Musical Performance and Workshop
American Sketches
William Feasley, Classical Guitarist
Feasley attended the Estudio de Arte Guitarristico in Mexico City before becoming the first guitarist to receive the Peabody Conservatory's coveted Artist Diploma. Selected to play for Andres Segovia at the Master's historic last class at the University of Southern California, he was later featured on the CBS special Eulogy of Segovia. Mr. Feasley has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including a Gold Medal in the 1987 Panhellenic Guitar Competition in Athens, Greece, and the 1996 Governor's Citation for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts in Maryland. Feasley plays the classical guitar, both as a solo performer and as part of The D'Amore Duo. This solo concert features works by Peter Madlem, Albert Harris, George Gershwin, William Bolcom, Harry Lincoln, and Percy Wenrich.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance
Echoes of Goya
William Feasley, Classical Guitarist
Feasley attended the Estudio de Arte Guitarristico in Mexico City before becoming the first guitarist to receive the Peabody Conservatory's coveted Artist Diploma. Selected to play for Andres Segovia at the Master's historic last class at the University of Southern California, he was later featured on the CBS special Eulogy of Segovia. Mr. Feasley has been the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including a Gold Medal in the 1987 Panhellenic Guitar Competition in Athens, Greece, and the 1996 Governor's Citation for Outstanding Achievements in the Arts in Maryland. Feasley plays the classical guitar, both as a solo performer and as part of The D'Amore Duo. This solo concert features the works of Fernando Ferandiere, Fernando Sor, Enrique Granados, and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance
Inner Rhythm
Robert Jospé, Drummer, Percussionist, and Composer
Jazz, Latin, Funk, and Afro-Pop come together in the Inner Rhythm Band. Groove out with drummer Robert Jospé and Afro-Pop vocalist, percussionist, and dancer Heather Maxwell, Jeff Decker on sax and percussion, Bob Hallahan on keyboards, Randall Pharr on bass, and percussionist Kevin Davis.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance
Inner Rhythm Educational Program
Robert Jospé, Drummer, Percussionist, and Composer
The Inner Rhythm concert/lecture program explains the blues and standard song forms and performs compositions with the Inner Rhythm Quintet, which illustrates how West African rhythms are incorporated into Swing, Hip-Hop, Afro-Cuban, Afro-Brazilian, and Caribbean styles. Historical, cultural, and geographical information is included as it pertains to the musical concepts presented.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting.
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance
Jazz Concert: Fonda/Stevens Group
Michael Jefry Stevens, Jazz Composer and Pianist
With more than 20 years of performing together in various ensembles, this powerful acoustic New York City-based jazz ensemble features the music of bassist Joe Fonda and pianist Michael Jefry Stevens, performing with master percussionist Harvey Sorgen and the brilliant modern jazz trumpet legend Herb Robertson.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Jazz clinics are also available for middle or high schools with music programs.
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting.
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert, concert-quality piano for concert, and load-in assistance
Kid Pan Alley
Paul Reisler, Founder and Artistic Director of Kid Pan Alley
Paul Reisler is the founder and Artistic Director of Kid Pan Alley. The initial inspiration for the organization came after a successful songwriting residency in Rappahannock County, Virginia. Since that time, Kid Pan Alley has shared the joys of songwriting with children around the country. The organization's mission is to not only to give children a hands-on opportunity to participate in the creative process, but also to help them develop a broader awareness of the world around them, including exposure to pertinent environmental, social, and political issues.
Audience: Elementary
Enrollment: Workshops presented within a classroom setting, with end performance in an assembly-style program.
Note: For more information contact Jeffrey Allison, Paul Mellon Educator and Statewide Programs Coordinator, VMFA.
Michael Jefry Stevens and Friends: What is Jazz?
Michael Jefry Stevens, Jazz Composer and Pianist
This introduction to jazz, geared toward non-musicians, involves the music of well-known American jazz composers, such as Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis, and a historical perspective of the music. The role of various jazz instruments is examined. In addition, discussions of music as a language, and jazz as self-expression, are featured. The workshop can easily be combined with a mini-concert.
Audience: Elementary school through adult
Enrollment: Workshop may be presented in an assembly-style program or may be tailored to smaller groups.
Songs from the Great Awakening
Kelly Kennedy, Musician, Actress, Composer, Educator, and Dancer
Kelly Kennedy provides an authentic and wonderfully engaging American musical experience playing songs and tunes of Irish and European immigration, the Civil War, colonial Virginia, the high seas, and the mountains of Appalachia. Using piano, harpsichord, guitar, dulcimer, accordion, bodhran, and her own dancing feet, Kennedy integrates history, literature, humor, firsthand accounts, audience participation, and her own obvious love of the material to create a comprehensive picture of early America. A folk scholar as well as a consummate musician, Kelly is as comfortable on the concert stage as in the classroom.
Audience: Family or adult
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting.
Songs, Stories, and Dances from the time of Jefferson and Lincoln
Kelly Kennedy, Musician, Actress, Composer, Educator, and Dancer
History, literature, music, and life — such is the substance of this lively and entertaining program given by folklorist and musician Kelly Kennedy. Relating the songs and music of our American past to the subjects and standards of present-day learning, Kelly uses audience participation, an array of instruments, her gloriously rich voice, and her consummate knowledge of life in early America to inspire students and teachers alike. Singing songs from our American revolution, sea chanteys, African American music, Appalachian songs, and music played by Thomas Jefferson himself, Kelly uses guitar, piano, harpsichord, drums, and her own dancing feet to teach the various manners in which music was an integral, important, and formative part of our American history.
Audience: Elementary through high School
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting.
The French Perspective
William Feasley, Classical Guitarist, and Vladimir Lande, Oboist
The D'Amore Duo brings together the outstanding young virtuosos: American guitarist William Feasley and Russian oboist Vladimir Lande. In performances marked by the distinct coloring of their contrasting instruments and musical heritage, they play with a musical vitality that sparkles with insight and originality. Winners of the 1990 Baltimore Chamber Music Awards and the 1993 Montpelier Recitalist Competition, The D'Amore Duo is quickly gaining recognition as a popular component of many chamber music series, and their workshops, master classes, and children's programs are renowned. This ensemble concert features Feasley on the guitars and theorbo, and Lande on the oboe and baroque oboe. This concert includes works by composers including Napoleon Coste, Robert de Vissee, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, Andreas Pfloger, Jean Francaix, and Jacque Ibert.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Enrollment: Performance may be presented in a concert or an assembly-style setting.
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance.
World Beat Workshop
Robert Jospé, Drummer, Percussionist, and Composer, and Kevin Davis, Percussionist
The World Beat Workshop, with drummer Robert Jospé and percussionist Kevin Davis, engages students in exploring the diaspora of West African rhythms in the Americas and their influence in current music styles. Using a map, percussion instruments and music charts, this interactive program brings musical, historical, cultural, and geographical information to life with the journey of clave. Join this musical journey from West Africa to Cuba, Trinidad/Tobago, the Dominican Republic, Brazil, and New Orleans, all the while learning about the evolution of dance through the blending of cultures.
Audience: This workshop can be tailored to suit any age group and level of ability.
Facilities needed: Adequate performance space for concert and load-in assistance.
The Sound of Sound: Experiments in the Art of Sound New
Dr. James Yates, Artist and Psychotherapist
Dive into the sound of sound. Break the boundaries of art, music, and performance, and discover a wide range of possibilities that are right before your ears. This workshop begins with a series of experiments that immerse participants in the world of sound. Students participate in a sound scavenger hunt and improvisational sounding as well as make sound with found objects. The workshop reaches a crescendo with participants creating sound events that may take many forms such as a performance using found objects or an interactive sound sculpture.
Audience: Recommended for all ages
Enrollment: 25 participants