New work for the mellotron by composer Robert G. Patterson, performed by members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. A documentary featuring keyboardist Audie Smith. Performance by Ross Rice collaborating with the New Ballet Ensemble.
Free | Open to the public
Mellotron Variation Part 2 will be on April 21st (free with ticket) and Part 3 will be on April 22nd. More info on those shows here: https://goo.gl/qNkoGv
Sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts
About the artists:
Robert G. Patterson is a resident composer with the Luna Nova Ensemble. Recent accomplishments include commissions from Opera Memphis, the One Coin Concert series in Osaka, Japan, and First Prize in the NATS Art Song Composition Award. In addition to his musical activities, Patterson also has been a professional software developer, and his interest in computers led him to become an expert in musical engraving using a computer.
New Ballet Ensemble and School is a thriving after school dance program in the heart of Midtown Memphis, founded in 2001. Dancers from all over the Mid-South fill their studios six days a week, training and exploring cultural forms of dance alongside a strong classical ballet curriculum. New Ballet Ensemble was awarded the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2014, recognizing the country’s best creative youth development programs for using engagement in the arts and the humanities to increase self-direction, academic achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment.
Ross Rice might be best known as the lead singer/writer/keyboardist for Human Radio, who hit Billboard Top Forty in 1990 with “Me & Elvis” (Columbia), but has also appeared frequently on Memphis stages with Big Ass Truck, The Coolers, Riverbluff Clan, The Mudflaps, and Ross Rice Group. Rice has produced, toured, and recorded with Peter Frampton, George Clinton, Todd Snider, Adrian Belew, Stephen Perkins (Janes Addiction), and Susannah Hoffs (Bangles), to name but a few. Presently residing in Murfreesboro, Rice is enrolled in the MFA program in Recording Arts at MTSU, and is working on a documentary comparing Memphis and Nashville recording styles.
