September 15, 2013

COMPOSER’S VOICE

Featuring Katherine Crawford and Rebecca Ashe

Program:

Things and Their Attributes
David Morneau
text by Lewis Carroll
Katherine Crawford
Rebecca Ashe

Punto y Línea (Point and Line)
Jorge Sosa
Rebecca Ashe
Andrea Skurr

So I’ve Heard
Douglas DaSilva
text by TBA
Katherine Crawford
Rebecca Ashe

X Marks the Sirens
Mike McFerron
text by Jackie K. White
Katherine Crawford
Erin Bomboy

Fifteen Minute's of Fame: Titania (Queen of the Fairies)
Katherine Crawford
Rebecca Ashe
TBD

Choreography and Dancers

Erin Bomby

Erin Bomboy has performed as a professional ballet, contemporary, and competitive ballroom dancer. Classical ballet training includes scholarships at Houston Ballet Academy, Pacific Northwest Ballet Academy, and Virginia School of the Arts. She has danced with the Richmond Ballet, the Concert Ballet, and the Latin Ballet. Notable ballroom results include United States Rising Star American Smooth Finalist, Vice Theater Arts Champion, and North American Cabaret Finalist. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Dance at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Ms Bomboy has run her own innovative ballroom business in New York City called Start Dancing NYC which has been featured in Crain's, NYC Channel 7 news, and NYMother.com.

Andrea Skurr

Andrea Skurr found her movement voice at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where she earned a BA in Music & Dance. Beginning life as a gymnast, she ventured into dance, choreography, directing, and lately, skydiving, silks, and bungee. Her adventuresome spirit extends from a heritage Down Under and a faith inspired. Skurr has presented work nationally and performed under Nathanael Buckley, Beth Megill/Megill & Co, Patrice Regnier/Terpsichore, Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance, and Chriselle Tidrick/Above & Beyond Dance.

Performers

Rebecca Ashe

Dr. Rebecca Ashe is a freelance musician and appears across the country as a performer, lecturer, and masterclass clinician. A new music performer and collaborator, she has partnered with several composers and has performed at several festivals, including Electronic Music Midwest (Resident Artist for 2010 Festival), Society of Composers, Inc., Kansas City Electronic Music and Arts Alliance (KcEMA), the New York City based Composers Voice Series, SPARK, SEAMUS and the Electroacoustic Juke Joint. She has been adjunct faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Georgetown College (Georgetown, TX), Park University (Parkville, MO.) and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor (Belton, TX.). She currently resides in Iowa City where she is the National Distribution Manager for Trevor James Flutes.

Katherine Crawford

Katherine Crawford, a warm and versatile mezzo-soprano, holds a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri - Kansas City, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from St. Olaf College. She enjoys performing in the styles of opera, operetta, and musical theater, and is especially interested in contemporary and experimental works.

Recently, Ms. Crawford has had the pleasure to perform with the Kansas City Metro Opera, Kansas City Civic Opera, and UMKC Conservatory Opera Theater, specializing in comic and light-lyric roles. She currently sings with the Grammy Award-winning Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus, and is the lead vocalist in The Digital Honk Box Revival, an improvisational electroacoustic music group. As a dedicated church musician, she is a regular cantor and soloist for weddings, funerals, and religious services for multiple denominations.

In addition to performing, Ms. Crawford enjoys helping others explore and realize their vocal potential, and has maintained a private teaching studio since 2003. Originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota, she is presently based in Kansas City, Missouri.

Authors

Jackie K. White

Jackie K. White, associate professor at Lewis University, earned her PhD in Creative Writing (poetry) from UIC with concentrations in Latino/Latin American and Women’s Studies. An editor with RHINO for 9 years, she currently serves as a faculty advisor for Jet Fuel Review. Her poems and translations have appeared in numerous print and online journals, such as ACM, Bayou, Bluestem, Fifth Wednesday, Folio, prosepoem.com, Spoon River, SuperstitionReview.com, and Third Coast. Her chapbook Bestiary Charming won the 2006 Anabiosis Press award; Petal Tearing & Variations was published by Finishing Line in 2008, and Come Clearing with Dancing Girl Press, 2012. She is a native Illinoisan in love with Chicago, prairie, and Puerto Rico. Co-translator of Rondón’s History of Salsa, she is currently translating Vicioso’s Essays on Caribbean Women Writers.

Composers

Douglas DaSilva

Douglas DaSilva is a composer, guitarist, educator and music curator in New York City. As Artistic Director of the Composer's Voice Concert Series and Premiere Salon Concerts he is dedicated to promoting new music and living composers. He has been curator for concerts in New York, Rio de Janeiro and Valencia. As a guitarist he has performed at places as diverse as Lincoln Center’s Rose Ballroom, the Jan Hus Church, The Bitter-End, and The Cutting Room. As a composer of chamber music with a background in jazz, rock and blues, Douglas composes in variety of styles from the hummable to highly experimental. Much of his music is influenced by Brazilian music and self-inflicted stress. His extensive and daily work with preschoolers (where he is known by his nom de guerre: Mr. Doug) manages to keep him sane while giving him the opportunity to share his love for music with future generations. His chamber music has been performed throughout the US, Europe and Brazil.

Mike McFerron

Mike McFerron is an associate professor of music and composer-in-residence at Lewis University in the Chicago area. At Lewis University, McFerron teaches music composition and directs the music technology program. He received a DMA in composition from the Conservatory of Music—University of Missouri at Kansas City where his primary teachers were James Mobberley, Chen Yi, and Gerald Kemner. A native of Oklahoma, McFerron attended Oklahoma City University where he studied with Ray E. Luke. He has been on the faculty of UMKC and the Kansas City Kansas Community College, and he has served as resident composer at the Chamber Music Conference of the East/Composers’ Forum in Bennington, Vt. McFerron is founder and co-director of Electronic Music Midwest.

David Morneau

David Morneau is a composer of an entirely undecided genre. In his work he endeavors to explore ideas about our culture, issues concerning creativity, and even the very nature of music itself. Morneau's work is characterized by his eclectic interests and collaborative spirit. Described by Molly Sheridan as a "flashing beacon" of inspiration, Morneau's eclectic output is best exemplified by 60x365, his "ambitious yearlong musical project" for which he composed a new one-minute composition every day. These "miniature compositions include ambient tracks, found sound, instrumental performances, and plenty of loop and sample-based pieces." [The Year of Musical Thinking, A Minute At A Time, NPR's All Things Considered, 6/30/08] Selections from 60x365 have been featured on the Sonoscop festival in Barcelona, Spark Festival at the University of Minnesota, Electronic Music Midwest at Lewis University, in a collaborative dance performance with choreographer Kristin Hapke at Velocity Dance Center in Seattle, Washington, and on Jon Nelson's Some Assembly Required.

Jorge Sosa

Jorge Sosa is a Mexican born composer currently residing in New York. Jorge’s first fulllength opera “La Reina” was performed in a concert version as part of ALT’s “InSight Festival” in 20013. The “Aria para la Santa Muerte” from “La Reina” was featured at the 2012 OPERA America National Conference in Philadelphia as part of their New Works Forum. His “Song of the Last Crossing” was included in “The Opera America Songbook” to commemorate the opening of the National Opera Center. “Song of the Last Crossing” has been recorded and published by Schott. His “Trés Sonetos de Quevedo” for soprano and guitar quartet were recently released by the Cuarteto de Guitarras de la Ciudad de México in their CD “A 5”. His CD’s “Plastic Time” and “Enceladus” are available on all the major music download sites and through the website www.jorgesosa.com. Jorge is currently Assistant Professor at Molloy College.

Program Notes


Presenters:

Remarkable Theater Brigade

Remarkable Theater Brigade founded by Christian McLeer, Dan Jeselsohn and Monica Harte, creates and produces new operas and musicals and takes children's versions out to special-needs and at-risk children free of charge.

Remarkable Theater Brigade creates and produces new works including operas, orchestral pieces, ballets, musicals, and electro-acoustic works and co-produces the Composer's Voice Concert Series concerts. Remarkable Theater Brigade was founded in 2002 by Christian McLeer, Monica Harte, and Dan Jeselsohn.

Jan Hus Church

This is the place you were welcome, long before you arrived!
www.janhus.org

Vox Novus

Vox Novus promotes contemporary music and its creators through concerts, recordings, publications, broadcasts, and online publicity. Vox Novus believes strongly in the intrinsic value of contemporary music, recognizing it as a force in the advancement of culture and art. Our goal is to keep music alive by strengthening the connection between composer and audience, providing greater exposure to new music.