March 18, 2022 - June 11, 2022 - Music Royalty - Adrienne Albert, Gayle Levant, Maria Newman, Wayne Bergeron and Ross deRoche
I needed to be out on March 18th for my uncle's memorial service. In come music legends Adrienne Albert and Gayle Levant, moderated by Karen Elaine. Karen had recruited Adrienne, and Gayle is great friends with both of them. The session felt like the Charlie's Angels of music (is that rude?) Adrienne worked with Stravinsky and Leonard Bernstein and is a prolific composer. If you get on her mailing list, she has a performance of her music going on almost every week. (We were just starting to come back from the pandemic at this point.)
I don't think I revealed this tidbit yet, but Gayle grew up in the studios. Her father was concertmaster of studio orchestras. She is also Barbra Streisand's personal harpist. But the thing I think is the coolest is that she was harpist on the score for "Lost", the TV show I was addicted to for its entire run. Incidentally, Karen also played on "Lost".
I also had no internet at the church in Palos Verdes, so I logged in for 3 seconds and froze.
(In a complete side note story, I was playing piano for the service. I had practiced several times at my parents' house, and we know how that goes. And then by chance, my mom is seated three feet from me, staring right down the keyboard. I worked very hard to block her out. After the service she asks, "How come it never sounds like that when you practice?" Sigh.)
Adrienne shared her music, and she and Gayle worked with the composers in the breakout rooms on writing something original and critiqued compositions. So amazing she was, that Adrienne returned a couple weeks later when I could moderate. She is a gem.
On a funny Gayle story, I jokingly complained that she only joined Inception sessions when Karen moderated, but never when I did. So somewhat unexpectedly, Gayle logs on the next week.... when I'm teaching four part harmony. OMG NO!!!
Karen would also be responsible for bringing in other true heavyweights to the season.
Maria Newman comes from a family of composers. You might know some of them: Thomas Newman, David Newman, cousin Randy Newman. Her father is Alfred Newman. She is a brilliant composer in her own right and a composition instructor.
By the time we got to Maria, Christopher Lee had completed a strings and winds movement of his "La Lune". Both Adrienne and Maria had the exact same compliment: "This is a completely original voice." Oh man, do you want that as a composer.
Please email for a link to his music.
Christopher was also family friends with the extraordinary trumpeter, Wayne Bergeron. Karen got Wayne to mentor on trumpet. It was a full, full house. Past mentors, Board members, parents off camera. And, as expected, an incredible session. Wayne I knew best from "The Incredibles", but he had just done the Spielberg "West Side Story" and elevated the Mambo at the dance so much, that I immediately had to go see the movie after hearing the score. Wayne also offered to record any of the students' trumpet parts. I would have taken him up on that so fast!
Ross deRoche was a repeat mentor, but belongs on this list of music royalty. He is just the best mentor for music prep and the tuba. in chatting one day, I discovered that one of his early gigs was "St. Elsewhere" one of my favorite TV shows and scores. That was cool.
Ross is one of my fellow ASMAC Board members.
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