Gratitude is Gain
Successful Practice And Rehearsal Philosophy
Nicole Camacho
New York based Flutist, composer, and improviser, Nicole Camacho is creating a name for herself as an eclectic musician via vibrant premieres of composers’ works, performing in the world of popular music, involving an element of multi-media in her solo performances, and composing new flute works with a language all her own. She is a member of the folk band KK Group led by Norwegian Singer/ Songwriter, Kjersti Kveli and a founding member of Cochlea Freedom Ensemble a free improvisation group. As a result of her deep love for community, Nicole directs a community concert production organization by the name of Music Unboxed and writes a blog dedicated to featuring what's new in the flute community called Future of Flute. :0)
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The Show Must Go On!
Even a 2 inch snowstorm in the sweet, sunny South can’t keep the CSO down! Lessons in innovation, flexibility, and staying warm involved.
Sarah Marczynski
Sarah joined the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera in 2010 working part time with the Marketing and Development staffs and recently began working full time as the Community and Patron Engagement Manager. In this role, Sarah creates opportunities for CSO Ensembles and musicians to perform in community spaces, manages CSO volunteers, manages CSO social media and websites, and coordinates opportunities for patron engagement including Play Along with the CSO.
She holds a Master's of Public Administration focusing in Nonprofit Arts Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where her capstone and other work under Dr. Christopher Horne examined attendance patterns in high-art cultural institutions and network relationships between local arts agencies and cultural partners. She also holds a Bachelor's of Vocal Music Education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she studied under Dr. Kevin Ford and Ron Ulen.
Sarah has been active in the Chattanooga arts community, working with the Chattanooga Boys Choir, the Choral Arts Society, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Chattanooga Bach Choir, and the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute.
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Jazz “set” vs. “intermission” for Concert Production
Nicole Camacho
New York based Flutist, composer, and improviser, Nicole Camacho is creating a name for herself as an eclectic musician via vibrant premieres of composers’ works, performing in the world of popular music, involving an element of multi-media in her solo performances, and composing new flute works with a language all her own. She is a member of the folk band KK Group led by Norwegian Singer/ Songwriter, Kjersti Kveli and a founding member of Cochlea Freedom Ensemble a free improvisation group. As a result of her deep love for community, Nicole directs a community concert production organization by the name of Music Unboxed and writes a blog dedicated to featuring what's new in the flute community called Future of Flute. :0)
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An update on Écouter
Natalie Spehar
"Yet another wonderful example of the tremendous versatility of the cello in the right hands, which Natalie Spehar’s clearly are." - Susan Scheid, Prufrock's Dilemma
An accomplished classical, rock, and folk cellist, Natalie has performed as a member of several ensembles, including most recently the Great Noise Ensemble, Écouter, the Low End String Quartet and the Washington, D.C. based cello rock ensemble, Primitivity. With a strong interest in contemporary music, Natalie has enjoyed mastering and premiering new and experimental works for cello, including several recent projects with live electronics and tape.
Natalie has performed as a soloist with Graham Reynolds in The Kennedy Center’s presentation of The Difference Engine, with the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire and University of Maryland Percussion Ensembles, and with the Canton Symphony Orchestra, and has presented world premiere performances in venues including Ravinia, Severance Hall, and the National Gallery of Art. She has also been awarded several scholarships, among them a USA Projects grant, the Canton MacDowell Club Scholarship and the Howard Hanson Scholarship toward her studies at the Eastman School of Music. In the summer of 2009, Natalie was one of five American performers selected to participate in Northeastern University’s Fusion Arts Exchange, a program and concert tour funded by the U.S. Department of State that featured young musicians from six countries, and in 2011-12 she participated in the inaugural New Music on the Point contemporary music festival as well as the inaugural Fresh Inc. Festival led by Chicago’s esteemed Fifth House Ensemble. An enthusiastic presenter of new music, Natalie has premiered new cello works by composers Tomek Regulski, Finola Merivale, Orie Sato, Keane Southard, Andrew Watts, famed Syrian recording artist Malek Jandali, and her 2011-12 season featured her in premieres of works by renowned composers Zoe Keating, Sarah Lipstate, Cornelius Dufallo and Hannah Lash. Natalie also recorded an original soundtrack for the television documentary Through the Eye of the Needle, as well as composed and recorded the solo cello original soundtrack for the award-winning animated film Test Anxiety.
Natalie holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Cello Performance as well as a Certificate in Arts Leadership from Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Alan Harris. An avid supporter of music outreach, Natalie has recently served as an Arts & Learning Intern for Young Audiences, Inc., an educator with Music For Life, and a performing member of the MacDowell Music Club, all national organizations dedicated to encouraging and providing community music education. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, and looks forward to the upcoming season, in which she will present several solo cello premieres in the Washington, D.C., Ohio, and New York City areas, as well as record her solo debut CD.
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Mistress of the (Front of) House
Sarah gives you a glimpse into what happens right before a concert in the front of house.
Sarah Marczynski
Sarah joined the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera in 2010 working part time with the Marketing and Development staffs and recently began working full time as the Community and Patron Engagement Manager. In this role, Sarah creates opportunities for CSO Ensembles and musicians to perform in community spaces, manages CSO volunteers, manages CSO social media and websites, and coordinates opportunities for patron engagement including Play Along with the CSO.
She holds a Master's of Public Administration focusing in Nonprofit Arts Management from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where her capstone and other work under Dr. Christopher Horne examined attendance patterns in high-art cultural institutions and network relationships between local arts agencies and cultural partners. She also holds a Bachelor's of Vocal Music Education from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she studied under Dr. Kevin Ford and Ron Ulen.
Sarah has been active in the Chattanooga arts community, working with the Chattanooga Boys Choir, the Choral Arts Society, the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Chattanooga Bach Choir, and the Holmberg Arts Leadership Institute.
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Mountains Are Once Again Mountains
Brenton Alston
Brenton F. Alston
Visiting Instructor of Symphonic Conducting- Conductor of the FIU Wind Ensemble
At FIU, Dr. Alston conducts the FIU Wind Ensemble and Chamber Winds in addition to teaching Private Graduate Conducting Lessons, Basic Undergraduate Conducting and Symphonic Literature courses.
Prior to coming to FIU Alston served as Director of Instrumental Music and Conductor of the Wind Ensemble at the famed New World School of the Arts High School (Miami, Florida) as well as Visiting Director of Bands at Radford University (Radford, Virginia).
Dr. Alston has been conferred with the Doctorate of Musical Arts and Advanced Artist Diploma in Instrumental Conducting from the University of Miami- Frost School of Music (Coral Gables, Florida), Master of Arts in Music with a concentration in Conducting from Radford University (Radford, Virginia) and Bachelor of Arts in Music with concentrations in Music Education and Performance from Catawba College (Salisbury, North Carolina).
Dr. Alston retains memberships in the Conductors’ Guild, College Band Directors National Association and Pi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
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Video Blog – Goodwill
Elaine Li
Elaine Li is the current Bands Collection Librarian at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Her position centers around serving all performing groups, conductors, and conducting GTAs with their music needs including acquisition, research, creation of part folders for student performers, creating edited parts, assembling scores, preparing materials for band related classes, and maintaining one of the world's largest performance collections of band repertoire. She also manages certain responsibilities centered around performances and touring including program copy and concert PR support.
Ms. Li received her master’s degree in Library Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2012. She also holds a master’s degree in violin performance from the University of Miami and bachelor's degrees in music performance and English from the University of Florida. Prior to her appointment at the University of Illinois Bands, she was Orchestra Librarian for Sinfonia da Camera, a graduate assistant at the University of Illinois Archives, and an Ensemble Library Intern in the Frederick and Elizabeth Ludwig Fennell Library at the 2012 Interlochen Arts Camp. She was a library fellow at the 2011 Tanglewood Music Center in the Ozawa Library, working closely with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Juilliard School, and was a librarian during the Aspen Music Festival 2010 season, working as Aspen Opera Theatre Company librarian and assistant librarian for the American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. From 2008 to 2010, Ms. Li was the Head Librarian of the Greater Miami Youth Symphony. She continues to perform violin locally with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, Sinfonia da Camera, and other ensembles around Central Illinois.
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Who I am. What I do.
Nicole Camacho
New York based Flutist, composer, and improviser, Nicole Camacho is creating a name for herself as an eclectic musician via vibrant premieres of composers’ works, performing in the world of popular music, involving an element of multi-media in her solo performances, and composing new flute works with a language all her own. She is a member of the folk band KK Group led by Norwegian Singer/ Songwriter, Kjersti Kveli and a founding member of Cochlea Freedom Ensemble a free improvisation group. As a result of her deep love for community, Nicole directs a community concert production organization by the name of Music Unboxed and writes a blog dedicated to featuring what's new in the flute community called Future of Flute. :0)
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Jade’s Last Polyphonic Vlog: Don’t forget your power!
http://youtu.be/kKhUt14dFmc
Jade Simmons
Jade is committed to expanding the boundaries of Classical music and its presentation. From 2006-2010 she served as the inaugural New Music/New Places Fellow for the prestigious Concert Artist Guild organization. She offers a diverse mix of repertoire from the Classics to the cutting edge. Audiences have come to expect creative projects backed by riveting performances like her program Kandinsky and Scriabin: Hearing Color, Seeing Sound which focuses on links between visual art and music, as well as The Rhythm Project, an exploration of pieces that exploit the more percussive nature of the piano. Ms. Simmons, a Yamaha Artist, has toured the US extensively, highlighted by concerts on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series, the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, the University of Washington World Series in Seattle, Merkin Hall and the Detroit Institute of Arts. In 2012, she will return to Ravinia’s Bennett Gordon Hall and will release Playing with Fire, an EP on her newly launched record label Superwoman Records.
Jade’s multiple talents make her a true Renaissance woman of the millennium taking her in the direction of arts presenter, writer, lecturer and creator of Emerge Already!, career-building platform for emerging artists including videos, blogs and books. Most recently, she has been invited to write for the Huffington Post’s Arts section and she has served as the webcast host for both the Van Cliburn and the Tchaikovsky International music competitions. An artist with a social conscience that moves her to action, Jade serves as an advocate for America’s youth, presenting arts outreach and addressing groups across the country on sensitive issues such as youth suicide prevention and mental health awareness. Jade has been recognized two years in a row by Symphony Magazine for her work on and away from the stage. In light of these achievements, she was listed as one of Ebony magazine’s Top 30 Leaders under 30 and was proclaimed Houston’s Best Arts Ambassador by the Houston Press.
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