advocate, or a composer/musician yourself, we invite you to join us in our goal of nurturing the next generation of musicians. Contributions of any and all amounts are deeply appreciated.

More information at our website:

https://www.shannonleeviolin.com/cmpworkshop