Monday, April 30, 2012

Sol Flamenco @ SOU Monday, May 7!

NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release:               For further information contact:
Friday, April 06, 2012                   Colleen Graves
541.552.6102

The SOU Department of Performing Arts
presents
“Fiesta Flamenca: The Music and Dance of Spain”
Presented by
San Diego based dance troupe Sol Flamenco with Mark Taylor, guitar Grant Ruiz, guitar and Dr. Terry Longshore, percussion

(Ashland, Ore.) – The Department of Performing Arts at Southern Oregon University (SOU) presents Sol Flamenco Dance & Music Troupe on Monday, May 7, 7:30pm, where the passion and fire of Spain hits the stage for one night only. An evening of lightning-fast footwork, haunting guitar rhythms, and soulful singing awaits you.  The concert will take place in the Music Recital Hall on Mountain Ave. at Southern Oregon University.  Admission is $10 general and free for students with I.D.

Featuring a cast of artists that have recently returned from Spain, Oregon welcomes dancers Liz Bortolotto and Joelle Gonçalves, plus flamenco guitarist Mark Taylor. The group has been working together for many years and it shows in the dancers’ precision footwork, vocals, the guitarist's bold accompaniment, and the company's strong stage presence. This year’s show also brings the return of special guest artists, percussionist Terry Longshore and guitarist Grant Ruiz.

A performer, teacher, and co-director of dance troupe Sol Flamenco, Joelle Gonçalves has performed throughout the West Coast with a variety of flamencocompanies including Aire Flamenco, Los Cuatro Vientos, Flamenco Puro, FlamencoArts, and was a featured soloist in Yaelisa's Noche de Amor.  Joelle's attraction to the art of flamenco began over a decade ago while she was earning her degree in Art History. It was the combination of passionate singing, fiery dancing and haunting guitar rhythms that completely enthralled her and led her to Seville, Spain, where she began her professional dance training with Maestro José Galván. Joelle has studied with such notable flamenco artists as Joaquin Ruiz, Concha Vargas, Angel Muñoz, and Antonio Granjeros. She travels to Spain annually to study with Manuel Betan.

Liz Bortolotto began her life as a flamenco dancer in 1999. Since then, she has danced professionally with Sol Flamenco, Mark Taylor Flamenco, Flamenco Arts, andLos Cuatro Vientos. Liz trained primarily with Jose Galvan of Seville, Spain and local artists Yaelisa (Emmy winning choreographer and dancer), Carola Zertuche, and Elaine Marlow. She has also studied with traveling artists such as Antonio Granjeros, Belen Maya, Pastora Galvan and Joaquin Ruiz. She recently returned from Spain where she studied with world famous Flamenco dance teacher, Manuel Betanzos.

Classical and Flamenco guitarist Mark Taylor is an international recording artist and performer. His combined experience in classical and flamenco music make him a strong and dynamic interpreter of the classical repertoire with an approach toflamenco that is rhythmically vibrant, passionate and true to the essence of the many styles he performs.

Mark was already a professional classical guitarist when he first began traveling to Spain in 1987. He studied flamenco guitar in Granada, Sevilla, Jerez de la Frontera, and Madrid. He returned to the United States to form the Aire Flamenco Dance Company & The Mark Taylor Flamenco Quartet. He has performed as a soloist in Spain and the United States and appears regularly as featured artist with the SolFlamenco Dance Company and The San Francisco Bay area’s Potaje ensemble, directed by Chus Alonso. He has also collaborated with Francisco Gaona’s stage productions of Romanceros Gitanos, Cante Jondo and Cantares by Federico García Lorca.

Radio and television credits include interviews by Jose Maria Velasquez on Spanish National Radio in Madrid and Michael Krazny’s Forum on KQED Public Radio in San Francisco. Mark’s music is featured on television on the Discovery Channel programBizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, “Spain” and “Morocco” episodes.  Pierce Carson in The Napa Valley Register called Mark Taylor “The Bay Area’s Best flamencoguitarist…Taylor has a feel for the music’s innate sensuality.”

If you would like more information or to schedule a phone interview with Joelle Gonçalves, Artistic Director, or Mark Taylor, please call Joelle Gonçalves at (707) 573-8450 or e-mail Joelle at solflamenco@gmail.com. Visit www.SolFlamenco.comfor more information, or to hear the music of Mark Taylor, visitwww.marktaylorflamenco.com.

Tickets for this performance are $10 for general admission and free for students.  Tickets may be purchased by calling 541-552-6101 or at the Music Box Office prior to the performance.  The SOU Music Recital Hall is located at 405 S. Mountain Ave. in Ashland.  For more information, please visit SOU’s Music website athttp://www.sou.edu/music 

-SOU-

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

SOU/Oregon PAS Day of Percussion



NEWS RELEASE
For immediate release:                For further information contact:
April 2, 2012                                  Colleen Graves
                                                     gravesc@sou.edu
  541.552.6102


Day of Percussion

(Ashland, Ore.) – Day of Percussion
        
Southern Oregon University Department of Performing Arts presents a Day of Percussion, Saturday, April 21, 9:00 AM through evening at the Music Building at SOU, hosted by Dr. Terry Longshore, Director of Percussion Studies at SOU, and Bryan Jeffs, Instructor of Percussion at SOU. The featured guest artists are legendary drummer and percussionist Alex Acuña, marimba artist Matthew Coley, taiko percussionist Kelvin Underwood, and drum circle facilitator Kerry “The Shakerman” Greene.  The event is co-sponsored by the Percussive Arts Society.

Events include a drum-set and percussion clinic with Acuña, a marimba/ percussion clinic with Coley, and a Japanese taiko drumming workshop with Underwood.  Kerry "The Shakerman" Greene will host a community drum circle.  There will be vendor displays and a raffle. Other featured performers will be the SOU Percussion Ensemble, percussion trio Compás, the Ashland High School Percussion Ensemble, and other student ensembles.  The 7:30 PM evening showcase concert will feature Alex Acuña, Matthew Coley, and Kelvin Underwood in concert along with the SOU Percusison Ensemble.

Born in Pativilca, Peru, 100 miles north of Lima, Alex Acuña was born into a musical family that inspired him and helped shape him as a musician. His father and five brothers were all musicians. Alex taught himself how to play the drums from the age of four. By the time Alex turned ten, he was already playing in local bands. As a teenager, he moved to Lima and became one of Peru's most accomplished session drummers, performing on many recording projects for artists, as well as film and television productions.

Alex is widely known as an educator, gifted teacher and clinician of drums and percussion. He has recorded four solo instructional videos and provides seminars at universities such as UC Los Angeles, Berklee School of Music in Boston and other top international schools of music. DW Drums, Zildjian Cymbals, Gon Bops Percussion, Gibraltar, Vic Firth, Evans and Shure microphones all sponsor Alex. He is also credited with the design of Zildjian's "Azuka" line of cymbals, signature Vic Firth sticks and the caddy stick bag, the Alex Acuña signature line of congas, bongos, timbales, cajons, and bells from Gon Bops Percussion.

Matthew Coley performs regularly as a soloist throughout the US and Europe, and has performed with such entities as the Cedar Valley Chamber Music Festival, San Francisco Sinfonietta, Millennium Chamber Players, Moldavian Philharmonic and Tele-Radio Orchestras, and Kurpfalzisches Kammerorchester Mannheim. He has also been featured three times on Chicago’s WFMT Classical Radio Station and in a feature article in Time Out Chicago Magazine.

Matthew is currently professor of percussion at Iowa State University, and holds degrees from Northwestern University and the University of North Texas. He is endorsed by Marimba One, Innovative Percussion, and Sabian Cymbals, and published by Innovative Percussion and Edition Svitzer.;

Born in North Carolina, Kelvin Underwood’s musical journey began with a drum set and two understanding parents. At age 19, Kelvin was recruited by Tagayasu Den to join the world-famous taiko group, Ondekoza. As a member of Ondekoza he has performed in some of the worlds most prestigious stages including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. After touring internationally for four hears, Kelvin returned to the US to enroll at Berklee College of Music, where he graduated with a degree in Professional Music. He has collaborated with electronic-instrument-maker Sudhu Tewari to produce “Meidoko: Unearth” and has studied the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. Currently living in Ashland, Oregon, Kelvin teaches taiko and drum set and is an active solo artist.

Kerry the “Shakerman” Greene’s amazing rhythmical journey began in 1993 when inspired by the percussive mastery of percussionist George Jinda of “Special EFX”, Kerry “the Shakerman” then created Shakka Shakerz, now a popular percussion shaker. While visiting a drum shop, he witnessed a drum circle being facilitated by the amazing Arthur Hull.  Intrigued, Kerry began studying with Mr. Hull at the weeklong Drum Circle Facilitators workshop in Hawaii.  Known for his enthusiasm, patience and abilities, he leads individuals on a path of self-discovery using the drums, shakers and other percussion instruments as tools for unity and empowerment.

The Day of Percussion is also sponsored by SOU College of Arts & Sciences, SOU Division of Continuing Education, SOU Educational Activities Advisory Committee, SOU Percussion Club, The Percussive Arts Society, Gon-Bops Percussion, Drum Workshop, Evans Drumheads, Marimba One, Zildjian Cymbals, Sabian Cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks, D’Addario, Innovative Mallets, International Art & Sound, Yamaha Percussion, Remo Drumheads, and Plaza Inn & Suites at Ashland Creek.

Pre-registration cost is $25 general public, ($30 after April 16) for the full day including lunch and the evening concert; $10 for the concert only. Students receive free admission to the concert only with ID.  To register or purchase concert tickets call 541-552-6899 or look on the web: http://sou.edu/music/percussion/dayofpercussion.html

-SOU-