Tag: The Green Room

The McCain Duo at the Green Room

Join pianist Artina McCain and trombonist Martin McCain for a special performance in the Green Room at Crosstown Arts.

The McCain duo will perform an eclectic concert from composers around the world. The evening will be filled with personal musings and facts about the works by David Wilborn, Plog, Lebedev, and Marcus Wilcher. Featuring music from spirituals to classical, ragtime to jazz there is something for every musical palette. Come enjoy these rare gems of the repertoire for bass trombone and piano.

$10 General Admission | $5 with student ID
Doors open at 7 pm | Performance at 7:30 pm

About the Artists:

Artina McCain
Described as a pianist with “power and finesse” (Dallas Arts Society), Artina McCain, enjoys an active career as a solo and chamber performer, educator and lecturer. She has performed nationally and internationally throughout Europe, China, and the United States. McCain’s solo and chamber performances have been heard on radio shows in Chicago, Austin, Toronto, and Hong Kong.

Recent performance highlights include guest appearances with Oregon East Symphony, Memphis Symphony and Austin Civic Orchestra. Television appearance include features on CSPAN and a featured inspirational leader in the PBS documentary series “Roadtrip Nation: Degree of Impact”. An American Prize winner for her solo piano recordings, she will release an album of works entitled “Heritage: The American Composer” on the MSR label. She has won performance awards from the Austin Critics Table and is a three time Global Music Awards winner for the album I, Too (Naxos), a collaboration with soprano Icy Monroe, and the albums Shades and Trombone Czar with husband and bass trombonist, Martin McCain.

A strong advocate of performance injury prevention and alternative care, she has presented numerous lectures at conferences, universities, and hosts an annual Musicians Wellness Forum in Austin TX. She graduated from Southern Methodist University (BM), Cleveland Institute of Music (MM) and University of Texas at Austin (DMA). Currently, Dr. McCain is an Assistant Professor of Piano at University of Memphis. More info at www.artinamccain.com

Martin McCain

“He commands technical facility as a bass trombonist…executes the material on both discs with conviction…his attack is agile and his sound robust…” Textura Magazine (Canada)

Bass trombonist Martin McCain’s career as a musician spans an impressive scope of genres. A third-generation musician, he maintains a versatile performance schedule as a soloist, chamber, orchestral and jazz/commercial musician. Martin has appeared with numerous ensembles and has been a performer and clinician throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia.

As an orchestral musician, Martin is a member of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra, PRIZM Chamber Orchestra and regularly performs with the IRIS Orchestra, San Antonio Symphony and Memphis Symphony Orchestra. He has performed with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Amarillo Symphony, Charleston Symphony Orchestra and many regional orchestras. As a jazz musician, Martin is a member of the NOW Jazz Orchestra, Memphis Jazz Orchestra and performs with national touring ensembles. He was recently named a Global Music Awards Gold Medal winner and was featured in the Billboard magazine.

Martin McCain is an Artist/Teacher of Trombone at Texas State University. For more information, visit www.martinmccain.com.

Luna Nova Music at The Green Room

Join Luna Nova Music musicians Daniel Gilbert (violin), Sabrina Laney Warren (soprano), and Brian Ray (piano) for Summer Thoughts, a program of works by J.S. Bach, Alfred Schnittke, Claude Debussy, Einojuhani Rautavaara, and Samuel Barber.

Luna Nova Music supports performances of a wide range of twentieth century classics, music of established living composers, and premieres by emerging composers. With concerts, masterclasses and private instruction, Luna Nova Music maintains a strong commitment to the education of performers and listeners, and to the cause of new music in educational institutions and beyond.

Pay what you can

Doors open at 7 pm | Performance starts at 7:30 pm

Program
J.S. Bach: Suite No. 1 for Cello, Prelude (arr. for violin)
Alfred Schnittke: Suite in the Old Style, Op. 30
Claude Debussy: Images, Series II
Einojuhani Rautavaara: Summer Thoughts
Samuel Barber: Knoxville: Summer, 1915, Op. 24

About the performers:
Daniel Gilbert is a free-lance violinist in Memphis. He plays regularly with PRIZM, the Memphis Symphony, Luna Nova, and at the Orpheum Theater. He also teaches at the Bellevue School of Performing Arts. Daniel began violin studies with his grandfather Noel Gilbert when Noel was the Music Director of the Germantown Symphony. This early influence planted dual seeds of a love of music and of the violin. Daniel is grateful to Noel for sharing so much of his time and for his patient teaching. Daniel is married to Lori, also a violinist and they have two sons, Isai and Calum.

Praised as a “powerful and finely nuanced soprano” (Rhein-Neckar Zeitung) with “seemingly unlimited vocal possibilities,” (Augsburger Allgemeine) Sabrina Laney Warren has international acclaim and has performed opera, concert, and oratorio works throughout North America and Europe. Solidifying herself as an international artist, Sabrina has performed as a guest artist with the Festival Durance Luberon in France, the Eutiner Festspiele in Germany, the Deutsche-Amerikan Musik Fest in Germany, and the Differdange International Festival in Luxembourg. As the soprano soloist in the European tour of Ein deutsches Requiem, her performance was lauded as “a soft-lined, expressive consolation song full of vocal grace” (Augsburger Allgemeine). She also received critical acclaim for her performance of Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915, “It was a rare pleasure to hear Warren sing and a pleasure to note the ease in which she soared to the high notes and then plunged into resonant low notes…and after she had committed vocally and emotionally to Agee’s lyrics she had the audience completely in her thrall” (The Oak Ridger).

In addition to private piano instruction at Rhodes College, Brian Ray is the departmental collaborative pianist and also teaches piano classes at the University of Memphis. He has been a soloist with the University of Memphis Orchestra and the Memphis Civic Orchestra and has performed extensively as an assisting pianist in voice recitals. His most recent collaborative ventures have included art song recitals of works by Richard Hundley, Samuel Barber, Libby Larsen, and Rebecca Clarke. He has been a student of Allison Nelson, and he currently studies with Joan Gilbert. His areas of research include the piano works of Joseph Marx, piano repertoire of the 20th century, works for piano ensemble, and harpsichord.

Green Room Sessions — BiSOULtennial: 200 Soul Classics for 200 Years of Memphis

The Stax Museum of American Soul Music is celebrating the Memphis Bicentennial with BiSOULtennial, a unique list of 200 indelible soul songs recorded in Memphis between 1957 and 1975. From Stax stars Otis Redding and Sam & Dave to Hi Records royalty Al Green and Ann Peebles, and all artists, labels, and studios in between, the list covers dozens of artists who recorded at studios throughout Memphis during that golden era of soul music. 

The museum invites everyone to participate and vote for their Top Ten.

Listen to the Top 200: http://tiny.cc/MemSoul200Playlist
Vote for your Top 10: http://tiny.cc/MemSoul200

Join us for a special ballot release and conversation event taking place on May 15. The listening party and conversation event will feature an all-star panel of Memphis musicians, fans, DJs, scholars, and writers will discuss the song selections. Panelists include Dr. Charles Hughes (Rhodes College), DJ Eddie Hankins (WEVL-FM), Tonya Dyson (Memphis Slim House), Kameron Whalum (Stax Music Academy artist in residence and Bruno Mars’ trombone player), and Jared Boyd (The Daily Memphian newspaper). Each panelist will select and discuss two songs from their choices for Top Ten.

SPINS feat. QEMIST

A live monthly DJ series at Crosstown Arts

This month: Qemist (house/electronic/dance)
Cost: $5 
Location: The Green Room at Crosstown Arts

The SPINS series will feature music as diverse as the City of Memphis. Each month, a rotating line-up of DJs will play everything from old-school Hip-Hop and House to Ultra Lounge and Afrobeat. There’s something for everyone to enjoy. So, come chill. Come hang. Come party!

About Qemist:
From a young age, Memphis-based producer and DJ Qemist has had a taste for innovative electronic dance music. Blending genres like underground house, jersey club, ballroom house, and footwork, Qemist is carving out his niche and finding a place in the vast utopia of internet producer/DJs while also leaving his mark.

Taking influence from a plethora of artists such as Geotheory, DJ Rashad, Jungle, Kaytranada, and LSDXOXO, Qemist has honed into his own lane of genre-bending electronica. His first project ‘9 Club’ released under Rare Nnudes Music was a pivotal shift in his overall style of music making. It was then that Qemist really started to experiment with more off-kilter sounds, smooth melodies, and deconstructed beat patterns. The EP has earned him numerous accolades and has even been compared to the works of Clams Casino and Aphex Twin.

Since its release, Qemist has continued to hone his sound and create genre-breaking music. In 2017, Qemist released his ‘Warm. Volume. Theory’ EP on Future-Everything and continues to release mixes through the label.

Spotlight Concert Series ft. Andrew Crust and Members of the MSO

Join Andrew Crust, Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, and a chamber orchestra comprised of members of the MSO for a special evening of music at the Green Room at Crosstown Arts. The program was selected by Andrew Crust and features works by Gustav Mahler, Alma Mahler, and Richard Wagner. Mezzo-soprano Stephanie Doche will perform as soloist for the Mahler selections. Also a talented visual artist, Andrew Crust will be displaying some of his artwork available for purchase at the concert.

Doors open at 7 pm | performance starts at 7:30 pm
Tickets: $10 | $5 at the door with Student ID

Program:
Gustav Mahler, arr. Riehn – Kindertotenlieder
Alma Mahler, arr. Crust – Die Stille Stadt
Richard Wagner – Siegfried Idyll

Stephanie Doche, soloist

The Spotlight Concert Series showcases members of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra in the intimate Green Room at Crosstown Arts. The series provides the Memphis community the opportunity to get to know and learn more about the talented musicians that make up the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. Each month will feature a different musician or small chamber group as soloist or featured ensemble.

Artist Bios:
ANDREW CRUST is the newly-appointed Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (beginning in 19/20) where he will conduct a large number of subscription concerts, Kids concerts, Pops, as well as the innovative Annex Series and Tea and Trumpets Series each season. He is a versatile conductor with broad experience conducting orchestras, ballet and opera across North and South America and Europe.

Crust was Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra from 2017-2019 where he conducted over thirty-five concerts each season. He also served as Conductor of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program. As the Assistant Conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine from 2016-2018, he conducted a variety of concert series, helped coordinate the orchestra’s extensive educational programs, and helped lead a program for concertgoers under 40 called “Symphony and Spirits”.

Crust was the Assistant Conductor of the National Youth Orchestra of the USA (NYO-USA) in the summers of 2017 and 2018, assisting Michael Tilson Thomas on an Asian tour, as well as Giancarlo Guerrero, Marin Alsop and James Ross at Carnegie Hall and in a side-by-side performance with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He has also served as Cover Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony and Nashville Symphony, Assistant/Cover Conductor of the Boulder Philharmonic and Assistant Conductor of Opera McGill. As a winner of the 2018 Ansbacher Fellowship, selected by members of the Vienna Philharmonic, Crust was invited to the Salzburger Festspiele throughout August 2018 with full access to all Festival performances and rehearsals. Furthermore, Crust was the only American invited as a semi-finalist for the 2018 Nestlé and Salzburg Festival‘s Young Conductors Award, and worked with the Austrian Ensemble for New Music in May of 2018.

Praised for her “fervent, commanding vocal prowess,” French-American mezzo-soprano STEPHANIE DOCHE (rhymes with posh) was a Handorf Company Artist with Opera Memphis for the 2018-2019 season. While in Memphis she sang the roles of Suzuki in Madama Butterfly, Cousin Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore, and Toledo in the professional premiere of new American opera, The Falling & the Rising. Stephanie is also an Encouragement Award recipient for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, West Tennessee district.

In 2018, Stephanie garnered recognition for her “boldly convincing” performance as Idamante in Idomeneo with Opera NEO in San Diego. Other operatic highlights include Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Mére Marie in Dialogues des Carmélites, Hänsel in Hänsel und Gretel, and La Suora Zelatrice in Suor Angelica. Stephanie performed as Meg March in Little Women with UT Austin Butler Opera Center under the guidance and praise of the opera’s composer, Mark Adamo.

Impassioned with a desire to connect through creativity, Stephanie loves introducing opera to new audiences. As a Handorf Company Artist, Stephanie was a core member of 30 Days of Opera, an annual event that presents free opera in Memphis and its surrounding areas every day in September. Also in 2018, Stephanie performed in the premiere of the new children’s opera, Jack and Jill and the Happening Hill, with Salt Marsh Opera. During this community outreach, Stephanie and company presented the opera to over 5,000 students in Eastern Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Stephanie has been a featured soloist with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, University of Texas Wind Symphony, Rocky Ridge Music Center, and the Austin based chamber ensemble, prismatx, with whom she performed Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire.’

Stephanie was born in France to an American mother and Canadian father. When she was four years old, Stephanie and her family moved to Rochester, New York, where she was raised.

Black Cream with Abe Partridge

Join us for a performance by Memphis-based soul group Black Cream with opening act Abe Partridge (a singer/songwriter from Alabama).

Tickets: $5
Doors open at 7:30 pm | Performance at 8 pm

About Black Cream:
Black Cream is a newly formed conglomerate of some of Memphis’ musical prodigies. Lead guitarist and good soul TO Crivens flies high with his attention to feel and detail during his solos that make the room stand still.

The Band is anchored by bassist, Dr. Derek Brassel, the coolest cat in every room, is unofficially certified as the groove doctor and his bass lines are spell binding. On drums and vocals, Courtney Barnes displays jaw-dropping skill and vocal finesse, oftime harmonizing with his brother, Chris Barnes, who rounds out the Black Cream team on vocals and percussion with the charismatic presence of a baptist preacher and the vocal abilities of your favorite soul crooner.

About Abe Partidge:
Abe Partridge is a singer/songwriter and visual folk artist from Mobile, AL. People have said that Abe Partridge sounds older than his chronological age, and there’s a very good reason for that – he’s packed a lot of living into his 37 years.

Those experiences, ranging from the earthy to the surreal, the spiritual light to the depths of depression, come together with gripping intensity on Partridge’s second full-length album, Cotton Fields and Blood for Days. Over the course of ten songs, this troubadour draws listeners in with a combination of southern gothic storytelling and a dark humor reminiscent of the late Townes Van Zandt – delivered in a gravelly tone that conjures up images of Tom Waits in his barstool warming days.