Sound Off: Live from Broadway Presbyterian Church

PROGRAM

Carlos Simon - Warmth from Other Suns
Margaret Bonds - Hold On
Julia Perry - Ye, Who Seek The Truth

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor - Five Fantasiestucke

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PERFORMER'S BIOS:

Grammy-nominated violinist Jannina Norpoth made her debut as a soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at age 14. Since then she has built a career as an innovative collaborative artist with a passion for contemporary music, genre bending and improvisation, a sought after arranger and orchestrator, and an advocate for a more inclusive and versatile landscape in classical music. Her ensemble PUBLIQuartet, is widely recognized for their trailblazing programming and practice – receiving the 2019 Visionary Artist Award from Chamber Music America, and the 2015 CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. PUBLIQuartet has been an Artist in Residence at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and National Sawdust in New York City, and made headlines when they improvised a live soundtrack for the final Presidential Debate of 2016 on the Colbert Report.
Ms. Norpoth has performed internationally, including appearances on Lincoln Center's “Great Performers” Series, Kennedy Center "Arts Across America", Mostly Mozart Festival, Composers Now, Women of the World Festival at The Apollo Theater, Detroit Jazz Festival, Newport Jazz Festival, The Ecstatic Music Festival, VH1’s Save the Music, and SNL. She has been featured alongside acclaimed musicians James Carter, Nadia Sirota, Regina Carter, Marcus Belgrave, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Pharrell Williams, Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, My Brightest Diamond and many others.
Ms. Norpoth is a sought after arranger in the classical and non-classical worlds. Praised by Strad Magazine for her ability to write a transcription “so natural sounding that it could have been the composer's original version”, recent commissions include an adaptation of Scott Joplin’s “Treemonisha” from the Volcano Theatre Company in Toronto, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony and The Knights. Ms. Norpoth has arranged/recorded strings for Grammy-winning producers Jerry "Wonda" Duplessis and Bryce Goggin and for artists Keyshia Cole, Keri Hilson, Black Dahlia Murder, Akron Family, John Legend, and her own ensembles PUBLIQuartet and HOLLANDS.

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Gabrielle Chou, 25, is a New York-based pianist and violinist seeking to defy genres and break barriers in music education and performance tradition. In her pursuit of artist-citizenship she
performs solo, chamber music, and in large ensembles, teaches and lectures, coaches chamber music, collaborates with composers and dancers, and is active in community engagement. She studied at the Colburn Music Academy and received her B.M. and M.M. from The Juilliard School; currently she is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the City University of New York’s Graduate Center. She studied piano with Jerome Lowenthal and Richard Goode, violin with Lewis Kaplan, and chamber music with Emmanuel Ax, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Timothy Eddy. Gabrielle currently serves as adjunct professor of music history at Baruch
College as well as staff pianist at The Juilliard School and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School. She plays with the Grammy-nominated Metropolis Ensemble as well as the Miami-based Nu Deco Ensemble.

Gabrielle is the winner of the Center for Musical Excellence’s 2018 International Performing Arts Grant and has been a piano and violin soloist with orchestras and performed extensively throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. At Juilliard Gabrielle served as a Teaching Assistant and Teaching Fellow, and her community engagement collaborations include those with Para Los Niños, the Opportunity Music Project, the Omomuki Foundation, and the Music Academy of the West’s MERIT program. In addition, Gabrielle is an avid proponent of new music and contemporary collaborations, improvising, working, and performing with dancers, actors, and composers. In her free time she likes to frequent art museums and aquariums, play video games, and read science fiction.

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Originally from Uniondale, New York, 23-year old first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (they/them) now lives in Harlem. They look forward to a change of scenery soon, beginning a new chapter as one-fourth of the 2020-2023 LA Orchestra Fellowship. Their recorded work can be heard on Broadway Records, United Common Records, and with artists such as Major Lazer and Marcus Mumford. Their arrangements have been heard at the Cannes Film Festival, NY Fashion Week, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Jay has appeared on WKCR-FM, IPR, the cover of British GQ, and within the pages of Vogue Magazine as a performer and justice advocate.

They have received fellowships to the Music Academy of the West, Orpheus@Mannes, and the Aspen, Spoleto and Pacific Music Festivals. Jay has served on the substitute viola & chamber music faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, as a Teaching Fellow at the Juilliard School’s Music Advancement Program, on the teaching staff at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, and currently coaches the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles and the Young Artists Philharmonic.

They were a recipient of a 2020 Music Academy of the West Fast Pitch Award and named a finalist in the 2021 Alumni Enterprise Award competition for their music-meets-prison-analysis organization Sound Off: Music for Bail. Most recently, Jay was recognized as a 2021 WeInspire Foundation ambassador for their work with Sound Off. They are a member of the Justice Committee, a spiritual successor to the Young Lords. For rhythm, Jay studies poetry. AFM Local 47.

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Dara Hankins is a bold, innovative artist with a social conscience. She believes in promoting equity through music and is an advocate for social justice. She has performed nationally and internationally with renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, Branford Marsalis, Joshua Bell, Kirk Whalum, Lalah Hathaway and many others. Dara is active as an orchestral musician, soloist, chamber musician, and teaching artist. She welcomes collaboration with artists from diverse disciplines.

Ms. Hankins earned her Bachelor of Music degree from New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. She went on to earn her Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music in New York City. Dara currently resides in New York City.