FORGEWITHGEORGE is a project started by Nicole Cherry in 2016 to commission an entirely new body of repertory for violin (solo and chamber) each year. Programs combine rediscovered compositions of George Bridgetower and new compositions, companion pieces, and arrangements inspired by her research of the unknown yet outstanding contributions of London based nineteenth-century Afro-European violin virtuoso, George Bridgetower. Newly discovered facts about George Bridgetower serve as a catalyst to the next artist commission and the program. I offer a cross-cultural musical narrative, through the music of Bridgetower's time and newly composed genre-bending works. While this project is a compilation of performances and recitals that will restore the legacy of great artists that have been dismissed from our history books it also brings to the forefront questions of identity and equity within our society.
Dr. Nicole Cherry is Assistant Professor of Violin at The University of Texas at San Antonio and second violinist of the award-winning Marian Anderson String Quartet. Dr. Cherry has held artist-teacher residencies at Texas A&M, Prairie View A&M, University of Washington, and Brown University where she, with the quartet, trained promising string players of all ages. Dr. Cherry has performed extensively in distinguished venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Smithsonian, and the Banff Centre. A solo tour of the Middle East and Asia included performances before the Queen Noor of Jordan and in underdeveloped townships in Johannesburg during Apartheid.
Dr. Cherry served as artistic director of the Marian Anderson String Quartet Chamber Music Institute held in the underserved areas of Brazos Valley, Texas. In recognition of this outreach with the quartet, Dr. Cherry garnered two Mayoral Proclamations, the Congress of Racial Equality’s MLK JR. Award for Outstanding Arts Achievement and Chamber Music America’s Guarneri String Quartet Award. A regular presenter on diversity and music, Dr. Cherry has given talks at the some of the leading arts conferences as well a TED Talk on community engagement and music.
Dr. Cherry’s research on the nineteenth-century Afro-European violin virtuoso, George Bridgetower, which explores historical socio-cultural theories in music has led to interviews worldwide and awards that include Texas Tech University’s coveted Paul Whitfield Horn Award and the President’s Excellence in Diversity and Equity Award. Her work has expanded into a commissioning project, ForgewithGeorge which has engaged some of today’s most exciting composers. The Juilliard School profiled Dr. Cherry in the Journal’s 100th-anniversary issue, “A Quiet Revolution: Juilliard Alumni and the Transformation of Education in America Through the Arts.”
Riely Francis
San Antonio Symphony Assistant Principal Timpani
Riely Francis is a native of Houston, and earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Performance at Rice University. He was a fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center, and performed at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. With The New World Symphony, he toured 4 continents and made numerous orchestral recordings under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas.
For 13 years, Riely held the position of Associate Principal Percussion at the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. Riely has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, San Diego Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony, as well as the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, and Houston Grand Opera. Since 2004, he has performed chamber and orchestral music each summer at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
He is currently adjunct teacher of percussion at San Antonio College.