Podcast appearances and mentions of frank dominguez

After 25 years, Maestro Jim Meena is moving on from Opera Carolina. He led his last production, La Boheme, with the company as their artistic director and principal conductor. Meena sits down with WDAV's Frank Dominguez to talk about his time as one of the Queen City's longest and most influential artistic leaders. They chat about everything from memorable performances of operas like Margaret Garner to the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis and Covid pandemic.

After 25 years, Maestro Jim Meena is moving on from Opera Carolina. He led his last production, La Boheme , with the company as their artistic director and principal conductor. Meena sits down with WDAV’s Frank Dominguez to talk about his time as one of the Queen City’s longest and most influential artistic leaders. They chat about everything from memorable performances of operas like Margaret Garner to the challenges of the 2008 financial crisis and Covid pandemic.

Een goede band met klanten is misschien wel het belangrijkste dat er is voor een ondernemer, en dat weet dit bedrijf maar al te goed: Salesforce! In deze aflevering van Doorgelicht richten journalist Nina van den Dungen en analist Jim Tehupuring de schijnwerper op één van de grootste marketingsoftwarebedrijven ter wereld, zodat jij als belegger kan bepalen wat een Salesforce-aandeel nou écht waard is. Nina vertelt je alles over de geschiedenis van Salesforce en Jim doet een fundamentele analyse. Het bedrijf Salesforce biedt zogeheten costumer relationship software (CRM-software) in de cloud aan. Met zowel grote klanten die in de Fortune 500 zitten als kleine klanten uit het mkb, weet het bedrijf jaarlijks miljarden dollars winst te maken. Het idee om CRM-software in de cloud aan te bieden ontstond in 1999 al bij de Amerikaan Marc Benioff, die samen met Frank Dominguez en en Dave Moellenhoff Salesforce oprichtte in een klein appartement in San Francisco. Na een flinke financieringsronde, werd dat appartment binnen een jaar al ingewisseld voor een kantoor van bijna een vierkante kilometer. Door in te spelen op de internethype van begin deze eeuw en technologische ontwikkelingen zoals de smartphone, is Salesforce uitgegroeid tot één van de grootste CRM-softwareaanbieders ter wereld. Hoewel dat tegenwoordig nog steeds het geval is, heeft Salesfroce er sinds de oprichting flink wat concurrentie bij gekregen van onder andere Microsoft en Adobe. Om het plekje aan de top te behouden, zet Salesforce daarom vol in op kunstmatige intelligentie (AI) en uitbreiding van het productaanbod.  De fundamentele analyse  Voor Salesforce bespreken we onder andere de omzet, het operationel resultaat (EBIT), de operationele marge, de winst, het dividend en de vrije kasstroom.  Ook kijken we verder dan de cijfers. We bespreken bijvoorbeeld de reputatie, het brede productaanbod, de belangrijkste overnames en het marktaandeel van Salesforce.  De presentatoren  Nina van den Dungen is journalist en presentatrice bij BNR Nieuwsradio. Als echte verhalenverteller vertelt ze je alles over de ontstaansgeschiedenis van bedrijven.   Jim Tehupuring is analist en vermogensbeheerder bij 1Vermogensbeheer. Met een flink dossier aan kennis en jarenlange ervaring in de financiële wereld, analyseert hij bedrijven in begrijpelijke taal.   Over Doorgelicht  In Doorgelicht richten Nina van den Dungen en Jim Tehupuring de schijnwerper op de bedrijven achter je favoriete aandelen zodat jij als belegger kan bepalen wat ze nou écht waard zijn.    Disclaimer  De inhoud van Doorgelicht is geen financieel advies. Beleg altijd op basis van je eigen overwegingen en onderzoek.  Redactie en montage  Niels KooloosSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fr. Eric's homily on the Twenty-ninth Sunday of Ordinary Time with guest Frank Dominguez

Fr. Eric's homily on the Twenty-eighth Sunday of Ordinary Time

In this episode, I have the real honor of featuring an enormously respected local organization that is doing work that really matters in the Lake Norman and great Charlotte communities.WDAV is a non-commercial public radio station that broadcasts classical music and fine arts programming 24 hours a day. WDAV is a nonprofit that is licensed to Davidson College and is an NPR member station.Frank Dominguez is the General Manager at WDAV, and he joins me to share the story of his journey in broadcasting, and the story of WDAV.Listeners, thanks as always for subscribing to The Best of LKN podcast and following along with me as I share these stories of entrepreneurs, small business owners, and leaders of local nonprofits every week. WDAV.orgSubscribe to Lake Norman's #1 Weekly Email Newsletter - it's free, and it's good.Special thanks to our sponsors! Support the show

Bio:About Silvia Manrique Silvia Manrique is a Chicago-based Brazilian and Latin Jazz vocalist. She has performed at respected venues and festivals like the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Logan Square Arts Festival, the Chicago World Music Festival, the Chicago Latino Film Festival and the Millennium Park Summer Music festival at the beautiful Pritzker Pavilion. In 2016, she participated in the album ‘Aquarela,' a compilation of children's songs arranged and produced by the incomparable Paulinho Garcia who says she “carries a song with mastery, both melodically and rhythmically.” Silvia is also plays percussion focused on the Brazilian tamborim, completing studies with Carnaval-style samba percussion masters like Mestre Ailton Nunes of the Mangueira Samba School, Dudu Fuentes of Monobloco and Bangalafumenga, Jorge Alabe and Mestre Jonas of Mocidade Independente. About Fabiana Cozza Fabiana Cozza has been heralded by critics and the public as a leading performer in contemporary Brazilian music. In September 2020, “Dos Santos” was born, her eighth and latest album, a contemporary work that is a tribute to the cultural universe of Brazilian Afro-native religions. In 2017, she published her first book of poems, Álbum Duplo, by the editor Pedra Papel Tesoura.Fabiana has taken Brazilian music to festivals in Israel, Germany, France, Canada, USA, Bulgaria, Chile, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Cuba, Moçambique, Cape Verde and worked with celebrated artists including Sadao Watanabe, HR Big Band (Germany), Mú Mbana (Guiné Bissau) and Omara Portuondo (Cuba). About Fi Maróstica Fi Maróstica is an upright and electric bass player, born in the city of Ourinhos (SP), who has shared the stage with many renowned artists including Hermeto Pascoal, Toquinho, Miucha, Elza Soares, Hamilton de Holanda, Rosa Passos, Maria Gadu, among others. In addition to concerts in Brazil with several of these names, Fi has already toured several countries, passing through South America, North America, Europe and Asia. He also received several awards at renowned festivals in Brazil, such as best instrumentalist (Festival Botucanto - 2010 and Festival de Música de Sorocaba - 2013), in addition to being a finalist in this category for the Brazilian Professional Music Awards in 2017 and 2018, the year in which who was also won in the Contact: press@silviamusic.com Chicago Jazz Artist Silvia Manrique Releases Debut EP ‘Sonho' Featuring Collaborations with Renowned Brazilian Artists Chicago-based jazz artist Silvia Manrique releases her Latin/Brazilian jazz solo debut EP titled ‘Sonho' available now. Recorded at São Paulo's prestigious Estúdio Arsis and musically directed by award-winning Brazilian musical artist Fabiana Cozza, this 4-song EP serves as an introduction to Manrique's delicate delivery and unique blend of Latin and Brazilian jazz and contemporary sounds. A fixture in the Chicago Brazilian jazz and samba scene for many years, Silvia is a three-time performer for Chicago's World Music Festival. Described by music critic Peter Margasak as “a natural, delivering sophisticated melodies with ease and sensuality,” Silvia has opened for world music artists like Dona Onete, Céu and Luisa Maita and recorded vocals for national advertisements for brands including State Farm and McDonald's. In 2016, she recorded the full-length ‘Aquarela' with the critically acclaimed Paulinho Garcia under the GLP label featuring Brazilian classics designed to introduce children to the Brazilian Portuguese language. A bout with breast cancer in 2020 led her to refocus on her artistic career and this EP commemorates her official return to music. “This release is titled ‘Sonho' because it means dream in Portuguese – and this EP is exactly that, the realization of a deep desire to record music not only for pleasure but also for posterity,” said Silvia, who began vocal training with Fabiana Cozza while undergoing chemotherapy as a way to release stress. “Fabiana really encouraged me to stop thinking of singing as a hobby or a pastime – it really is a vocation that I have to nurture every day for the wellbeing of my body and soul.” ‘Sonho' features covers of classic world jazz songs by Rosa Passos, Joyce Moreno, Henri Salvador, as well as a bolero by legendary Cuban composer Frank Dominguez, a nod to Silvia's Latin American (Mexican) heritage. Cozza, a force in Brazilian music and two-time winner of the Prêmio da Música Brasileira, the Brazilian equivalent of a Grammy award, produced and had a hand in selecting repertoire and instrumentation. The songs were carefully arranged by acclaimed bassist and creative musician Fi Maróstica, known for his innovative style that brings bass to the forefront of the musical mix. Rounding out the musical performance are two young stars of the vibrant São Paulo jazz scene, Nichollas Maia on piano and Matheus Marinho on drums. Track listing for ‘Sonho' includes: ● Dunas (Passos) ● Tú Me Acostumbraste (Dominguez) ● E Vamos Lá (Moreno) ● Dans Mon Île (Salvador) The EP is available now on all streaming platforms. For more information about Silvia Manrique and her music, please visit www.silviamusic.com. PORTUGUESE VERSION Contato de imprensa: press@silviamusic.com Silvia Manrique, artista de jazz de Chicago, lança EP de estreia ‘Sonho' com colaborações com Artistas Brasileiros Renomados CHICAGO (26 de maio de 2023) – Silvia Manrique, artista de jazz de Chicago, lança seu EP solo de jazz latino/brasileiro intitulado ‘Sonho', disponível hoje. Gravado no prestigioso Estúdio Arsis de São Paulo e dirigido musicalmente pela premiada artista musical brasileira Fabiana Cozza, este EP de 4 canções serve como uma introdução à entrega delicada de Manrique e à mistura única de jazz latino e brasileiro e sons contemporâneos. Uma figura fixa na cena brasileira de jazz e samba de Chicago por muitos anos, Silvia já se apresentou três vezes no Chicago World Music Festival. Descrita pelo crítico musical Peter Margasak como “um talento natural, entregando melodias sofisticadas com facilidade e sensualidade,” Silvia abriu para artistas da world music como Dona Onete, Céu e Luisa Maita e gravou vocais para publicidades nacionais de marcas como State Farm e McDonald's. Em 2016, ela gravou o longa 'Aquarela' com o aclamado Paulinho Garcia sob o selo GLP com clássicos brasileiros com o fim de introduzir as crianças ao idioma português brasileiro. Uma luta contra o câncer de mama em 2020 a levou a retomar a sua carreira artística e este EP comemora seu retorno oficial à música. “Este lançamento se chama 'Sonho' porque este EP é exatamente isso, a concretização de uma vontade profunda de gravar música não só para o prazer, mas também para a posteridade," disse Silvia, que iniciou o treinamento vocal com Fabiana Cozza durante a quimioterapia como forma de liberar o estresse. “Fabiana me encorajou muito a parar de pensar em cantar como um hobby ou passatempo – realmente é uma vocação que tenho que cultivar todos os dias para o bem-estar do meu corpo e alma.” 'Sonho' apresenta covers de canções clássicas do jazz mundial de Rosa Passos, Joyce Moreno, Henri Salvador, bem como um bolero do lendário compositor cubano Frank Dominguez, uma homenagem à herança latino-americana (mexicana) de Silvia. Cozza, uma força da música brasileira e duas vezes vencedora do Prêmio da Música Brasileira, o equivalente brasileiro ao Grammy, produziu e participou da seleção de repertório e instrumentação. As músicas foram cuidadosamente arranjadas pelo aclamado baixista e músico criativo Fi Maróstica, conhecido por seu estilo inovador que traz o baixo para o primeiro plano da mixagem musical. Completando a apresentação musical estão duas jovens estrelas do jazz paulistano, Nichollas Maia no piano e Matheus Marinho na bateria. A lista de faixas de ‘Sonho' inclui: Dunas (Passos) Tú Me Acostumbraste (Dominguez) E Vamos Lá (Moreno) Dans Mon Île (Salvador) O EP já está disponível em todas as plataformas de streaming. Para mais informações sobre Silvia Manrique e sua música, visite www.silviamusic.comLinks:Silvia Manrique: https://www.instagram.com/silvia_music and silviamusic.com Fi Marostica: https://linktr.ee/fimarosticaNichollas Maia: https://www.instagram.com/_nichollass/Matheus Marinho: https://tratore.ffm.to/vinticinco and https://www.instagram.com/marinho2o Fabiana Cozza: https://www.fabianacozza.com.br and https://www.instagram.com/fabianacozza

WDAV and the Fair Play Music Equity Initiative continue the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts with R&B artist Nia J joined by flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. We speak to the trio about how well they bonded as a group, and how the addition of the classical instruments helped “breathe some life back” into the singer-songwriter’s music. Nia J Ben Geller Jill O'Neill Transcript Frank Dominguez : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30 PM, WDAV continues its second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building. This time, we’re teaming R&B singer-songwriter Nia J with flutist Jill O’Neill and violist Ben Geller. The trio joins me now via Zoom. Thanks, everyone! Jill O’Neill : Thanks for having us. Nia J : Yeah, excited to be here. Frank : Nia, R&B is a category of music that's really as broad and varied as classical music in terms of its range of sounds and artists. So who are some of the musicians, from R&B or otherwise, who have had an influence on your music? Nia : I would say Jhené Aiko comes to mind. I really like her harmonies and the really melodic tunes that she is able to achieve. And just that it’s really peaceful. I like for my music to be tranquil and have that really peaceful state. I really like Daniel Caesar as well. Same thing as far as harmonies - I really like the way that he writes. Both completely different artists, but those are two that come to mind when I think of R&B artists that inspire me. Frank : And if I were asking you to describe what R&B means to you, how would you talk about that? Nia : I don’t know, it's kind of limitless right now! There's no sound that is unique to it at the moment, everyone's taking their own direction with it. I think it gets back to the lyrics. The lyrics are really soulful, I think the message is usually pretty powerful. And I like the contemporary stance that a lot of artists are taking, where we're fusing different genres into it. Frank : Jill, you are a flute professor at Winthrop University and you teach Music Appreciation, but in addition, your resume also includes the Charlotte School of Rock and courses in the History of Rock and Roll. How did you come by this eclectic streak? Jill : It actually doesn't seem eclectic to me, I don't know why it does to everybody else. (Laughs) You know, I grew up listening to heavy metal and punk and being a kid in the 80’s. Yes, I play a very… solit(ary), shall I say, girly instrument. Most of my teachers were men when I was a kid. (The flute) is seen as that frilly, fluffy, pretty, very vocal instrument, but that actually is very unlike me as a human and as a musician. When I have to play flute, I really have to bring myself into Nia’s way of thinking. I really have to calm myself down and try to contain it. Because that’s not the kind of music I really listen to and the two bands that I played with, it’s not pretty flute music. It’s kind of heavy, loud, grinding… and that’s just the kind of person I am. So, when I’m playing drums, I actually sometimes feel more like myself. But the flute is my life. I started playing piccolo when I was six, so of course, everybody insisted that I gravitate towards the flute as well, so I played both. And alto flute and bass flute. But that’s just one very small part of me. I think as a teacher, that’s what I bring to the table, because I make sure that all my students can do everything. I always say, “the more you do, the more marketable you are, so don’t pigeonhole yourself!” Frank : Great point. Ben, most of WDAV’s listeners are used to seeing you in evening wear at concerts by the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. What is the appeal for you personally about stepping outside your usual circle and collaborating with Nia J on this project? Ben Geller : Well, it's… that pigeonholing that Jill was talking about, that’s more of my life. I think when I was younger, I had broader interests, and as I got older, I wanted to focus more and more, and eventually orchestral viola kind of took over my life. Not to say I don't love it, but I miss doing more out of the box stuff. And playing in the orchestra does get you a decent amount of variety. We play all kinds of classical music and modern stuff. But being a directly contributing partner to a project like this was… I mean, I love that. Nia’s got such a unique voice, a beautiful voice, and great songwriting. And working with another colleague in Jill, who brings this whole varied background… this was so much fun. I wish we could do this all of the time, always. Jill : Hear that, Nia? (Laughs) Hint! Ben : Stand by. Nia : Taking the hint. Frank : That's really great to see the obvious bond that has formed between the three of you. Nia, I'm interested in your creative process for writing songs. Are you thinking about the audience and their expectations of you, or are you perhaps more driven by your own experiences and emotions? How does it work for you? Nia : I think anytime I try to start with the audience, it just doesn't work. So usually, it's best if I think about how I'm feeling and experiences that I'd like to share, and usually I get lucky and those experiences can be related to by others and people who are listening. So I just try to be authentic in why I'm writing and taking from my experiences and then just hoping that people will connect. Frank : Jill, I have another question for you. And given that you demonstrated you're not the stereotypical flutist that some people might have in mind, how did you go about working with Nia? What form did the collaboration take? Jill : You know what, it was really easy. She had sent Ben and I her music quite some time before we got together, and Ben and I just kind of had - immediately, I mean, we’ve known each other and played with each other for a long time - we just had a sense of what each song needed from us. So that's why I ended up just grabbing a whole bunch of different instruments before I left because we had no idea what was going to come of rehearsals. It was a neat kind of hodgepodge of listen to a tune, grab a different instrument, try something… substitute one instrument for another, until we just found it. I don't think that's a secret. I think that's the way most people write music. So it was fun for us to have that beautiful base of stuff that she had already written. It made our jobs really easy, don’t you think, Ben? (Laughs) It really wasn’t taxing for us. We did have to decide a few times, and Nia was really prominent in the conversations, about how much of the music do we keep and add us on to, versus trying to have us recreate that. It wasn’t an easy task when Ben and I felt like, “Oh my God, we have to play flute and viola. How are we going to make her music sound (right)?” That was really scary. Until she had this look on her face, like “No, you don’t have to do that. You can do anything you want.” And as soon as we realized that, it was on. I mean, we just kind of went crazy. And when Ben got out his mandolin, Nia just looked at me like, “Yeah. This is going. This is what we want.” Frank : Ben, how about you? What was the transition to playing music in this sort of milieu? Easy, or difficult, or how did you manage it? Ben : You know, viola is a backup instrument. We don’t… it's not always “spotlight” for us, for sure. So thinking about it in this vein was a little bit (of) where I live, in how to best support a good clear melody. And viola didn’t always make sense, so I happen to have this wonderful mandolin that I love and don't play enough of, and it seemed to fit on a few of Nia’s songs, so we kept using it. Frank : One definite message I'm getting from this is that there's a lot more to the contemporary classical musician than first meets the eye and than I think the average audience member might realize, not only in terms of your training and background but your interests and the ways you express yourself. Nia, when you were getting ready for this NoteWorthy concert, did you have any role in playing… in terms of choosing the instruments or the musicians who would be performing with you? Nia : I wasn't really picky. They asked what types of instruments (I’d like), and I’m like, “I don’t know!” It’s been a while since I’ve worked with classical musicians. I did choir, and we always performed alongside classical musicians, but that was in high school, so I’m like, “Whatever you think sounds like it will fit with my music.” I was randomly paired with Jill and Ben, and it was great because Jill… the first day that we rehearsed, she brought like fifty different instruments. So it was nice that we could experiment, as they were saying, and just play around to see what worked and what didn’t. I had no idea what route I would take with it. Frank : I’m going to give you the last word, Nia, and ask you what stands out for you as the most memorable part of working with Jill and Ben specifically as classically trained musicians? What did that combination bring to the songs you had written and have been performing? Nia : I think they definitely helped breathe some life back into the music. After performing the same songs over and over again, sometimes you lose touch with them. So working with Jill and Ben helped me reconnect with them in a way that I hope the audience will see when they watch the performance. And just who they are as people, too. I’ve grown really fond of you guys, and getting to work together was awesome. I’m just really grateful to have gotten to meet both of them. Frank : My guests have been R&B singer-songwriter Nia J and flutist Jill O’Neill, as well as violist Ben Geller. On Wednesday, August 24th at 7:30 PM, you can hear them perform when WDAV continues the second season of NoteWorthy virtual concerts, presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre blending and community building music. And you can watch WDAV’s YouTube channel to catch the video or WDAV’s Facebook page. You can also get more information about the artists and the series from noteworthyclassical.org. Thank you, everyone, for speaking with me. Jill : Thanks, Frank. Ben : Thanks for having us, Frank. Nia : Thanks! Frank : For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez.

This week, University of Arkansas music professor Lia Uribe celebrates the 50th edition of Sound Perimeter with a special rendition of Happy Birthday, and she contiues to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a Cuban bolero from 1955. We hear works by Werner Elmker and Frank Dominguez, featuring Natalia Lafourcade with Omara Portuondo.

The NoteWorthy concert series is presented by WDAV in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Alliance . The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-blending, community building music. Karen Poole, a singer/songwriter and contemporary gospel artist, is joined by trumpeter Keenan Harmon, one of the classical musicians who perform with her in the  NoteWorthy  concert series. They speak about their different musical backgrounds and what it was like to come together to perform Karen’s original songs. Karen Poole Keenan Harmon Transcript: Frank Dominguez : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, September 1st at 7:30 p.m., WDAV continues the NoteWorthy virtual concert series presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity (Initiative). The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-blending, community-building music. Next in the series, we feature singer-songwriter and contemporary gospel artist Karen Poole and joining in support of her terrific talents are a trio of classical musicians including violinist Alice Silva, trombonist Brent Ballard, and trumpeter Keenan Harmon, who joins me now via Zoom along with Karen to talk about the concert and their own musical journey. Welcome, Karen and Keenan. Karen Poole : Thank you.  Frank : Karen, I noticed from the bio information at your website that like a lot of gifted musicians, you were born into a musical family, so tell me a little bit about them and what you learned from them.  Karen : Yeah, absolutely. I was the baby of the family, so I got the opportunity to watch my parents as soloists and some of my older siblings just navigate, moreso in the gospel of church scene. So we were very, very heavy into the music department of our church, and I just had the opportunity to learn just standing up on people’s shoulders and looking, watching. (I’m) very blessed to have a front seat experience into this. (On a) typical day in our home, you’d hear about three or four songs singing at once. (Laughs) That’s what that was like. Born into it.  Frank : And what about a formal education in music of any kind? What was it like for you? Were you exposed to that? Karen : I did some... I want to say not formal, but more so informal training. I’ve had very great mentors throughout the years who’d sit down with me (and) teach me theory and things of that nature. I actually don’t - I’m not very fluent at reading charted music, but I have very strong ear training, and I can read some chord charts as well. But in that regard, no, I never had formal training, it’s all natural giftings that I had.  Frank : And that’s nothing to be sneezed at, of course. You know, one of the things that I've discovered over and over again in these conversations, whether it's about NoteWorthy or if I'm interviewing Black classical artists who are singers or instrumentalists, is just the amazing conservatory that's provided by the Black church music tradition. There’s so much inspiration there.  Keenan, what about you? What was your coming up like? Did it include a lot of music? Keenan Harmon : My family - I wouldn't say that my family is very musical, but [they’re] music lovers. And that’s, to me, part of the human condition. So, I rarely run into people that don’t have some affiliation with music or some love for it. But in all reality, I kind of discovered or felt that I was heeding this call from a very young age, and my parents had kind of a little bit of a diverse music taste. I mean it was kind of old school eclecticism, so I grew up around Motown, church music… I, too, am the youngest like Karen, so my brothers were really into popular music at the time, which was kind of the early hip hop scene.  And what ended up happening is [that] I felt really drawn to being a trumpet player, and then more or less, I stumbled on some recordings at a very young age that impacted my life. When I was about eleven and I started playing, I was able to hear a classical CD, it was a mostly Baroque type of thing and had a lot of trumpet on it, and likewise my mother had bought this Miles Davis CD, and at the time I knew nothing too much about it.  You know, she had been familiar with Miles. And it was actually the Live at Montreux album that was done in the last year of his life. And not knowing any of that, I asked her could I open the CD and listen to it, and here I am listening to the CD, and I thought, “My goodness, as a trumpet player I could play something like this. Something Baroque, and I could play something like this, something that’s jazz.” And so that’s kind of how… that spearheaded what I’ve been drawn to in my career as a musician.  Frank : Karen, talking about those wide ranges in sound, your sound is a good example of how eclectic contemporary gospel music can be. I think people hear that and assume it’s going to sound a certain way, but you have a very eclectic and versatile sound. What are the sources and the elements that go into your music?  Karen : First of all, I'm glad you recognize that. The best way I can describe my music is gumbo: it’s like a little bit of everything. I would say I listened to a lot of traditional gospel growing up, but definitely (was) introduced to more of a jazzy sound probably in my late teens. I started being introduced to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, that kind of sound, Yellowjackets… and I’m somewhat of a late bloomer because we had a very strict household growing up, so it was only gospel music that I was allowed to listen to. So I was a late bloomer being introduced to other styles. And still to this day, I’m still grasping a lot of the classic tunes out there. I’m still evolving musically because of that, so I’m actually grateful for it.  And then I’d listen to more of the contemporary Christian music, like Matthew West and Lady Antebellum, stuff like that, just kind of listen to those songs, and they’re very pure sounding. And I love, actually, country music - just the way it tells a story, and the sounds from the violins and strings, all those things. Alice actually played on that (in) the performance we did, she played the violin parts for (one of my) song(s). And it was just amazing to be able to partner with (the classical musicians) and have a range of sounds that they could dig into with me, so I was excited about that.  Frank : I really noticed that, in the little bit of the sessions that I've been able to hear, that it was just incredibly eclectic. And your description of gumbo, I don’t think could be more apt. As a former Louisiana resident, that takes us to the tastiness of gumbo and the tastiness of your sounds, because I really hear that country and all of those various influences in there. It's really wonderful.  Keenan, as a working musician, versatility is pretty much a requirement for you. I mean you've been able to play all sorts of music, and you have to in order to put together enough gigs to make a living. So what are some of the disparate events that you play regularly - the kinds of places where you bring your talent to bear?  Keenan : I’ve done a lot of shows. There was a time where I'd done quite a bit of opera orchestra stuff for a while. Shows tend to run longer and pay more, so I would do that.  Frank : By shows, you mean Broadway shows? Keenan : Musicals and such, yes. On top of that, a lot of chamber music stuff. Some friends of mine and I started to do a lot of collaborations and just be on each other’s radar always to at least be available for performances and various things, and then there’s also recording work that I’ve been known to do. There was a short time - well, I say short, it was about four and a half years - [when] I worked with some guys out of Nashville. They had been in this area and they were bringing a lot of musicians in from the Nashville area, and so I got to work and collaborate and do concerts with them as well. It’s kind of like Karen had said, it’s an evolution on a continuum, and so you try to stay ahead of that and you make sure you’ve got a good namesake, you’ve got a good reputation and like you had said, versatility is the key.  I’ll put it to you like this. I tell people oftentimes that musicians, particularly in the freelance community, have to practice music like an attorney practices law, like a doctor practices medicine. I am continually studying, because authenticity is very important to me. Being genuine. Whenever I’m playing something, if we go back to Baroque or classical, [making sure] that my ornaments are proper when I’m ornamenting the music. And similarly, that I’m very fresh on ideas if I’m doing something that’s jazz.  The pandemic put a different dynamic on that, but what I found more or less is that I worked. You know, I look at last year and I worked fruitfully. One show got cancelled, one musical. Other than that, some of the concerts that I would normally do at certain times a year, like towards the holidays, they went on. So it’s a testament that people really wanted to experience some normalcy, so live music was a part of that. And then on top of that, it was just the fact that it was the determination of the musical community to try to make that happen. And so that's really how you can make (a) living. You’ve just got to persevere through it and stay fresh.  Frank : Karen, you touched on this in one of your answers earlier, but I want you to go a little deeper into what it was like collaborating with the musicians in this NoteWorthy session that folks will be seeing on September 1st. What was it like working with them, and what did they bring to your songs that you had already written and created to give them a different sound or a different life, if you will?  Karen : It was inspiring in a lot of ways. For example... the first song we did that night, “High Praise,” when I produced the music, I had recorded keyboard horns on it and while they sound good, it’s nothing like having a real horn player on it. So, I sent the music and I let [the classical musicians] know, “Hey. I don’t actually have this charted out, but if you can try to follow this pattern, that would be great.” And Keenan was so, so easy to work with. He said, “Okay, we’ll get it. We’ll figure it out.” At our first rehearsal, he had it charted out for him and Brent [Ballard], and they nailed it. It was just very minor little things that we had to adjust here and there, little nuances like something is staccato, not legato, but very, very minor.  They brought my song to life, and it was amazing to hear music that I had created live that way. It was just amazing. And then on top of that, to build a relationship with them to where even beyond this NoteWorthy performance, we can still collaborate on some other things, I can refer him for some things and vice versa, and bring him on for other shows that I might have. And now it’s forced me to have my music officially charted out. So, moving forward, I will always have this thanks to NoteWorthy. I’m grateful - amazing experience working with them.  Frank : I have a last question for the both of you, and that's what would you like to see more of in the Charlotte live music scene? What's missing right now that you think would take it up a notch and make it a better scene for both musicians and audiences? Keenan : For Charlotte, it’s really that connectivity of having people both aware of what goes on musically in Charlotte, because that’s not always the case, and then on top of it, it's to build that culture. Right before the pandemic, I was in Chicago, and I’d gone to see a couple of different performances while I was there and what amazed me - because it had been a long time since I had been to Chicago - it was just being an audience member. That was the most awe-inspiring thing was to watch how audiences were connected and interacted with various music, whether it was a classical or a jazz thing. You just had that community. So in the Charlotte area, there’s a thirst for it, I think. It’s just a matter of that connection that’s there. Having Charlotte have enough room for music is kind of the big goal because we’re making room for a lot of things in this area. Lots of things. And music, I feel like, has always been here. It’s just the awareness is the thing, I would say.  Frank : Karen, you’re here a little more recently. What have you observed in your time here? Karen : My answer may not be what you expect, but honestly, in my time here - it's been about four and a half years - I’m actually quite pleased, because the first couple of years of me being here, I was not very well-known. I made some connections with some individuals in the music scene here, like I met Tim Scott, Jr. once on a show, I think it’s called the Soulful Noel, that they do at Christmas time every year, put on by Quentin Talley. I met some folks who said, “Hey, we need an extra background singer, can you come on.” So, by me being there, I made some small networks there, and just earning my place, if I can say that. They got a chance to see how I flowed in the background.  And somewhere around the middle of 2019, I was offered an opportunity to do my own show. I had my own set. It was just a small acoustic session put on by Arsena Schroeder, and that was really exciting for me because I hadn’t performed my music at all since I’d moved to Charlotte. I’d put out a couple of singles working with a great producer, Johnny Abraham, who was also playing keys on the NoteWorthy performance.  When I did that show, people were like, “Wow, we need to see more of this.” And so that really opened up opportunities for more performances. I didn’t do very many, but the ones I got were impactful. I think that was in July of 2019, and somewhere in September, I had the opportunity to open for a major artist, Tweet, and then from there, it built the energy to say hey, I’m going to go ahead and try to finish my album. I had never put out a full length album. Yes, the pandemic hit in 2020, and I had plans to do a small live recording... we did it in February of 2020. The plan was to do that and then work on a few more, and I was going to have an album done, ready to release it on Easter of 2020. But we shut down.  Even despite that, though, I’ve just got to say it catapulted me, because I got all the tools I needed to finish recording at home. Folks around here in the music community were very much on board to work with me, and we got the album done, and I put it out in February of this year. So, even in the course of that time, I was able to do a few virtual shows, we did some shows with John Tosco. Although we were shut down, I think Charlotte did a great job of keeping us busy. As a newcomer, I’m impressed.  Frank : Well, I'm impressed with both of you, and I'm so excited from these conversations that I've had with NoteWorthy artists to see what this music scene’s going to be like when we get back to being able to comfortably perform in person, and it just seems to me like the talent that's going to be showcased is going to surprise a lot of people. So I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes. My guests have been two of the performers of the next virtual concert in the NoteWorthy series from WDAV and FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative, singer-songwriter and contemporary gospel artist Karen Poole and trumpeter Keenan Harmon. The concert streams on Wednesday, September 1st at 7:30 p.m., and it will also feature violinist Alice Silva and trombonist Brent Ballard. You can get more information and find a link to the Facebook Live and YouTube event at NoteWorthyClassical.org . Thank you so much, Karen and Keenan, for speaking with me. Karen : Thank you.  Keenan : Thank you.  Frank : For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez. 

In the last of three special episodes of the ACAP Coffee Break, El Paso Health President and CEO Frank Dominguez joins Meg to share leadership advice. This conversation was recorded during a session for ACAP's Leadership Academy. 

The NoteWorthy concert series is presented by WDAV in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Alliance . The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-blending, community building music. Grammy Award winner Greg Cox, who blends hip-hop, R&B and Gospel in his music is joined by two veteran classical musicians from our area, violinist Jane Hart Brendle and violist Matt Darsey to talk about being a part of the concert series. Greg Cox Jane Hart Brendle Matt Darsey Transcript: Frank Dominguez : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, May 26th at 7:30 p.m., WDAV continues the NoteWorthy virtual concert series presented in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity [Initiative]. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-blending, community-building music. Next up, we’re thrilled to offer a concert headlined by a GRAMMY Award winner and overall renaissance man. Greg Cox blends hip-hop, R&B, and gospel in his music and infuses it with his own Southern soul. He’ll have recording artist A$H. as his special guest, and they'll be joined by two veteran classical musicians from our area, violinist Jane Hart Brendle and violist Matthew Darsey. Greg, Jane, and Matthew are joining me now via Zoom to talk about their NoteWorthy program. Welcome, everybody! Greg Cox : Hey, Frank! Frank : Greg, I’ll start with you. We often distinguish classical musicians from artists in popular music like you by talking about the rigorous training classical musicians get in conservatories and the like, but then looking at your background, it strikes me that you came up in a fairly rigorous family conservatory of sorts and learned a lot from touring with some pretty top-notch gospel musicians. So, tell us a bit about your musical journey. Greg : Yeah, so starting in church is definitely something that I was fortunate to experience. Not much lesson - they just throw you in the fire there. When you’ve got musicians who are top notch since age 12, you're going into some proteges, some child legends. In Black church, you learn! You learn how to literally score what the preacher is preaching. It’s like scoring a movie as he’s going. And then touring with my dad, and touring with a few other artists, you bump into some of the best musicians in the world.  So I wouldn't say I'm up there with them, but what I would say is we can eat lunch at the same table and hang out. If there was anyone who - you don’t have the money to throw your kids into phenomenal teaching (or) rigorous training, just drop them off at church. They’ll be fine. Frank : And when you consider how many wonderful musicians have come from the Black church tradition in this country and the influence its had on all sorts of genres, there’s definitely something there. Greg : There’s something the water, man. There’s something in the atmosphere. Blends of jazz, blends of blues, blends of old Negro Spiritual songs - it’s very, very unique music to learn how to play, and I’m very, very fortunate. Some of the best ever, right? Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke, Jennifer Hudson, the best vocalists ever come from the church. So it’s just something in the water and something in that community. Every week, it’s growing. So even if it's not as formal, you definitely learn things you can’t learn anywhere else. Frank : Jane, I've had the pleasure of hearing you play in a variety of concerts, including a Klezmer-infused program the Charlotte Symphony presented about music of the Holocaust, so I know you’re versatile, but I'm not sure I ever imagined you collaborating with a hip-hop artist like Greg Cox. What was that like? Jane Hart Brendle : It was so much fun! It was really way beyond what I imagined. I had so much fun, and Greg was so easy to work with. He just made it - it felt so natural to play. He just told us what he needed, and he had the parts written out, and it just felt great. Frank : And Matthew, even though you're a trained classical musician, I sort of expect you to be adventurous because I know you have a passion for contemporary music - and did that focus help you in any way for approaching this collaboration with Greg? Matthew Darsey : I think it does. You know, when you play a lot of contemporary classical music, your ears have to adjust to a different way of hearing music. And when you're playing in a genre that you're not really used to, your ears have to work fairly differently as well.  The harmonic language isn't necessarily the same as it is in Brahms. So, in a certain sense, I’ve even trained my ears out of the classical years because I'm used to playing atonal music or music that doesn't really fit in with what we’re used to from Western classical music. So, when you're coming to someone like Greg, who’s so intuitively exacting in what he wants, it was just incredible.  You sort of just - you almost lose control, or not lose control, but you let go of that really analytical part of your brain and just ride the wave that he gives to you, because it's such a powerful wave that if you just give in to it, then it sort of lays itself out there for you. Frank : Greg, talk about that a little bit. What was it like for you knowing the background of these musicians and coming together with them to work with them? Greg : Ah, man. Absolutely magical. So, classical musicians are literally like ninjas to me. Where do they hang out? Where do they, like... what do they eat?  It's like when you go to a Broadway show and you try to go down and talk to (the orchestra), they just disappear. Like it’s a smoke bomb, and they’re just gone, or they’re in the lobby in the hotel. So, I've always wanted to have friends who were in that world.  So, to be thrown into this environment, and to see that, “Oh, crap! They're human, they're just in different pockets.” It’s a different pocket. You figure out where they hang out at. “Oh, they’re at the Panera Bread!” “Oh, I need to go over to this side of town to see where they’re hanging out at.” So, it was beautiful to kind of pull back the curtain on that cultural demographic, and I was very fortunate to have the introduction that I did have through this organization. And they got it! I was very nervous going into it because I was like, “I hope I can speak their language.”   (I had to) be overprepared. We had a little funny story of - the printer didn’t work. And sheet music without a printer, forget that. But thankfully, they had iPads, and they understood my chicken scratch and my little notations of what I was trying to communicate to them. They weren’t hard to work with at all. They didn’t use their knowledge to puff up, to make me feel inferior. They welcomed me. They spoke my language, and it was a humbling, humbling experience that I wish more musicians would get to experience. Frank : You mentioned that you were a GRAMMY winner. How did that accolade come about? What were you involved with that resulted in that? Greg : There’s this icon by the name of Kirk Franklin who just decided - woke up one day with his team and decided to have me be a part of this amazing, phenomenal album Long Live Love. I’m on a song called “Strong God” that he wrote and produced and had me feature as a vocalist in 2020. That album won for Gospel Album of the Year; therefore, I'm a part of that album and contributed to it, so anyone who is a part of the album gets a GRAMMY. It’s like going to the NBA and playing with LeBron (James). You gotta know that if you’re on LeBron’s team, you’re going to get a ring. You know what I mean? So I got a ring because LeBron was in the game. And I might have shot a few 3’s, I might have passed LeBron the ball a couple times, but it definitely was, on the back, carried by the LeBron James, Kirk Franklin. Frank : Jane and Matthew, when we were talking about the attitude you you brought to this project, I couldn't help but think back, because I've been in this classical music radio business for so long, to times when classical musicians in orchestras were perhaps a little more unbending - you know, who weren’t quite as open to collaborations like this in the past - and that seems to have really changed in recent years, I guess because there's new generations of classical musicians in orchestras. Am I right about that? Would you confirm that perception? Matthew : I think that's a very big trend right now. Especially, you see it with a lot of the younger composers that are coming up. Caroline Shaw, for instance, does a lot of genre bending. She’s from Raleigh, I think, too. And I think it's a really beautiful thing for the field because, for so long, classical music has been so very structured within its Western European roots. And you of course see that with the music itself, in terms of the Classical era music, was obviously very, very structured within its own form, but then the social structures of it have been very narrow as well. And then there’s something that I think that we’re - it's almost like if we’re afraid if we expand that, then classical music disappears, which I think is a very paradoxical way of going about it, because if you build a wall up around something, then it's no longer - then it it does disappear, because there's nothing to let it thrive.  So I think that it's a really beautiful thing for Western European music to really open up itself to exploring what it can do with and for other genres, because if you don't grow, you're going to die. And so there’s a lot of really great younger performers that are breaking that mold, because we grew up with being very affected by music that wasn't necessarily, you know, classical music.  And then we're wanting to combine all of that into something that is more personal to us, maybe, and not so much meaningful to the older generation, or the ones that came before us, but it's still a very powerful way for us to express ourselves as a musician in the 21st century. Jane :  I think that we have definitely - in the recent years, we have started to branch out and look for many new ways to include all sorts of music, and it’s been a great adventure, and I’m so glad that it's finally open. It feels like it’s opening up, and it’s not just a token here and there: “Let’s play this piece by a woman composer because she's a woman composer.” It’s just opening up, and it doesn't matter anymore. We're just including all people and all types of music. That’s what it feels like. Frank : Greg, I'm going to give you the last word here. Hearing the three of you speak, I know I'm looking forward to hearing you all perform. What else can you tell listeners to this conversation to whet their appetites for the program you’ve prepared? What should they be expecting? Greg : They should be expecting White Sexual Chocolate. That's what they should expect. That's the name of the band that I gave them, and they put beautiful, sugary, milk white chocolate on my music, and it definitely embellished all the songs - every song that I perform normally. I feel really good about (the performance). They just added a different sauce. Frank : Do you think you'll - having done this now, do you think you'll consider doing something like it again, either in the recording studio or when in-person performing becomes commonplace again? Greg : I’m changed forever through this experience. I've always wanted to be involved with film, watching Disney growing up, (and) seeing Randy Newman, who is my favorite composer, just compose the crap out of string arrangements and provoke emotion in that way, I always wanted to be a part of it. So my next album actually is going to be very, very influenced by this experience (with) classical string playing throughout the entire album now. So it’s very much now a fiber, a part of who I am through this experience. I’m very affected by it, and very thankful for the organization again. Frank : I am so looking forward to hearing how that turns out, and I'm really excited for you. My guests are the performers for the next virtual concert in the new NoteWorthy series from WDAV and FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative, singer-songwriter and rapper Greg Cox, Charlotte Symphony violinist Jane Hart Brendle, and violist Matthew Darsey.  The concert streams on Wednesday, May 26th at 7:30 p.m. You can get more information and find a link to the Facebook Live event at noteworthyclassical.org . Thank you all for speaking with me. For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez.

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The NoteWorthy concert series is presented by WDAV in partnership with the FAIR PLAY Music Equity Alliance. The series brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-blending, community building music. Singer-songwriter Arsena Schroeder talks about the concert and collaborating with pianist Leonard Mark Lewis, violinist Lenora Cox Legatt, and guitarist Chris Suter, who also join the conversation. Arsena Schroeder Lenora Cox Legatt Leonard Mark Lewis Chris Suter Transcript: Frank : This is Frank Dominguez for WDAV’s Piedmont Arts. On Wednesday, April 14 at 7:30 PM, the NoteWorthy concert series debuts on Facebook Live. It’s presented by WDAV in partnership with FAIR PLAY Music Equity [Initiative] and brings together gifted Black and brown artists from the Charlotte music scene with classical musicians for some genre-bending, community building music.  The first concert in the series features singer-songwriter Arsena Schroeder with musical guests pianist Leonard Mark Lewis, violinist Lenora Cox Leggatt, and guitarist Chris Suter. All of them are joining me now via Zoom to talk about the concert. Welcome, everybody. Great to have you all here!  Arsena, I'll start with you. Your music is influenced by R&B, pop, and folk, and it's been described as tackling topics of personal healing and empowerment. I’m curious about how you arrived at your sound in general and those particular themes. Arsena : That's a good question. Well, I actually started music kind of late in college. I had a friend who asked me to sing on a project of his, and I thought, “I don't sing.” That’s what I told him, and he said, “You do.” So, that was my first time writing and recording, and I fell in love with it. And then shortly after, I got a hold of Lauryn Hill's MTV Unplugged performance, and it was very ‘singer-songwriter’ - her, her guitar, and storytelling - and I thought, “Oh, if I can do it that way, then I do sing, and I can do music.” So, I kind of just pull from inspiration that is soulful, but still very simple and self-reflective in content. Frank : Mark, let me ask you about your work. You’re a composer as well as a pianist, and your works have been commissioned by orchestras such as the Charlotte Symphony. How did you get involved in this particular project, and what's the collaboration been like? Mark : I was super pumped, because initially I wasn't even going to be involved. I found out that I was going to be involved three hours before the first rehearsal. I was told, “Oh, you have to be at this rehearsal.” So I [thought], “Where’s a keyboard?” So I drove around trying to find a keyboard and drive to Arsena’s loft. I had heard her music before, and I probably got involved because I told the person in charge [of recruiting the classical artists], who happened to be my wife, “I love this music. I want to play with her.” And so, that’s probably how it happened. It’s been a wonderful experience. It’s so musical and lyrical and rhythmic and lush that it was easy - I just came in and did my thing, and [Arsena] was open to new ideas and all those things, and it’s been wonderful from start to finish. Frank : Lenora, let me ask you: you have ties to the Charlotte Symphony, too, as a violinist in the orchestra. Apart from the stylistic differences, how is working with Arsena in this concert different from the classical fare that you normally rehearse and perform? Lenora : I’m used to somebody writing my notes for me, and I work hard at that, and I’m good at that, so just having to go with my own instincts was a new experience. And it was really exciting and really fun and I really enjoyed it, mostly because Arsena just made it so easy and relaxed and she was open to any ideas I wanted to try, or not try, or just explore, and she just made it. Frank : Arsena, let me go back to you for a moment and ask if there was any kind of trepidation - especially now that I've learned that you came to music rather late in life - about heading into this project with classically trained musicians such as Mark and and Lenora. Arsena : Yeah, I mean, in the back of my mind, I’m like, “I don't know how this is going to work,” because we come from two different worlds. I come from the world of improv, just going with what feels good, just kind of playing it by ear, and then also just not having that formal training and being self-taught. And knowing from experience that it normally can take months or years for a band to gel well, I’m going to have to have chemistry, and so I think we kind of hit the jackpot and it worked. But I did think, “We’re really rolling the dice here. This could either go really good or really bad.” [laughs] Frank : Well, I saw a little bit of the rehearsal, so I can attest to the fact that it's going really well. Arsena : Yeah, it went really great.  Frank : Chris, let me bring you in on this and ask how you came to work with Arsena. Chris : I’ve known Arsena for a few years now. She worked with a friend of mine on, I think, one of her earlier EPs, and then long story short, he kind of stepped out of the engineering game and recommended me. We talked and seemed to have a good rapport and seemed to work together, and it just kind of all fell into place from there. Frank : It sounds as if many of our listeners might be surprised at just what an active music scene there is in Charlotte. Chris : I think you have to maybe look for it a little bit, but once you do discover it, you can find that there's a pretty lush community of musicians and artists all kind of working to help each other out. I think because it is a little bit it - it can be a little bit of a struggle, so you kind of find that when you do discover and break your way into the music scene, that everyone is really, really open to helping each other out and working together. Frank : That's great to know. This next question is really for all of you. I'd be interested in your individual thoughts on this. Genres, such as classical or pop or R&B, are handy things for recording labels (and for radio stations, I’ll admit). But what do you, as musicians and creatives, think of that term, “genre”? Arsena, let’s start with you. Arsena : I hate it, because I want to play them all, but I do understand, having a business mind, that marketing-wise, it’s helpful for the audience to know if they're going to be drawn or attracted to what you create. But I mean, I pull from so many different aspects, and one song could be one genre, and another song can be another genre when you’re creating freely, so I don't necessarily care for that label. Frank : Mark, how about you? Mark : I agree with Arsena. Postmodernism is alive and well, and I don’t think there’s any one particular music that stands above another, and it’s all there for the exact same reason. Frank : Lenora? Lenora : I don’t mind it. I like the idea of blending genres more than anything. Composers have always borrowed from each other, and I think exploring and being open to new genres is important. I have students that I was telling them - well, somehow it came up that they don’t think a violin would go in a rock band, and I said, “Actually, I’m playing in a rock band next week.” [Arsena   laughs] Lenora : They were so excited by that. And so I think exploring new genres is important, and I have experience with that, mostly because my husband’s a rock musician, and my son is 9 and he’s always showing me new things to listen to on YouTube. So it helps to explore. Frank : And Chris, what's your experience been with that term as a working musician here in town? Chris : It's kind of a love-hate relationship. I mean, it obviously works and it has its purpose, but one of the most frustrating things is when you're working on an original project and then someone asks you, “What kind of genre is it?,” and it's like, “I don't know, I haven't thought about it. Now let me try to force it into this box.” Into, “Oh, I guess it's rock, but it's also kind of pop,” and then it can give people the wrong or right idea. So it has its utility, but it definitely kind of forces you think in a weird way sometimes. Frank : Arsena, I’m going to give you the last word and ask you to tell me a little bit, or give the listeners a little bit of an expectation of what they can encounter when they tune in for this concert stream. What’s the program going to be like? Arsena : I feel relaxed. Kind of like Mark said, it’s pretty relaxed. I do some storytelling in between the songs. We’ve got some solos, everybody gets a little solo and a moment. I think it’s something that you might find interesting and pleasing to your ear, just because we’ve got the violin, which I’ve never had. Now I feel like I need violin on every single one of my songs moving forward, so Lenora, I’ll be hitting you up. And we’ve got Chris on electric, and I pulled Chris in because we’ve been playing together for years, and I felt like he could fill in some of the areas that I couldn’t. But I go from electric guitar to acoustic guitar to tambourine, Mark is on electric piano and grand piano, so we really get a really good palate of music for your ears, I think. Frank : That sounds very tempting, and I know hearing that, a lot of folks are going to be interested in checking it out. My guests have been the performers for the first virtual concert in the new NoteWorthy series from WDAV and FAIR PLAY Music Equity Initiative. Singer-songwriter Arsena Schroeder (whose latest release, [Unplugged+Live: Remixed & Remastered], is available for download at arsenamusic.com), pianist and composer Leonard Mark Lewis, violinist Lenora Cox Leggatt, and guitarist Chris Suter.  The concert streams on Wednesday, April 14 at 7:30 PM, and you can get more information and find a link to the Facebook Live event at noteworthyclassical.org. Everybody, thanks so much for speaking with me! Arsena : Thank you for having us. Frank : For WDAV’s Piedmont Arts, I’m Frank Dominguez.

The Modern Eater broadcasts live every Saturday night from 6-8pm on Denver's Talk Station 630 KHOW and on The Modern Eater Facebook live! On the show this week we welcome chef Jeff Gebott from Sugarfire Smoke House and chef Blake Butler! Chef Jeff is cooking with some awesome beef from Bar UC Cattle Co. with Hunter and Lexi Uhland! We also welcomed Frank Dominguez from Proud Souls BBQ and Provisions! They donated some awesome Traeger Grills for the chefs to cook on! Chef Sam New with Eclat Culinary and chef Brandon Becker from Cirque Kitchen and Spirits battled it out last week for chef vs chef in Studio Kitchen Colorado using Biker Jim's Gourmet Dogs! They were all back on the show to talk about how the winning chef's hot dog is now on Biker Jim's menu and benefiting Extended Hands of Hope! Obviously we needed to wash down all the delicious BBQ beef from Bar UC Cattle Co., so Weldwerks Brewing was in the house with some truly delicious craft beer! Check out this deck of cards that gives you great deals at some local breweries! Anthony Milano is here from Brew Hunt, Hops and Friends to explain just how it works! Laura Bruns, the owner of Factotum Brewhouse was here too, and she and her brewery will be featured on next weeks show!

Ramon Villalobos is a professional comic artist living in Stockton California. He's worked on books for Marvel such as Nighthawk, Secret Wars:E is for Extinction, America, among others and now Border Town (co created with Eric M. Esquivel) for Vertigo Comics. "When a crack in the border between worlds releases an army of monsters from Mexican folklore, the residents of Devil’s Fork, AZ, blame the ensuing weirdness—the shared nightmares, the otherworldly radio transmissions, the mysterious goat mutilations—on “God-dang illegals.” With racial tensions supernaturally charged, it’s up to new kid in town Frank Dominguez and a motley crew of high school misfits to discover what’s really going on in this town torn between worlds."   

Brian Cole, Dean of the School of Music at UNC School of the Arts, speaks with Frank Dominguez about the school’s ambitious annual staging of the immortal holiday ballet, T he Nutcracker . He talks about the magic of Tchaikovsky’s music, how the production brings together all of the programs at UNCSA, and what drew him to the institution. Pictured: Brian Cole/uncsa.edu

Grammy-winning fiddlers Mark and Maggie O’Connor visit WDAV again to chat with Frank Dominguez about their appearance in the Charlotte Symphony’s annual Magic of Christmas concert. They’ll also speak about Mark’s work as Artist in Residence with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, what it’s like to come home to Charlotte after touring, and share what aspect of the season gives them special pleasure. Pictured (l-r): Maggie O'Connor, Frank Dominguez and Mark O'Connor at WDAV.

Conductor Hugh Wolff, and pianist and Mozart scholar Robert Levin speak about improvising cadenzas, and how Beethoven’s impressive run of symphonies got started. Pictured: (l-r) Hugh Wolff, host Frank Dominguez and Robert Levin.

Piedmont Opera’s General Director and Artistic Director James Allbritten previews the Opera's 40th anniversary season with host Frank Dominguez. Visit Piedmont Opera to learn more Pictured: James Allbritten; piedmontopera.org.

Guest conductor William "Bill" Osborne speaks with WDAV’s Frank Dominguez about a program titled Two Prodigies and an Homage for the Center City Concerts at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Charlotte. The program features music for organ, strings and – in a couple of selections – percussion, with pieces ranging from the 18th century to the present day. Learn more about the Center City Concerts at St. Peter’s Pictured: William Osborne; centercityconcerts.org

Frank Dominguez sits down with Joe Miller, Director of Choral Activities for the Spoleto Festival USA to talk about the Westminster Choir’s history with the festival. Joe also talks about his love for the flora and fauna of Charleston.

Frank Dominguez reflects on WDAV's past and present coverage of the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC. Read Full Dispatch > As WDAV embarks on another season visiting the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, it’s inevitable to look back and reminisce. As the writer and producer of our blog posts and podcasts this year, I can’t help but remember my first visit to Spoleto in 2009. I had heard about the festival for years before that. My mother-in-law – a violinist and music teacher – made an annual pilgrimage to the Dock Street Theater for the chamber music series. But I had no idea about the breadth and scope of the festival until I began covering it for WDAV. In those days we had an entire team of hosts, producers, audio engineers and support staff gathering interviews, recording performances, and otherwise exploring the varied offerings of the festival. As you might imagine, the enterprise was expensive and proved impossible to sustain, and the festival staff struggled to accommodate our requests to record. So over time we scaled back our residency, and last year we didn’t visit at all, but continued to bring the festival to WDAV listeners through the excellent Spoleto Chamber Music Series produced by our colleagues at South Carolina Public Radio, and heard on WDAV Saturdays at 11 a.m. April through June. This year, however, we’re back, and with a slightly different approach: a series of previews, reviews and interviews focused on the current festival season, and available through our blog Of Note, and also through our WDAV Dispatch from Spoleto podcasts. I’m looking forward to sharing the sights and sounds with you, and we’ll still bring you past Spoleto performances through highlights played during our weekday programming, as well as the Saturday radio series. Let us know what you think about the new Spoleto Festival USA coverage on WDAV. Click on About the Station in the lower left corner of the home page, and then select Contact Us.

Kenney Potter, Director of Choruses for the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, talks with WDAV’s Frank Dominguez about the Charlotte Symphony Chorus’ upcoming performances of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah . -->

Frank Dominguez chats with organist Susan Talley about her upcoming concert, Magnificence of the Organ II: The Seasons, which combines organ, brass, violin, and percussion. The concert will be held at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC.

Frank Dominguez speaks with Arturo Sandoval about his beginnings studying classical trumpet in Havana, an apprenticeship with the legendary Dizzy Gillespie and the highlights of his spectacular career. Sandoval will give a free jazz concert in the courtyard at Phillips Place in Southeast Charlotte at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 15th.

Dongho Lee, a celebrated organist and the Associate Director of Music at Christ Church Episcopal in Charlotte, spoke with Frank Dominguez for a WDAV special arts feature. Ms. Lee has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and South Korea, and she has earned numerous awards, including First Prize in the 2001 Klais Jang Cheon Organ Competition (Seoul) and Finalist standing in the 2008 Canadian International Organ Competition (Montreal). She will play the inaugural concert of the series "Beauty to be Heard" at Christ Episcopal Church in Charlotte on September 8.

Frank Dominguez talks with Richard Rosenberg, Artistic Director of the Union Symphony, about the upcoming Czech & Balances performance at The Batte Center at Wingate University.

The project Violins of Hope displayed violins that had survived the concentration camps of the Holocaust, and had been lovingly restored by Israeli craftsman Amnon Weinstein. Now UNC Charlotte music professor James Grymes has published a book about the Violins of Hope, and the inspiring stories behind them. He discusses the book and the project with WDAV’s Frank Dominguez.

Frank Dominguez welcomes Dr. Kathleen Jameson, President and CEO of the Mint Museum, of Art about their upcoming exhibit, The Panama Canal at 100 . Listen to the interview below and learn how this exhibit came to Charlotte.

Frank Dominguez talks to Andrew Griffiths and Kate Ashby, members of Stile Antico about their music and also about how they collaborate as a self-directed group without a conductor. Andrew and Kate also share stories about their recent experiences, including touring internationally with Sting.

Prior to their performance in Charlotte, Camerata Vocale Sine Nomine performed live in WDAV’s John Clark Performance Studio on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. Patrick Pope, organist and music director at Charlotte's Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter, chatted with Frank Dominguez about this talented group and what drew him to bring them to perform in Charlotte.

Frank Dominguez welcomes the Copley String Quartet to WDAV’s John Clark Performance Studio. The Copley String Quartet is comprised of members of Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, which – at 200 years old – is the oldest performing arts organization in the United States. They are here to talk about their appearance in the Bechtler Music & Museum concert series and to perform several pieces for us.

Cellist Amit Peled may have begun his career as a basketball player, but now brings his "larger than life" performances to concert halls around the world. The 6'5 cellist visits the WDAV studio and brings with him the personal concert cello of Pablo Casals, the legendary Spanish Catalan cellist and conductor.  Peled speaks with host Frank Dominguez and previews his upcoming performance for the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art's Music and Museum series.

Christopher Gilliam -- director of the Davidson College Chorale, a highly selective, auditioned choir of 24 student singers -- chats with WDAV's Frank Dominguez about the ensemble. You'll also hear recordings from past performances.

Pianist Valarie Valois joins WDAV in the John Clark Performance Studio to perform selected works, including Danza de la moza donosa by Alberto Ginastera and Forest Murmurs by Franz Liszt. In addition, Dr. Valois will chat with Frank Dominguez about music and her career, which includes local and international performances, music education, and serving as the church musician for St. Michael the Archangel Church in Matthews, NC.

Grammy-nominated violinist Robert McDuffie   joins host Frank Dominguez for a preview of his upcoming concert to benefit Davidson College and WDAV.  McDuffie, whose son attends Davidson College, has performed with the New York and Los Angeles Philharmonics and numerous ensembles abroad, including the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala. He is the founder of both the Rome Chamber Music Festival in Italy and the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University in his native city of Macon, Georgia.

4MU = "For Members United" will be in the house to discuss their vision for Local 721 and will outline their leadership plans on membership issues such as: representation, organizing, political strength and work place power. Frank Dominguez, Kenn Turner, Cecilia Martinez and Christina Trujillo will be in the house!