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August 2026 Newsletter:
On Coming Back
| | 2026 Worcester Music Institute summer participants at South High Community School in August. | | |
Welcome to the August 2026 edition of our monthly newsletter!
I sat down to write this after reading through everything we'd gathered for the August issue, and what I want to draw your attention to is that nearly every story is about someone coming back. As OpporTUNEity grows, we become increasingly aware of the pipeline we aim to disrupt and the pipelines we've begun to create. From undergraduate interns returning to us as teaching artists, to formerly incarcerated adults returning as paid contractors, we are learning that the surest way to disrupt one pipeline is to build a better one. Or, in OpporTUNEity's case, multiple.
Wish I may I might just change,
Wish I may I might,
Although it's good it feels so strange,
I've got to make some change tonight.
This month we released "Wish I May,"our label's fourth release, a song John Wayne and Travis wrote in our very first songwriting course inside the Worcester County House of Correction in 2019. It closed our first concert at the jail, and we've called it our anthem ever since — at first as a joke, and then not. (It has scored every episode of inTUNE: Stories of Connection through Music.) A year later, John Wayne returned to that same space as a teaching artist and performed the song again, this time with Marc, who was then incarcerated. On August 6, John Wayne, Travis, and Marc walked into the College of the Holy Cross's Prior Performing Arts Center and recorded the vocals as paid contractors. We are thrilled to have finally produced it and sent it out into the world to find whoever it's meant to find.
During the 2024-2025 academic year, Rhiannon Hurst built our Inclusive Jazz Fundamentals course as a Holy Cross senior and brought our students to the Prior stage for her senior recital. She returns this fall as a teaching artist with a newly minted master's degree from New England Conservatory and a year's worth of revisions, and she'll teach the course at Norrback Avenue School in Worcester. We are very excited to welcome her back, a testament to the work she started with us and to the influence OpporTUNEity has on the young professionals who come through our programs!
Jeff Conner is watching a pipeline form at the Summer Music Institute, now in its seventh year: both of his teaching assistants this summer were former students of his, and nearly every graduating senior asked to come back. Soon we will begin raising money for a mentorship program so that they can. As Jeff put it, there are two kinds of people in this world: those who have to, and those who get to. Musicians get to.
So here is what we get to do this fall.
First and foremost, we get to keep doing this work, thanks to our donors, partners, and teaching artists. We get to open a second after-school site at Norrback, built for students who need more support than a typical after-school program can give them, alongside the Lincoln St. students we've worked with since 2018. Thanks to the Fletcher Foundation, we get to put ten brand-new laptops and ten MIDI keyboards into students' hands, so that children at the two schools — who have never met each other — can write songs and perform them together at a joint showcase in December. And we get to launch a Hip Hop Seminar at the jail, where students will meet established artists and build tracks in a beat-making and production lab running alongside the seminar.
Thank you for being part of every one of these pipelines.
With gratitude and excitement,
Melissa Martiros, DMA, Ed.D.
Founder & Executive Director
www.opportuneitymusic.org
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| New from OpporTUNEity Records: Wish I May | | Album art created by Cat Johnson @catjohnsonstudio. | | |
"Wish I May" was written in 2019 by members of the very first songwriting course we ever ran inside the Worcester County House of Correction, including John Wayne Cormier Jr. and Travis, and it closed our first concert at the jail. A year later a new cohort picked it up and John Wayne performed it again, this time as a teaching artist singing it with Marc Recor, who was then incarcerated. We have been calling it the OpporTUNEity anthem ever since.
On August 6, John Wayne, Marc and Travis recorded the vocals together at the College of the Holy Cross, whose Prior Performing Arts Center opened its doors to us and put its people beside our songwriters — not as visitors, but as artists working in a professional room. Our deepest thanks to Jeffrey de Caen, the Nancy Savage Skinner '79 Director; to Matthew Freije, Pro Audio/Video Supervisor, who engineered the session; and to Brenda Shepard, Manager of Production. A space is only as generous as the people who decide who belongs in it.
A reporter from Worcester Magazine was with us that day and is at work on a cover story about the project; we will send a short note the moment it publishes. In the meantime you can hear each of the three men tell their own stories on inTUNE — John Wayne, Marc, Travis — watch the original performance inside the House of Correction, read Maggie's Substack on the cycle of redemption in this song, and listen to the rest of the OpporTUNEity Records catalog.
Produced, mixed and mastered by Dan DeCristafaro, who also played keyboards and guitar; drums by Dan Drohan; vocals recorded by Matthew Freije and Harman Kaler.
| | Harman Kaler and Matthew Freije recording Travis, John Wayne, and Marc's vocals at College of the Holy Cross on August 5. | | "I've got support from this music stuff it's making me land." | | Gearing Up for the Fall Semester: Major Program Updates | | |
This fall, each of our programs is expanding in exciting ways: new initiatives, locations, teaching artists, and classes.
We are running our youth after-school program with two schools this year. We’ve worked with Lincoln St. School students since 2018 and we are adding a new site at Norrback Elementary School. Working with a new school in Worcester is incredibly exciting for us as we look to expand our reach.
Webster Five is helping us kick off our partnership with Norrback Elementary with a $2,000 grant. At Norrback, we are piloting a new selection model for our program, identifying students to welcome into our program with help from the school principal, Special Education Team Chair, and the school’s music teacher. This new model will help us work with students from low-income households with specific support needs. We are excited to work directly with young students who have aptitudes for music and huge potential for healing and personal growth through music. Norrback is one of four special education hubs in Worcester Public Schools, and this new model is designed to meet the needs of students we’ll be working with. The Special Education Team Chair will be in attendance at each class, alongside Rhiannon Hurst and Lee Jia Wen (Boba Lee).
With support from a $12,000 grant from the Fletcher Foundation, we are incorporating a mobile production lab into our curriculum. The lab will include 10 Apple laptops, 10 MIDI control keyboards, headphones, and accompanying software and curriculum. The same Teaching Artist will work with Norrback students at their school and with Lincoln St School students at Joy of Music Program. The lab will link both groups together, allowing students from different schools to collaborate and produce their own songs. We’re so excited to see our students’ music and tech skills grow throughout the semester, which will culminate in a joint showcase in December. Encouraging students to build their voices and learn through hands-on experimentation are major parts of our curriculum. The mobile lab will further amplify our impact and our student's voices.
We’re also bringing the mobile production lab to our Songwriters Circle in the spring, and we’re excited to see how the studio enhances the collaboration and songwriting that comes out of each session. We are continuing our reentry work with the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office by running a Songwriters Circle at the Worcester Sheriff’s Office Regional Reentry Center. This circle will be led by Dennis Vanesse (more on him below). Teaching Artist Harman Kaler is running circles at Community Compass at Open Sky and Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center.
At the Worcester County House of Correction, we are launching a Hip Hop Seminar, taught by Dennis Vanasse. In 2025, we asked a group of potential students at the jail which courses were most interesting to them. 71% of respondents were interested or highly interested in hip hop history. We are thrilled to be offering a course that meets the needs and interests of our students in the jail. Dennis brings deep industry experience as a ghostwriter, and we are so excited to bring him on as a Teaching Artist! The seminar will explore the history of hip hop, cultural and societal influences on the genre, and major artists and styles. Students will also examine lyrics within the context of their own experiences. Alongside the seminar, students will take a Beatmaking Lab, allowing them to experiment with beats as they learn the history of hip hop.
New grants, teaching artists, courses, equipment, and community partners are making this fall an exciting one. We can’t wait to keep you updated on the transformative music we make!
| | A Conversation with Jeff Conner | | Music Institute brass section preparing for the final concert. | | |
This month, we ran the seventh annual Worcester Summer Music Institute, led by Artistic Director Jeff Conner, founding member of Boston Brass, Yamaha Artist, and OpporTUNEity Board Member. The Institute is a week-long program for all high school musicians from Worcester County, dedicated to providing a world-class and immersive experience at the lowest possible cost. After a week of learning sessions and working with conductors at the forefront of the music industry, our students put on a concert for their families.
Maggie Frederick, OpporTUNEity Research and Development Coordinator, spoke with Jeff about the Institute and why it's important to him. Here are highlights from our conversation...
Could you tell the story of how the Worcester Summer Music Institute came to be, and how it fits into your wider career?
So the Worcester Summer Music Institute started about 7 years ago when I was teaching at Anna Maria. I was teaching trumpet there and working with Melissa, and it was just kind of a summer and it started small. We did it on campus and then [After COVID and the sunset of the music program at Anna Maria], we were incredibly fortunate that we were able to get South High School in Worcester.
The idea was to have a high school program for students of central Massachusetts and offer something that is different from anything around the country and at a price point, that is incredibly affordable for students. I also teach at Burncoat High School, which is a title one school. So I'm really fortunate to be there and working with those amazing students. So I thought, ah, let's try and do something that will be just great for these kids, you know, because a lot of students aren't able to go to a Tanglewood or Interlochen where it costs, you know, $8,000 to $10,000 for 4 weeks. [The Institute] is just a couple hundred dollars for a week. The people that they're meeting and working with are unlike anything in the country, hands down.
What motivated you to start the Institute? Why is it important to you?
Something that's really important to me for Boston Brass and part of our mission is our advocacy for music education. And no matter where we are in the world, on stage we talk about music education. I talk about how I wouldn't be wherever I am if it wasn't for a middle school and high school band director. The impact that music educators have had on me personally… And then just going around the world, seeing, especially the US, seeing the impact that band directors, music educators have on their students. It's incredible. So it's just something important [to pay] it forward. It's something that's really, really important, trying to create some opportunities, some special things for students [and] keeping it kind of for central Massachusetts high school students.
What feels kind of special about doing the Worcester Summer Music Institute and working with students in central Mass?
Well, I get to bring in friends of mine to conduct or do Zoom sessions with, and these are people that are just [at the] top of the music industry. I just love bringing in conductors that I know [will] be great with the students. And to see that interaction and the collaborative aspect of it is wonderful… We'll have Zoom sessions with these amazing people and [the students] get to hear about their story and the impact that their band directors had on them, and [the students] get to ask questions about their career and get advice. This is real exciting to see, being able to share that, these people that are friends of mine, that I get to share that with these students.
Would love to hear a few anecdotes that stick out to you from this year’s Institute.
This year we had just a fantastic guest conductor, Matthew Marsit, who’s Chair of Instrumental Studies at Boston Conservatory… He was just so positive and engaging and supportive of all these students in just where he brought them in just a few days… I'm just in awe of what these [conductors] are able to do with the students, musically. And just the support he gave them, making sure that they all had his contact information, they could reach out anytime.
We had some Zoom sessions where I had Lee Loughnane who's the trumpet player for the group Chicago… So, you know, the group Chicago has been around for over 50 years and is one of the most successful horn groups in the history of music. Having a founding member talk to these kids is incredible. We had Tom “Bones” Malone, who was, you know, in the original Blues Brothers band, and on SNL, and David Letterman's band… I'm just looking at these guys and then they're talking to these kids, like, how cool is that? You know? We had uh, Monica Ellis, who's a dear friend and a bassoon player for Imani Winds. She spent time with the kids, just talking about chamber music and her career path and everything she does as an entrepreneur, as a chamber music musician and the collaborative aspects of music. It's just exciting to see that, seeing my friends share their stories with these students.
At OpporTUNEity, we talk a lot about music as a way to express yourself in a way other forms of communication cannot. How have you seen that in your career and at the Institute?
Well, you're getting to share something that you love… that's something that's very special and it's something that only a small population of the world gets to do. No matter what, whether it's a 4th grader or a professional, we're a very small percentage of the world, and being able to do what we do – bring smiles to people's faces or make them happy or be thinking about things. It really is amazing.
You get to collaborate with your colleagues, you get to make music, you get to perform, you get to show all these skills: performing and communicating, collaborating, leading… It's like any of the arts, it really is special being able to share those aspects of your life.
Do you have any final thoughts on the Institute?
Just that we just want to keep building it. I'm incredibly thankful to everybody who is a sponsor. We've got a lot of sponsors that help donate monies to help students who aren't able to afford to go to the [Worcester Summer Music Institute]... The Institute just brings joy to the world for a week, ending with a concert.
| | Flute students rehearsing on stage at the 2026 Worcester Music Institute. | | Join Us in Welcoming our New Team Members! | | Four people are joining our teaching roster this fall, and they arrive from four different corners of the music world: a jazz vocalist just out of the New England Conservatory, a composer who scores documentaries and plays weddings, a podcast host who has spent thirty years mentoring young people, and an electronic artist who teaches public school by day and has been resident artist at MIT three years running. What they have in common is the thing we look for: every one of them is a working musician who also teaches (not a teacher who used to play.) You will find them this year at Norrback and JOMP, inside the Worcester County House of Correction, and at the Regional Reentry Center.We cannot wait to see what they bring to the team! | | |
Rhiannon Hurst is returning to our after-school youth program for the upcoming school year…
Rhiannon recently earned her master's degree in Jazz Studies, Jazz Vocal Performance, from the New England Conservatory of Music (NEC) after completing her undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross as both the Brooks Scholar and Fenwick Scholar. At NEC, she was a Community Outreach Fellow for 2025-2026, where she bridged and enriched the connection between NEC and the Boston community through her musical performances. She was selected to represent NEC's Jazz Studies Department for the Conservatory's prestigious
Commencement Concert in Jordan Hall for 2026. A YoungArts Winner in Jazz Voice, she also appeared both as a lead performer and as an opener internationally at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, Ireland's biggest jazz festival. Her recent artistic work has centered on New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers, championing the music of women composers through performance, research, and education. Alongside her performance career, Hurst is a passionate educator whose work focuses on jazz education, vocal pedagogy, and community engagement.
Rhiannon worked with us as a student intern her senior year at Holy Cross, where she designed and implemented an Inclusive Jazz Fundamentals course for OpporTUNEity's youth programs as part of her scholarly work. She'll be offering Inclusive Jazz Fundamentals again this fall — this time at Norrback, and with a year's worth of refinements drawn from her graduate studies at New England Conservatory.
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"I am incredibly excited to join the OpporTUNEity team and contribute to its mission of making music education accessible and engaging for students of all backgrounds. The organization's commitment to creativity, collaboration, and community closely aligns with my own approach to teaching. I look forward to supporting the meaningful work OpporTUNEity continues to do." | | | |
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Kevin Williams will be teaching in the jail and at our Songwriters Circle at Worcester Sheriff’s Office Regional Reentry Center…
Kevin has had a varied life and career in music, working as an educator, director, conductor, composer, performer, and journalist. He has led choral programs in public and private schools, recorded and toured internationally with original rock acts. He currently works as a gigging guitarist with a popular wedding and event band and as a media composer for film and television documentaries from his home studio. He holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Rhode Island and a Master of Music Education from Boston University.
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Dennis Vanasse will be leading our new seminar and beat making course in the jail…
Dennis Vanasse is an educator, author, and podcast host who has dedicated more than 30 years to serving others. Throughout his career, he has worked in an urban high school and at Anna Maria College, where he has mentored at-risk youth, including many affected by gang involvement. His passion is helping young people recognize their potential, develop confidence, and believe in the possibility of a brighter future. As the host of the Apex Lifestylepodcast, which has attracted more than 200,000 subscribers, Dennis has interviewed influential figures, including Lil Flip, EPMD, Arrested Development, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run DMC, and Cappadonna from WuTang. He is also the author of several self-help and children’s books
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Boba Lee will be supporting our after school youth program at JOMP and Norrback Elementary…
Boba is an electronic music artist, educator, and drummer whose work effortlessly bridges mainstream allure and experimental innovation. Grounded in a jazz percussion background, their live performances have nearly half a million streams on YouTube. In addition to solo work, Boba collaborates with electronic artist Cash under the moniker bye, son. Boba has performed at Boston’s House of Blues, New York’s Perelman Performing Arts Center, and MIT’s Kresge Auditorium—where they served as Resident Artist for the MIT Reality Hack Festival three years running (2024–2026). Boba holds a BA in electronic production & design and music education and earned multiple honors, including the 2023 TDK Music Technology Award, the 2023 Excellence in Music Education Award, and the 2024 Professional Education Division Achievement Award. As an alumnus, they went on to contribute to the Berklee Online curriculum. Currently, Boba works as a public school music teacher in Worcester, MA and leads music production programs as a teaching artist.
| | Donor Spotlight: Ned Kirby | | |
We are excited to announce a $10,000 unrestricted gift from Ned Kirby.
Most of the money we raise comes with instructions attached. It pays for one program, at one site, for one year, and we report every dollar against that line. We're grateful for all of it. But unrestricted money is a different thing, and it's much harder to come by.
Ned's gift is going to teaching artist salaries — at Norrback and the Joy of Music Program, inside the Worcester County House of Correction, and at our three Songwriters Circle sites. Some of it paid the three men who recorded "Wish I May." Everyone who works on one of our releases gets paid the same rate for the same work, whether they're a teaching artist, an engineer, or a participant who wrote the song.
Thank you, Ned!
| | Join Our Songwriters Circle! | | |
Whether you're an experienced musician or exploring songwriting for the first time, we welcome you to take part in this unique, community-driven experience.
Join us at one of our upcoming weekly drop-in sessions:
- Community Compass at Open Sky Community Services--Wednesdays 11:00 A.M.
- Worcester Sheriff’s Office Regional Reentry Center--Thursdays, 9:00 a.m.
- Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center--Thursdays, 1:00 p.m.
If you are interested in learning more about our program offerings, please use the sign-up button below or email opportuneitymusic@gmail.com.
We look forward to welcoming you!
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We shared the video from our August recording session at the College of the Holy Cross, "Wish I May." This video shows John Wayne, Travis, and Marc recording a song first written in 2019 by our very first cohort inside the Worcester County House of Correction It was a paid session, and a chance to see just how far a song and the people behind it can travel! | | | | |
We posted a reel called "Dignity Not Charity." This video asks what changes when we stop approaching incarcerated people as individuals we are there to "help" and begin recognizing them as artists and collaborators. Dignity begins with recognizing that everyone has something meaningful to contribute. | | | |
Interested in supporting inclusive and transformative music education in Worcester? Your gift of any size is greatly appreciated by all of us at OpporTUNEity. Click the button below to submit your donation.
Thank you!
| | A Special Thank You to Our Supporters | |
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We are grateful to the Worcester Arts Council (WAC) for supporting our programs since 2025. WAC supports organizations that advance the arts in Worcester, Massachusetts. The WAC grant will support our youth program with Worcester Public Schools, helping us continue to give high quality music education to Lincoln St. School students. Thank you to WAC for supporting our youth programming! | | | |
| | We are thankful to the Kirby Foundation for awarding us a $150,000 three year pledge as well as two $10,000 grants. These grants support our youth programming and Songwriters Circle program, underscoring the success and promise of the program as it expands. The Kirby Foundation's continued support will allow us to invest in the growth of our Songwriters Circle and music education for underserved communities in Worcester. | | | |
| | We are grateful to have received a $7,500 grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation. This 2025 Community Grant for Project Support supports our Songwriters Circles at Everyday Miracles Peer Recovery Center, Community Compass at Open Sky, and the Worcester Sheriff's Office Regional Reentry Center. GWCF is committed to enhancing the greater Worcester community, and we are appreciative to be a part of this mission! | | | |
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| We are grateful to have received a $2,000 grant from the Webster Five Foundation. This grant helps us launch our new after-school youth program site at Norrback Avenue School in Worcester. Webster Five is committed to supporting nonprofits and social-service organizations throughout Worcester County, and we are appreciative to be a part of this mission! | | | |
Fletcher Foundation
We are grateful to have received a $12,000 grant from the Fletcher Foundation. This capital grant funds a mobile production studio — ten laptops, ten MIDI keyboards, headphones, and software — that travels between our after-school sites at Lincoln Street School and Norrback Avenue School. The Fletcher Foundation is committed to supporting nonprofits throughout Worcester and central Massachusetts, and we are appreciative to be a part of this mission!
| | | | OPPORTUNEITY AND THE OPPORTUNEITY LOGO ARE TRADEMARKS OF MELISSA S. MARTIROS @ 2025. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | | | | |
