They're Playin' my Tune!
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THEY'RE PLAYIN' MY TUNE!
This page is dedicated to people who are performing my music.  We may not be able to update as often as we'd like, but if you're aware of a concert performance of my music that I'm not personally part of, please email the details to info@HipHarp.com.

 

BRENDA CHRISTINA - HARP & BIG BAND - Dec. 21, 2008 - The Netherlands
PLAYS "WAY YOU ARE BLUES"

Dutch harpist Brenda Christina (a.k.a. Brenda Dor-Groot) presents the Netherlands Premiere of a new Big Band arrangement of "Way You Are Blues" with singer Suzanne Jansen and the group "Bigband Blast!," Dec. 21, 2008 at 3pm in the "Big Band Blast! / Sunday Jazz Xmas Edition" at Theater De Lockhorst, in Sliedrecht (that's the name of the town), The Netherlands. This big band arrangement was adapted from my orchestral version by arranger Kurt Schwab. If you're in the Netherlands, go check it out! (TheaterDeLockhorst.nl).

Brenda's website is: BrendaChristina.net.  Along with fellow Dutch harpist Sabine Meijers, Brenda is co-founder of the International Jazz Harp Foundation (www.jazzharp.org) dedicated to "enriching the harp world with jazz and the jazz world with harp."

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ARLINGTON HIGH SCHOOL - FALL MUSIC PROJECT 2008 - Arlington, MA
PLAY "BELINDA," "WAY YOU ARE BLUES," AND "WILD HARP"

ARLINGTON, MA: I got to participate in this project, but these folks really did all the work on this collaborative project with the Arlington High School Music Department all Fall of 2008, which culminated Dec. 3 in a free concert for the Arlington community. This was the first time I've worked with High School students to perform my orchestral, band or vocal pieces, and I was deeply impressed by how hard these kids and their teachers worked to prepare the music -- and wowed by their energy -- singing, playing, moving risers and instruments on and off the stage and putting on a show that included everything from Madrigals, Dvorak, and Sting, to me! Here's what we performed:

CHORUS: The chorus premiered a new 4-part choral version of my song "Belinda," about the beautiful tree in a neighboring town (arranged by their former department head, Pasquale Tassone and led by Choir Director Cheryl Christo) -- and ended up in the middle of a huge controversy over the tree when they went to sing the song to the tree itself just days before it was needlessly torn down. You can read about it at the Belinda Page.

BAND: The Concert Band presented a modified arrangement of "Way You Are Blues" by band and orchestra director Tino D'Agostino, complete with an improvised trumpet solo by intrepid exchange student Semaunder Rongvaldson.
ORCHESTRA: The Orchestra played my Celtic adventure "The Wild Harp" with violin soloists Kenneth Trieu & Katrina Rosenberg, and they even invented a dramatic flourish for the piece when they had the drum core and piccolo player Conor Oriordan (not pictured) enter from the back of the auditorium to begin the second part of the piece.
Choral Director, Cheryl Christo, who masterminded this project. Arranger Pasquale Tassone, former head of the AHS music department.


Not pictured here is Sabatino D'Agostino, who arranged and directed both the Band and Orchestra, and John DiTomasi, head of the school's audio department, who ran our sound. (They're both good-looking, too -- I don't know why we don't have photos of them... go figure)