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Coca-Cola Artist Residencies

Music | Theater | Dance | Interdisciplinary

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Past Music Residencies

Fall 2007

Southeastern Festival of Song

During their residency SEFoS performed a concert of a mixed classical and modern repertory, participated in a Perspectives on Performance class, and gave a masterclass for Emory voice majors . The singers of SEFoS were joined by the Atlanta Boy Choir and guitarist Wes Yoakam to offer an evening of songs spanning many styles, moods, and themes drawing from the twists and turns of escape routes great and small in a concert entitled, The Great Escape. Earlier in the week the members of SEFoS, participated in a Perspectives on Performance class, giving a lecture about the process behind program selection followed by a performance demonstration. SEFoS co-founder Ryan Taylor was there to introduce the group consisting of singers Jennifer Aylmer, Marie Lenormand, Brian Stucki, and Jason Hardy, pianist Kathleen Kelly, and guitarist Wes Yoakam. The group discussed the differences in format and preparation needed for song recitals, which allow for more artistic freedom, versus operas, which require artists to follow strict guidelines. Each singer then talked about their favorite opera and recommended various works for students to become familiar with to improve their singing.

The singers also hosted a masterclass for Emory vocal music majors in Emerson Concert Hall. Six Emory voice majors presented individual selections, which were then critiqued by a member of SEFoS, while the audience watched from their seats on the stage. The group addressed such issues as delivery, song imagery, pronunciation, and presentation. Each member of SEFoS also took time to discuss their own musical training and how it prepared them for performing programs of mixed repertory.

Yellowjackets

In addition to a well-attended concert , the Yellowjackets led a jazz improvisation class and presented a lecture and performance demonstration for Emory’s Perspectives on Performance class . Approximately forty people attended the morning jazz improvisation class, twenty-five of which were community members. Fifteen audience members from “Art and Food,” a program for adults with developmental disabilities , who had heard about the event through VSA Arts of Georgia also attended. The four musicians played several selections, which highlighted their improvisational skills. They talked about the importance of increasing one’s musical vocabulary by listening to a cross section of jazz music and hearing melodic ideas repeated by different players that can then be incorporated into one’s own repertoire. The musicians suggested that the students concentrate on one melodic idea per solo to elaborate on instead of trying too many things at once.

Approximately seventy people attended the afternoon Perspectives on Performance lecture/demonstration including several community members. The Yellowjackets gave a brief performance and then continued some of the discussions raised in the jazz improvisation class earlier in the day such as the need for constant listening between musicians to create a dialogue in the music. They stressed the importance of working in the context of the band, mentioning a particularly memorable idea to “be sure to play with the people you’re playing with.”

Richard Stoltzman

Stoltzman’s week-long residency at Emory was punctuated by five different performances, two masterclasses, various rehearsals, and a lunch conversation with Emory clarinet students. He performed twice with the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta presenting two different programs for the Friday Noontime Series concert and the Sunday afternoon Emerson Series concert. He also performed Scott McAllister's Black Dog in two different performances with the Emory Wind Ensemble , one of which was attended by staff members of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center . Finally, he performed with the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony .

In the midst of rehearsing for all of these performances, Stoltzman taught two clarinet masterclasses: one for Emory students and one for the general public. A group of approximately seventy students attended the morning masterclass for Emory students. Stoltzman began the session with some stretching, which he said, although often overlooked, is important for musicians and should be incorporated into one’s pre-practice and pre-performance routine. Next, four Emory clarinet students took turns playing one prepared selection for Stoltzman, who gave them feedback on their performances and demonstrated the specific techniques needed to achieve his suggested improvements.

Stoltzman began that evening’s public masterclass by performing a Terry O’Riley piece for the group of about fifty students and community members. He then discussed the challenges of performing and recording such as maintaining the correct intonation during long pieces and working with a click track. Stoltzman then invited several students to perform and offered advice topics such as effectively utilizing mouth placement and air control, avoiding excessive physicality in the arms to improve control, creating a gentle connection of phrasing and articulation, staying on top of practice schedules, and using grace notes and subtle changes in phrasing and dynamics to enhance the performance.

Midori

In addition to performing a sold-out concert at Emory with pianist Robert MacDonald, Midori also met with a select group of Emory string musicians and students from Dr. Marshall Duke’s graduate psychology seminar on creativity in a small group discussion . The attendees were able to ask the violinist questions about her early training, her thoughts on the pieces she was performing that same evening, her various outreach organizations, and her violin studio at the University of Southern California. After the gathering was over, Midori graciously posed for photographs with all of the students.

Spring 2007

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile

Crossing traditional boundaries of style, world-renowned double-bassist Edgar Meyer and Nickel Creek’s celebrated mandolin player Chris Thile joined forces for a program of original music to start the 2007 concert season. The concert at the Schwartz Center, part of Emory’s Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series , featured original compositions for the double-bass and mandolin, and transcriptions of Johann Sebastian Bach. After the concert they invited audience members to linger in the hall for CD signing and conversation.

As Emory Coca-Cola Artists in Residence, Meyer and Thile conducted double-bass and mandolin workshops the afternoon of their concert for Emory music students and Emory Youth Symphony Orchestra performers that were open for public observation, followed by a joint Q&A session. Information about the residency activities was distributed to Emory affiliates, private guitar teachers, the Atlanta Mandolin society, the Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music, the Southeastern Bluegrass Association, and various other folk music and dance organizations and venues. Through the coordination of VSA Arts of Georgia, fifteen members of the Breakthru House , a transitional program for women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions, were also in attendance.

In Thile’s workshop alone there were over eighty observers. Thile worked with the four Emory students individually, helping the students to explore the musical possibilities of their pieces. He discussed picking techniques and also stressed the importance of perfecting the notes at a slow tempo so that one would know what it should sound like when performed at a faster speed. To illustrate this point Thile strummed a slow beat on his mandolin while a student played in an attempt to keep him from rushing through the music. This proved to be very challenging!
During the joint Q&A session , the audience asked Meyer and Thile how they stay relaxed while on tour, where they get ideas for composing, how they collaborate on new music with busy schedules, and their thoughts on performing classical music on traditionally non-classical instruments.

Jon Hendricks

Widely considered to be the “Father of Vocalese,” Jon Hendricks is one of the originators of the art of setting lyrics to recorded jazz instrumental standards then arranging voices to sing the parts of the instruments, a technique called “vocalese.” For his performance at Emory, Hendricks, along with his daughter, Aria Hendricks, teamed up with the Gary Motley Trio, featuring pianist Gary Motley, drummer Pete Siers, and bassist Paul Keller. Audience members got the chance to mingle with the musicians at the post-concert reception co-hosted by the Caucus of Emory Black Alumni (CEBA) . Approximately seventy students, parents, and teachers from Columbia Elementary School received fully subsidized tickets to attend the concert.

During his residency, Hendricks, a spry octogenarian, led a jazz improvisation class for ten Emory jazz students and approximately fifteen observers during which he not only performed several selections with the Gary Motley Trio, but also listened to the students play and, along with Motley, Siers, and Keller, gave feedback on their performances and talked about the process of improvising. Hendricks and Motley discussed the language of jazz, including how musicians can anticipate what is going to happen next and how they recover from any mishaps. They also stressed the importance of creating a musical conversation between all members of the ensemble and the idea of using standard jazz endings to create your own “big book of endings,” to rely upon when improvising in order to finish a song in a way that makes sense and sounds resolved.

That afternoon Hendricks further developed those same concepts in a lecture/demonstration for approximately sixty Emory music majors and community members. Hendricks and the Gary Motley Trio performed both a prepared piece and an improvised piece to demonstrate how one can have musical “conversations” in which a musician doesn’t know what the other performer is going to say or play, until they actually do. Students interacted with Hendricks, asking him about his influences, discography, and his meteoric rise to fame with the vocal trio of Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.

Band students from the J.C. Young Middle School and chorus students from Sandtown Middle School were given the unique opportunity to observe the performers in an open rehearsal. The teachers were provided with study materials in advance from which they created activities that the students completed in their seats as they observed the rehearsal. Afterwards Jon and Aria Hendricks autographed the student’s study guides.

Joshua Bell

Grammy-award winning violin virtuoso Joshua Bell and Jeremy Denk, piano, performed to a sold out house at Emory as part of the Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series . The evening’s program included works for piano and violin by Beethoven, Schumann and Edgar Meyer, who was in attendance with his son. Bell also performed several solo violin selections from his newest release, Voice of the Violin. After the concert, Bell, Denk, and Meyer signed CDs and greeted audience members . They also made an appearance at the post-concert reception for Emory Friends of Music.

As an Emory Coca-Cola Artist in Residence, Bell attended an informal pizza party for more than sixty music majors , psychology students in Dr. Marshall Duke’s creativity seminar, and Emory Youth Symphony students. Never letting go of his invaluable, almost 300-year old violin for an instant, Bell answered the student’s questions ranging from whether or not he considered his childhood normal, to how much he practices each day, and what he does to prepare for concerts. He then went around to individual tables to talk with smaller groups of students.

Antoinette Van Zabner and Waltraud Wulz

Antoinette Van Zabner and Waltraud Wulz, known as The Duo, have been performing together for many years, making concert appearances in Europe, Japan, and the United States. At Emory the two pianists performed a concert of four-hand piano works and then participated in an artist meet-and-greet dessert reception sponsored by Emory’s Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning . Over 400 patrons attended, including residents of Clairmont Oaks and Briarcliff Oaks senior communities and also members of the Goethe Institute . Residents of the Piedmont High Rise senior community were also able to attend through the organizational efforts of VSA of Georgia.

Over twenty high school music students at the Paideia School enjoyed a private lecture/demonstration during which the Duo performed three contemporary four-hand piano works, explaining the history behind each work, and pointing out interesting details about the composers and the music. For students of Dr. John Lennon’s composition class at Emory, the pianists demonstrated a few contemporary works that were not originally composed for four hands, and discussed how they arrange pieces to suit their needs. They listened to two student’s compositions and gave suggestions on how to make the works more interesting by varying the patterns for the left hand and changing the harmonies within the piece.

On her final afternoon, Van Zabner attended Professor Deborah Thoreson’s accompanying class and listened to three pairs of Emory music students play prepared pieces for piano and flute, piano and cello, and piano and violin. As a performer who works consistently with a partner, Van Zabner emphasized the need for non-verbal communication between musicians. She suggested using slight body language instead of direct eye contact to indicate to the other performer what should happen next. She also noted that the piano accompaniment was not simply background noise, but an equal part of the relationship needed to support the soloist and help them project their melody. The students found her advice especially helpful as many of them were preparing for joint recitals later in the semester.

Frederica von Stade and Samuel Ramey

Two of the world’s greatest vocalists, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, and bass Samuel Ramey, appeared together for a sold out concert in Emerson Concert Hall at Emory. With great versatility, von Stade and Ramey presented a program encompassing virtually every musical style, from traditional operatic arias, to Broadway hits. Equally impressive was their accompanist, Warren Jones, a frequent collaborator with many of the world’s best known artists. All three appeared in the lobby after the concert to sign programs and CDs , and to meet the audience .

Approximately fifteen Emory voice majors were treated to an hour-long private conversation with von Stade and Jones the morning of their performance. Jones gave the students insight into the role of the accompanist, especially when working with vocalists. He stressed that, despite the defined structure of classical music, the pianist and the vocalist must have a “musical conversation” so that the pianist knows when to fade out to highlight the vocalist, or when to provide more support for them. Von Stade discussed the importance of understanding the meaning of the lyrics in order to successfully transmit the right emotion to the audience. When working with a song, she takes each phrase and tries to consider what it means and the emotion with which it should be sung. However, she stressed the importance of letting the audience do some interpreting, rather than forcing them into one version: “Give them sad and let them run with it - don’t give them every part of being sad.”

Osvaldo Barrios

Osvaldo Barrios began his illustrious career playing the bandoneón for well-known tango orchestras in his native Buenos Aires before moving to Los Angeles and forming the famous trio, Tres Para El Tango. He now resides in Atlanta but continues traveling to guest star in various tango shows. Beginning in the fall of 2006, Barrios was in residence with the newly created Emory Tango Ensemble , an authentic tango ensemble organized by Kristin Wendland, a senior lecturer in the music department. He attended one rehearsal each month , enabling the students to practice and transmit the true tango style under the guidance of a true master. For the performance in February, he and the Emory Tango Ensemble were joined by Tangueros Emory dancers and guest musicians Pablo Aslan, bass, and Ruben Stefano, piano.

At the end of March, Barrios and Wendland traveled to Henderson Middle School , a public school with a large Hispanic population, to play for almost 300 seventh graders in band, orchestra, and chorus. The students had been given study packets that discussed the bandoneón, the history of tango music, famous tango musicians and composers, and the tango dance. The band teacher was also provided with a tango compilation CD ahead of time so that both she and her students were acquainted with the sound of the bandoneón. For an hour Barrios played numerous examples of different tangos accompanied by Wendland on the piano. In between the pieces, the students were given the opportunity to ask questions. They were especially eager to ask about the bandoneón. Students asked Barrios what it was made of, how heavy it was, where they could get one, how expensive it is, how it makes the different sounds, the range of the instrument, and how many instruments he owns. Wendland taught a basic tango dance step to a willing participant while Barrios accompanied them on the bandoneón. Afterwards, Barrios signed autographs for many excited students.

Bruce Broughton

Considered one of the most versatile composers working in film today, Bruce Broughton writes in every medium, from theatrical motion pictures, television, and computer games to the concert stage, in styles ranging from large symphony settings to contemporary electronic scores.

As an Emory Coca-Cola Artist in Residence, Broughton taught two film music classes, a music composition class, a documentary filmmaking class, attended rehearsals for the Emory Wind Ensemble and the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, and met Emory music students and faculty at an informal luncheon. Broughton was also in attendance at the Emory Wind Ensemble concert which featured both his concert and film music, complete with a video projection of scenes from one of the movies.

In all settings, Broughton was extremely personable and was eager to interact with the music students, asking them to talk about their own music experiences and using their responses as conversation starters to encourage dialogue. He brought several of his handwritten scores and recordings of the final versions to the classes, allowing the students to get a closer look at the mechanics of composition and giving them insight into how the industry has evolved over the years. In rehearsal Broughton helped the students understand the fine details of his music and worked with individual instruments to help them achieve the right intonation and musical quality.

Burning River Brass

One of the most respected brass ensembles in the United States, Burning River Brass (BRB) has been dazzling audiences since 1996 with their energetic and virtuosic performances. For the performance at Emory, BRB performed an evening of mixed repertoire including fresh arrangements of works by Bach, Debussy, and Shostakovich, as well as original works written specifically for the group. The evening was free for Emory students and members of the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony.

As artists in residence, the members of BRB led a lecture/demonstration for Emory music majors, which was largely a preview of the following night’s performance. They discussed how they adapt classical music for brass ensemble and the importance of the proper balance of sound when working with such loud instruments. For the rest of their time at Emory, individual members of the ensemble gave private lessons and clinics to Emory wind students for their respective instruments.

Kenny Barron

A native of Philadelphia, Kenny Barron has been the pianist of choice for some of jazz’s greatest musicians, including Stan Getz, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Milt Jackson, and Buddy Rich. More than 600 enthusiastic patrons, including fifteen residents of the Clairmont Oaks retirement community, attended his concert at the Schwartz Center . For the first half of the program Barron was joined by Gary Motley, director of jazz studies at Emory, to play an array of two-piano jazz. In the second half of the program Barron was joined by the Emory Big Band to play some of his own compositions and works by Benny Golson, Gabriel Fauré, and Cleo Henry.

Twenty band students from Parks Middle School attended an open rehearsal of Kenny Barron with the Gary Motley Trio. Professor Motley gave the students and introduction to improvisation, explaining how it was just like another language which he and Barron were going to use to have a musical conversation. The two pianists played several pieces which illustrated that concept. Students then asked Barron questions they had prepared with the help of study guides assembled by their teachers. The questions ranged from what it was like to work with Dizzy Gillespie to Barron’s thoughts on contemporary music. He also discussed his musical background, other instruments he played, his inspiration for writing music, and advice for aspiring young musicians.

That afternoon Barron led a jazz piano masterclass attended by over forty people, most of them community members. The session lasted almost an hour and a half in which Barron talked about the influences that had shaped his music, demonstrating each style on the piano. Barron also led a jazz improvisation class the following morning that was attended by approximately fifty people. Emory jazz students played several pieces while Barron gave them feedback on different notes and chords they could use to make certain transitions more interesting. The jazz students then had the opportunity to play with Barron as he took over at one of the pianos.

Fall 2006

Trio Solisti, September 2006

Three sensational musicians, violinist Maria Bachmann, cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach, and pianist Jon Klibonoff, join together as Trio Solisti to create performances that have thrilled audiences across America. Since their formation in 2000 the group has quickly gained prominence in the music world by not only performing the classics, but also embracing contemporary music into their repertoire.

During their weekend at Emory, Gerlach and Klibonoff spoke to an audience composed largely of Emory music students and some interested community members about their lives as active performers and their thoughts about performing music today. The two also discussed what it was like to perform works by contemporary composers since they were scheduled to perform a piece by Emory professor John Lennon, who was also in attendance, at their concert.

Students in Dr. Lennon’s composition class also had the unique opportunity to hear their own compositions played by the trio. The trio gave the students feedback and advice on composition techniques. The trio’s concert drew a mixed crowd of music students and community members, and also special guests from the Phillips Tower Retirement Community, Mothers Raising Sons, and the Center for Positive Aging who received tickets from VSA Arts of Georgia.

Southeastern Festival of Song, September 2006

The Southeastern Festival of Song is a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing understanding and appreciation for vocal music performance while also fostering the careers of talented vocal performers. During their residency at Emory, members of the group hosted a master class for approximately 150 Emory music majors, vocalists and faculty in the Emerson Concert Hall. Four Emory students each presented a selection which was then critiqued by a member of SEFOS, while the audience watched from their seats on the stage.

For the opening number of their concert, “The Secrets of Sea and Sky,” SEFOS collaborated with Emory’s all-male a capella ensemble, No Strings Attached, for an energetic rendition of Beyond the Sea by Charles Trenet. The audience, composed largely of music students and community members, gave the singers of SEFOS a standing ovation, and in return received two encores as No Strings Attached was invited back onstage for the final encore.

Finally, three Emory students participated in a two hour conversation with all five members of SEFOS about the “Business of Singing.” Each member discussed his or her own personal journey through the field of vocal music and talked about people or events that stood our in their career. The students were then given the chance to talk about their own studies in vocal music and ask questions about everything from how to find a good summer program, to what to look for in a graduate school.

David Krakauer, October 2006

In October 2006, internationally renowned clarinetist David Krakauer performed with his group, Klezmer Madness, in the Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center. As a Coca-Cola Artist in Residence, Krakauer presented a lecture/demonstration entitled, “A Personal and Musical Journey Through Klezmer Music” for over 100 Emory music students, faculty, and interested community members, and also gave a master class on klezmer clarinet technique for five Emory clarinet students.

During the lecture/demonstration, Krakauer traced his career in terms of his musical growth and expansion, explaining how he moved into klezmer music after years of experience with jazz performance. Throughout the demonstration, Krakauer presented various audio clips of klezmer music through the ages, and also performed excerpts of pieces on his clarinet. All three of these events were attended by Atlanta community members, especially the performance on Friday, October 6, where Emory hosted approximately twenty residents of Phillips Tower and Briarcliff Oaks retirement communities in addition to numerous other community members, students, and faculty.

Zagreb Saxophone Quartet, October 2006

Since its debut in 1989, the Zagreb Saxophone Quartet has reached a growing audience in Eastern Europe and North America. The ensemble, with a repertoire ranging from baroque pieces by J.S. Bach and others to premieres of new works by Croatian composers, has played to critical acclaim in venues throughout Europe as well as in Canada and the United States.

The Quartet was kept extremely busy during their week-long residency at Emory. The Quartet first went out to Dodgen Middle School and performed four times in a row for various groups of sixth to eighth graders in the school’s band program. Students were eager to know how much they practiced and how long they had been playing their instruments.

The Quartet also went to Parks Middle School and performed for the entire eighth grade, several of whom were also in the school’s band program. After the performance was over, two students in the band program brought their instruments out and the Quartet was nice enough to help them with everything from correct technique to instrument maintenance.

For the Emory students, the Quartet performed for the Perspectives on Performance class and also answered questions. Eugene Rousseau, the teacher of one of the group members, gave a master class for instrumentalists.

Maya Beiser, November 2006

Described by the New Yorker Magazine as "The Cello Goddess," and by the San Francisco Chronicle as "The Queen of Contemporary Cello," Maya Beiser has been on the forefront of her field, creating a vast new repertoire for the cello.

During her residency at Emory, Beiser performed her solo concert, “Almost Human,” which explored the "almost human" range of sounds and expressions of the cello through a variety of cultural influences. Beiser also premiered a work by Eve Belgarian based on a poem by Belgian surrealist, Henry Michaux, entitled, “I am writing to you from a far-off country.” This multimedia work, which included speech, film, music, and song, was co-commissioned by Emory University.

In attendance at the concert were students from the Kittredge Magnet School orchestra, the Emory Work-Life Initiative, Emory faculty and students, and members of the Atlanta community. Several organizations also received invitations for discounted tickets including: Eyedrum, Agnes Scott, Clark Atlanta University, IMAGE Film and Video, Art Station, Women in Film Atlanta, and Play More Music.

In addition to her concert, Beiser gave a lecture/demonstration entitled, “Performing Contemporary Music” to an audience of 60 Emory string and composition students and interested community members. During this two-hour session, Beiser played recorded samples of her music, and also performed a section from one of the pieces in her concert. Beiser addressed many questions from the audience ranging from how she got started in this field to where she found the inspirations for her works. The lecture/demonstration was followed by a pizza party with the artist.

Andrew Manze, November 2006

Andrew Manze, violinist and director of The English Concert, is a sought-after conductor and one of today's most passionate advocates of early music. As part of the Coca-Cola Artists in Residence Series Manze gave a free pre-concert lecture to all ticket holders in which he discussed Mozart's life and influences. Tickets to the performance were also subsidized for the orchestra students and parents of Kittredge Magnet School.

Spring 2006

Osvaldo Golijov, February 2006

Emory and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra presented the long-awaited Atlanta premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s universally praised La Pasión segun San Marcos (The Passion of St. Mark). Reveling in Latin American and Afro-Caribbean sounds and bubbling with emotion, this transcendent work was performed by the Brazilian soprano Luciana Souza, the Schola Cantorum de Caracas, and members of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano, conductor.

In addition to performing as part of the Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series, the performers of La Pasión gave an extra performance for over 400 students and staff of Woodward Academy with an introduction by Ken Meltzer.

An integral element of the residency at Emory was the choral workshop conducted by Professor Maria Guinand and the Schola Cantorum de Caracas for students in the Atlanta Young Singers of Callanwolde ensemble. The Young Singers performed a Latin American choral work edited by Ms. Guinand, after which Ms. Guinand coached the Young Singers on a piece they then performed together with the Schola Cantorum.

Emory modern dance students also benefited from this residency as a member of the performing ensemble led a master class in capoeira. After teaching some of the basic steps, he then taught the dancers some of the traditional songs that accompany the movement and finally supervised mock capoeira battles between pairs of students and dance faculty while everyone sang along.

Evelyn Glennie, February 2006

Two-time Grammy winner Evelyn Glennie is one of the most in-demand percussionists of our time, giving more than 100 performances a year and collaborating with the finest musicians, conductors, and composers, from Philip Glass to Bela Fleck. Glennie performed an exciting concert at Emory that was followed by a post-concert reception with the artist where audience members got a chance to talk to Glennie in person.

Tickets were subsidized for eleven local high school musicians and three teachers from Duluth High School enabling the students to attend the event and the reception. As a special treat just for their school, the students were invited backstage after the concert to ask Glennie questions and to have her sign their programs.

In addition to performing, Glennie also conducted a marimba masterclass for percussion students which involved five Emory students and approximately thirty audience members from the Atlanta community. Each student performed a piece for Glennie who then made comments specific to each student’s needs. The students who participated commented that they continued to use the techniques they learned in their own performances later on that year.

Wess "Warmdaddy" Anderson, February 2006

Percussionist Pete Siers and bassist Paul Keller joined saxophonist Wess “Warmdaddy” Anderson to perform with the Gary Motley Trio in the 2006 Emory Annual Jazz Festival. Anderson, a native of Louisiana who toured with Wynton Marsalis, led a class on jazz improvisation techniques that was attended by twenty students. Anderson gave several students a chance to improvise with the musicians and also taught the concepts of communication between performers, giving tips on when to solo and what to listen for.

The three musicians also led a masterclass for approximately ninety people where they performed and then answered questions about their career paths and playing jazz in various cities. After the class was over, audience members had the opportunity to come up onstage and continue their conversations with the musicians.

Thirty-five students from Parks Middle School were able to attend a private lecture/demonstration with Anderson, Siers, and Keller followed by a Q&A session and a bag lunch where they could continue their discussion on what they saw. Through VSA Arts of Georgia, Innovative Junior Training received fully subsidized tickets to the performance and was able to attend the post-concert reception.

Denyce Graves, March 2006

Denyce Graves’s career has placed her front and center on the world’s greatest opera and concert stages. She has showcased her rich expressive voice and elegant theatrical skills in a wide array of roles and apperances. She is best known for her interpretations of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila with the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In addition to an extensive classical repertoire, Graves is equally suited to singing Broadway hits, jazz, and American spirituals. Graves has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and 60 Minutes, and also hosts Voce di Donna on XM satellite radio. Appointed as a Cultural Ambassador for the United States in 2003, Graves often appears in concerts for charitable causes around the world.

During her residency at Emory, Atlanta community members and Emory music students had the unique opportunity to observe a vocal master class. Ms. Graves listened to four Emory voice majors perform their prepared pieces and then provided feedback and commentary on their performances. Topics she addressed included breathing techniques, posture, pronunciation, and expression. The audience immediately noticed an improvement in the student’s singing technique. Graves herself performed the following evening as part of the Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series.

Yukimi Kambe Viol Consort, March 2006

The Yukimi Viol Consort, organized in Japan in 1983, provided the Emory and Atlanta audience with an evening of contemporary and early viol music, including a premiere by Emory composer and professor John A. Lennon. The performance was followed by a dessert reception where audience members had a chance to meet the artists.

Earlier in the day the consort led a viola de gamba workshop and a composition class for Emory music students that was also open for public observation. Martha Bishop, a violist from Atlanta, led the workshop with Yukimi Kambe, spending individual time with the seven student participants of various skill levels and instructing them on viol techniques. Following the workshop, four Emory composition students gave the members of the consort their original compositions to perform. The consort read through the pieces, asked questions, gave feedback, and then played the pieces again for the twenty or so observers. The consort was impressed by the complexity of some of the pieces and offered advice on how to correctly mark difficult passages in the music to make it easier for the performer to read.

Prarie Winds, April 2006

Since 1996, the Prairie Winds have captivated audiences with the finest wind quintet literature in concert programs that entertain as well as enlighten. Their unique approach combines powerful musical technique, humor, and intriguing background information. The quintet and its members have experience performing at leading festivals, including Ravinia, and with the Chicago Symphony and Lyric Opera of Chicago. Their Gale Force recording features twentieth-century wind quintet music by North American composers.

During their residency at Emory, the members of Prairie Winds led five consultation lessons with Emory wind students and also conducted a woodwind composition class. Also, the group participated in a masterclass for a quintet of Emory wind students that was open to the public. Surprisingly, the group used singing to demonstrate woodwind techniques and also discussed how to follow nonverbal communication cues.

Spring 2005

Eddie Daniels, February 2005

As both a classical and jazz performer, clarinetist Eddie Daniels has earned many Grammy awards and nominations throughout his career, and has performed with leading orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Daniels participated in the Emory Jazz Festival, performing with the Gary Motley Trio, the Emory Jazz Band and Emory student jazz combos. He gave a lecture/demonstration for Emory music students, faculty, staff, and members of the public. Forty students from Parks Middle School observed an open rehearsal of Daniels and the Gary Motley Trio and they had the opportunity to ask questions of the artists. After the rehearsal, students observed an Emory Jazz Band saxophone sectional and had a discussion with Schwartz Center staff about musical opportunities in college.

Avantango, February 2005

Pablo Aslan's Avantango is an ensemble featuring some of the world's leading tango musicians and dancers who present breathtaking performances that embrace the 21st century. Two members of Avantango coached Emory chamber ensembles in an open master class. Avantango gave a stellar performance in Emerson Concert Hall.

Eliot Fisk, March 2005

Eliot Fisk has brought an entirely new dimension to classical guitar performance. He is known world-wide for his imaginative and innovative approach and for expanding the scope of the classical guitar legacy he inherited from his legendary mentor, Andrés Segovia. During his ten-day residency, Fisk gave several performances, including a Family Series concert, three recitals, and two concerts with the Vega String Quartet. Fisk gave two master classes and a lecture/demonstration for Emory students, presented a concert for thirty senior citizens at the Dorothy Benson Senior Multipurpose Complex, taught two music classes at the International Community School, and shared his ideas about music and liberation with International Community School faculty.

Sérgio and Odair Assad, March 2005

Sérgio and Odair Assad, today’s preeminent guitar duo, have been credited with doublehandedly reviving Brazilian music for the instrument. Because of their identical musical education and unique experience, the brothers have achieved a remarkable unified sound and ensemble playing for which they are known throughout the world. They gave a lecture/demonstration that was attended by Emory students and faculty, community members, and 30 students from Parks Middle School. They joined forces with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg in the Atlanta premiere of their highly acclaimed program of gypsy and folk music. This concert was part of the 2004-2005 Emory Guitar Fest.

New York New Music Ensemble, April 2005

This 28-year-old ensemble commissions new music, performs, records, teaches, and advocates for the music of our time. Described as “pulsating with life and timbral excitement,” the group is sought out by composers and audiences seeking thoughtful and passionate performances. Their interests span music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, the “classics,” emerging composers, extended instrumental and electronic techniques, theater, interactive and live electronics, and graphics. The ensemble offered a “Perspectives on Performance” lecture/demonstration during which they rehearsed John Anthony Lennon’s “Red Scimitar.” They performed the world premiere of this piece at Emory.

Mundell Lowe, April 2005

Through his recording, touring, and composing career, Mundell Lowe, the inventive jazz guitarist, has become widely admired for his harmonically rich, mellow sound. He is frequently referred to as a "musician's musician” and has earned the respect of critics and fellow musicians alike for his contributions to America's most original art form. As part of the Emory Guitar Fest, Mundell Lowe performed with the Emory Jazz Ensembles and gave a lecture/demonstration with Emory’s director of jazz studies, Gary Motley.

Fall 2004

Turtle Island and Ying String Quartets, September 2004

Since its inception in 1985, the Turtle Island String Quartet (TISQ) has been a singular force in the creation of bold, new trends in chamber music for strings. TISQ fuses the classical quartet esthetic with 20th-century American popular styles. By devising a performance practice that honors both, the state of the art has inevitably been redefined. TISQ members refine their skills through unusual and endemic "re-compositions" of works by the "old masters," the development of repertory by some of today's cutting-edge young composers, performances and recordings with major symphonic ensembles, and a determined educational commitment. 

During its residency at Emory, TISQ led a composition class in which they had an informal discussion with eight students, then performed and gave feedback on students' original compositions. TISQ led a jazz improvisation class for Emory jazz students that was also attended by about twenty children from Greenforest Academy. Many of the children played the pianos and drums in the room. At the close of the class, the children took a tour of the Schwartz Center. TISQ joined forces with the Ying String Quartet in a student performance class that was open to the public. Many of the sixty attendees remained long after the class ended to ask questions and talk with the artists, and students were offered free passes to that evening's concert.

Thomas Hampson, Baritone, October 2004

Grammy-winner Thomas Hampson possesses one of today's most beautiful voices and offers an extraordinary symbiosis of vocal and performing powers. Hampson's performances on the world's major concert and opera stages are hailed by audiences and critics alike.  He is renowned for his versatility—performing in opera, operetta, musical, oratorio, and recital—as well as his achievements in the fields of recording, research, and pedagogy.

A very large number of Emory voice students are double majors, and they were thrilled to learn that Hampson graduated from college with a double major and places a high value on the liberal education that Emory arts students receive. Hampson gave a vocal master class at Emory for thirty-five attendees, including Emory faculty and voice students (freshmen through graduate students), music professionals, and community members. During the class he offered many new ideas and concepts to think about when singing. A local voice teacher brought a group of her private students to benefit from Hampson’s residency.

Interface, October 2004

Interface leads the field in creating multi-media performance art in which body, sound, image, and technology converge. Interface explores art forms and ideas as disparate as contemporary jazz and Japanese dance using new instruments or familiar instruments retrofitted with technology. The group was founded in 1995 by professors Dan Trueman from Princeton University and Curtis Bahn from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's (RPI) iEAR studios. Both are talented composers, musicians, and innovators. Dancer, musician, and ethnologist Tomie Hahn, Associate Professor at RPI, completes the trio. 

Interface offered a performance class that was open to the public, taught classes entitled "Music Cultures of the World" and "Electronic Music/Midi Technology," and led a freshman seminar on Creativity and Collaboration.

Christopher O'Riley and From the Top, January and October 2004

In both January and October 2004, internationally renowned pianist Christopher O'Riley hosted live tapings at the Schwartz Center of Public Radio International's hit show From the Top, featuring exceptional pre-college-age musicians from Georgia and across the nation. As an Emory Coca-Cola Artist in Residence, Christopher O'Riley offered daytime performances at the Carlos Museum that drew a large number of senior citizens, a “"Performers Up Close" discussion for the Department of Music, and a master class with Atlanta-area and Emory piano students.

Thirty students from Young Audiences of Atlanta were brought to the Emory campus to observe the taping of From the Top, and some participated in a “"Make Your Own Radio Show"”project led by From the Top's Education Director. In addition to teaching the children about creating a radio show, this unique opportunity built confidence, provided team-based activities, and allowed them to express their individual abilities and talents.

One of the vocalists featured on the show visited Parks Middle School to give a lecture and demonstration for forty music students. The students were impressed that the performer was only five years older than most of the students in the class. As a thank you, they performed a vocal piece for her. It was clear by the expressions on the students' faces that From the Top left them inspired. Their music teacher is eager to plan more outreach events with Emory.

Joseph Alessi, Trombone, December 2004

Joseph Alessi, principal trombonist of the New York Philharmonic, is possibly the best and most well-known trombonist in the world. An active soloist, recitalist, and chamber music performer, he is also known for his commitment to trombone pedagogy.

During his ten-day residency at Emory, Alessi taught a master class attended by trombonists from a five-state area, gave many individual private lessons, rehearsed and performed the premier of a new work for trombone and wind ensemble with the Emory Wind Ensemble (with composer Eric Ewazen from Juilliard present), played a concert with the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, and was the featured speaker at a “"Meet the Artist" symposium.

Trombone professor Tom Gibson from Georgia State University called this residency “"the most memorable music event"” in recent history and profoundly thanked Emory on behalf of the Atlanta arts community for this remarkable opportunity. Alessi brought new musical understanding to the students through teaching and other interactions and visibility and honor to Emory's music program. He also helped strengthen the relationship between Emory and the New York Philharmonic.

Spring 2004

Vega String Quartet, February – April 2004

The Vega String Quartet is on the cutting edge of the new generation of classical musicians: world-class players who are also young, hip, and cool, and who bring an incredible vibrancy to their performances. The quartet's style, sound and excitement have attracted international attention for more than a decade. 

The Quartet’s residency began in February of 2004 and continued through April 2004. Vega’s work at Emory focused on presenting the complete string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven in six public concert performances along with pre-concert lectures. In addition to the formal concert series, the quartet gave presentations at the Carlos Museum, Dobbs University Center, Goizueta Business School, Paideia School, Goethe Institute, and several dorms on campus. The quartet coached Emory Symphony Orchestra sectionals and participated in Emory classes on subjects including music theory, music history, Shakespeare, and religion.

Vega provided a special outreach opportunity for fifteen children from Operation PEACE, a non-profit neighborhood development organization that provides services such as after-school programs. The children enjoyed an exclusive performance by Vega, asked the quartet members questions about their instruments and career choices, and had the opportunity to play the quartet members' instruments.

Bang on a Can All-Stars, February 2004

The Bang on a Can All-Stars was formed by six dynamic players at New York's Bang on a Can Festival. Since 1987, the festival has been discovering and presenting the most exciting performers who have committed their lives to the music of our time. The instrumentation of the All-Stars is unique: clarinets, electric guitar, cello, bass, keyboards, drums, and percussion. They can be described as part classical ensemble, part rock band, and part jazz band.

During their residency, the Bang on a Can All-Stars held open rehearsals leading up to a performance in the Emerson Concert Hall as part of Emory's Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series. They conducted a lecture and demonstration for Emory music students that was open to the public, performed select original compositions from music department faculty and students, and taught a freshman seminar called “"Performing Music."