The
Capital City Symphony presents Go-Go Symphony!
With
special Guest MC Head Roc
ATLAS
INTERSECTIONS FESTIVAL
at
the Atlas Performing Arts Center
Friday,
2/21 at 8:00pm
We
are excited to announce that Head Roc, “the Mayor of DC Hip-Hop,”
will be our guest
MC for Go-Go Symphony! at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on
February 21. Twenty years of award-winning song writing, performing,
activism, and educating have earned recording artist Head-Roc the
title “Mayor of DC Hip Hop”. Having established his brand of
exceptional lyrical ability, outspoken social commentary, and
powerful stage shows, Head-Roc performs at activist rallies just as
often as he does at traditional music venues. (full bio below)
Musical
worlds collide when a full symphony orchestra mixes with DC’s Go-Go
beat, dancers from “Da Originalz,” and dazzling video in a world
premiere by composer Liza Figueroa Kravinsky. Fans of both classical
music and DC’s signature Go-Go style will delight in the chance to
party with a thunderous funky orchestra! With conductor
extraordinaire John Devlin at the podium, you can experience the
genre-bending, festival-favorite style of this popular Atlas Arts
Partner.
This
performance will be one of the opening night performances of
INTERSECTIONS at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, Feb. 21 – Mar.
8, 2014. Meet the artists after the show, including Kato Hammond,
“Godfather of Go-Go Media,” and other go-go musicians, at the
Festival’s Opening Night Party in the Kogod Lobby – FREE for
concert ticket holders.
“We
feel that this project will be an exciting collaboration and that the
audience will love this new sound of DC’s own Go-Go beat, supported
by a full symphony orchestra,” said John Devlin, conductor at the
Capital City Symphony, ” The addition of visual elements and
dancers will make this a truly unforgettable experience.”
“The
audience will enjoy dancing to and interacting with the orchestra,
just like a go-go show. It’s definitely going to be different from
most other symphony orchestra performances,” said Liza Figueroa
Kravinsky, composer and director of the Go-Go Symphony ensemble.
60
minutes
$22/$16.50
student/senior
For
ages 8+
Atlas Performing Arts
Center, 1333 H Street NE, Washington, DC 20001
Presented as part of
INTERSECTIONS at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, 2/21-3/8, 2014 ~
http://intersectionsdc.org/
ABOUT THE GROUPS
The Capital City
Symphony is a founding Arts Partner and resident orchestra of the
Atlas Performing Arts Center. The Capital City Symphony, under the
Artistic Director of Maestra Victoria Gau, strives to make great
orchestral music approachable by presenting affordable concerts to
the public, performing creative programs in a relaxed concert format,
and providing a musical outlet for talented amateur as well as
professional players.
A typical Capital City
Symphony season offers four full orchestral programs, a chamber
concert, and a free community carol sing. CCS has collaborated with
the Capitol Hill Chorale and Congressional Chorus to enhance its
traditional instrumental format with a diverse offering of choral
works. CCS has also presented both instrumental and vocal soloists on
its concert programs. In addition, CCS has pushed the boundaries of
traditional orchestral music, collaborating twice with contemporary
composers Charlie Barnett and David Matthews, incorporating jazz,
pop, and funk elements and instruments.
Learn more at
http://capitalcitysymphony.org.
Go-Go Symphony–
a thunderous percussive symphony that people can dance to. Founded in
2012, the 20 member Go-Go Symphony is comprised of a mix of
classically trained musicians and experienced go-go musicians. The
Go-Go Symphony performs original classical compositions over
Washington DC's popular funk sub genre of go-go. This long term
collaboration between classical and pop musicians is regarded as
"maverick" in the classical music world, and the original
compositions are loved by the go-go crowd.
Renowned classical
music critic and expert Greg Sandow has called the Go-Go Symphony
"Maverick" in the classical world, since it mixes the music
of the DC dance beat with the classical music. He hopes this project
will bring new more diverse audiences to classical music.
On the other side,
Kato Hammond, author of the top go-go music news website "Take
Me Out to the Go-Go," predicts this project will bring go-go
music to a wider audience. He feels this project will be a "big
deal" in the go-go world.
Liza Figueroa
Kravinsky, creator of the go-go symphony concept, says, "I hope
we can have all kinds of people dancing together to the go-go beat.
I’d like to break down musical and social barriers. I want people
to give go-go the respect that it deserves, while breathing new life
into the classical music world."
Learn more at
http://gogosymphony.com/.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS and GUESTS
* John Devlin,
Associate Conductor of the Capital City Symphony, holds many
positions as an artist in the Washington, DC area. He is Music
Director and Conductor of both the University of Maryland Repertoire
Orchestra and the Youth Orchestras of Prince William (VA). He is also
the Assistant Conductor of the Apollo Symphony Orchestra, and a
technical director for IMAG at the National Symphony Orchestra.
In 2013, Devlin
conducted the world premiere of La Saulaie, written by Claude Debussy
and completed by scholar Robert Orledge, at the University of
Maryland. He also conducted a recording session at Capitol Records in
Los Angeles. The orchestra, made up of musicians from the Los Angeles
Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra recorded the
soundtrack to “Life is Love,” a new film by acclaimed director
Halfdan Hussey, with score by Christopher Caliendo.
Also in 2013, Devlin
made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut, leading the Youth Orchestras
of Prince William at the National Orchestra Festival. He was also
selected to conduct numerous honor ensembles, including the North
Dakota All-State Orchestra.
Devlin has also
studied at the Pierre Monteux School, the Cabrillo Festival of
Contemporary Music, the Baltimore Symphony Conducting Workshop, and
the Conductors Institute at Bard College. At these and other programs
he has studied with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, Markand Thakar,
Michael Jinbo, and Harold Farberman.
For more information,
including recordings and upcoming concerts, please visit
www.JohnDevlinMusic.com.
* Liza Figueroa
Kravinsky, Composer, is an award winning composer of film and
popular music. She credits her mother Elnora Teopaco Figueroa for
starting her music career by teaching her piano and violin as a
child. She became a classical and pop composer in her teens and went
to Oberlin College to study classical music composition.
After she graduated
from college in 1985, she started playing in pop, R&B and go-go
bands in the Washington DC area. In 1988, she toured as a keyboard
player for Motown recording artist Stacy Lattisaw.Then in 1990, she
played keyboards for Pleasure go-go band for one summer. After
legendary go-go band Trouble Funk broke up briefly in 1990, she
played keyboards for “TRJ,” a faction of the original Trouble
Funk members. In 1991, she flew to Paisley Park in Minneapolis to
direct, play keyboards, and compose for “Robin Power and the Uptown
Dames,” a band that Prince put together. That band played in
Prince's Glam Slam night club and shot a music video in Paisley Park.
Following the Prince
project, Liza started scoring music for documentaries, commercials,
and industrial video productions; including works aired on the
Discovery Channel and PBS. She also became a video producer and
documentary filmmaker. Her documentary "Beauty in the Eyes of
the Beheld," about the experiences of everyday beautiful women,
is now distributed in the educational market.
A few years ago, Liza
decided to return to the music industry; this time combining her
classical, pop, and go-go experiences to create and compose for the
Go-Go Symphony ensemble, which partners with larger orchestras to
perform her new "symphonic go-go" music.
Learn more at
http://www.artsjournal.com/sandow/2013/10/from-liza-figueroa-kravinsky-you-scratch-my-back.html
* Head Roc.
Twenty years of award-winning song writing, performing, activism, and
educating have earned recording artist Head-Roc the title “Mayor of
DC Hip Hop”. Having established his brand of exceptional lyrical
ability, outspoken social commentary, and powerful stage shows,
Head-Roc performs at activist rallies just as often as he does at
traditional music venues.
His unparalleled
ability to reach even the most finicky music fans across all genres
has put his reputation on par with those of internationally known
progressive recording artists. Head-Roc has had four solo album
releases during his career, numerous group and collaborative albums,
and dozens of feature appearances on national and international
compilations over the years.
Head-Roc has enjoyed
performing and promoting his music across the United States as well
as parts of Europe, consistently celebrated for delivering life
changing performances for thousands of socially progressive,
conscious, and independent music lovers. His artistic work and
activism is well respected in US Progressive and Social Justice
Communities, as he is often invited to participate and appear at
important rallies and gatherings alongside the most prominent iconic
names in The Movement of our time.
Head-Roc is currently
serving as the first ever Arts Ambassador for the Washington Area
Lawyers for the Arts (WALA). In his very unique position as an
artist/activist, he also serves the Washington, DC music community
and the national social justice community as the writer of Head-Roc’s
Mouth, an opinion column in the Washington City Paper and in featured
blogs for the Huffington Post.
The year 2013 found
Head-Roc on the brink of yet another solo album release, as well as
work on a debut album with his critically acclaimed, award-winning
funk/rock/soul band GODISHEUS (gotta-see-us). Videos and downloads
are available at www.head-roc.com.
* Kevin "Kato"
Hammond is an American musician and journalist. He is the owner
and creator of Take Me Out To The Go-Go, Inc. (TMOTTGoGo), editor and
publisher ofTake Me Out To The Go-Go Magazine, executive producer of
TMOTTGoGo DVD Magazine, and webmaster of TMOTTGoGo.com. Take Me Out
to the Go-Go Magazine gains attention from outside media outlets for
its designation as "the official gateway to a Washington, DC
music culture." Such magazines as Vibe have made Kevin Hammond
anTake Me Out to the GoGo Magazine a significant source of
information about the go-go music culture. His history as a musician
includes performing and recording with the go-go bands Pure Elegance,
Little Benny and the Masters, and Proper Utensils. Most recently he
has served as co-music director of Fatal Attraction Band.
Kato is currently the
director of marketing for Bag of Beats Records. He is also the
chairperson for history and archives for The GoGo Coalition.
Born in Washington,
DC, Kevin "Kato" Hammond grew up in Seat Pleasant,
Maryland, and attended the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in
Washington, DC and Bowie High School in Bowie, Maryland. As a child,
he performed in DC area organizations such as CUE (Children's Urban
Arts Ensemble), Bren-Carr Dancers and The T-N-T Poppers. Hammond is
also an award-winning playwright. At the age of 17, he wrote a play
entitled Buddies that listed in the finalist division of the Young
Playwrights Inc. Young Playwrights Festival at the Public Theater.
This play was performed Off-Broadway and starred Denzel Washington
and Anna Maria Horsford, both of whom were lesser known actors at the
time.
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