Deep Conversation of Dance and Music, with Pianist James Fernando and Tap Dancer Gerson Lanza
Bass River Arts Campus
Friday, July 5, 2024 at 07:30 PM Price: $25
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Hailed as a “prodigiously gifted composer and virtuoso pianist,” James Fernando connects with Gerson Lanza, a captivating tap dancer whose work has been featured in the New York Times. These two artists draw from jazz and other traditions to create an exciting evening where dance and music are in deep conversation.
James Fernando creates music that lies at the intersection of jazz, classical, and electronic music. He relies on his genre-expanding original compositions to deliver thought provoking and exciting performances on some of the world’s most renowned stages.
The Berklee College of Music graduate has five albums to his name and has collaborated with award winning artists internationally. James is on faculty at Levine Music in Washington, D.C. and has served as a Strathmore Artist in Residence.
Gerson Lanza, originally from La Ceiba, Honduras, first encountered the art form of tap dance after moving to New York City in 2001. He began tap dance training at Wadleigh Secondary School for the Visual and Performing Arts in the heart of New York’s Harlem neighborhood.
After nearly two decades of a fruitful career as an educator, performer, and choreographer, Gerson continues to find new ground. He recently has been chosen as one of six Strathmore Artists in Residence, featured in Jacob’s Pillow 2022 Summer Festival and the Guggenheim Work and Progress Series, Fall For Dance Festiva 2022, Vail Dance Festival 2023, where he performed with Leo Sandoval’s & Gregory Richardson’s Music from the Sole company.
Gerson headlined the Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center with his jazz quartet in Washington D.C. and was most recently reviewed by the New York Times for work he presented at the New York City Center, Artist at the Center, curated by Ayodele Casel. In addition to his commitment to his professional career as a dancer, Gerson’s scholarly research is based on the African diaspora and its connection to Latin America, using tap dance as the throughline to build community and awareness.
Gerson is currently in his last year at the University of Maryland, pursuing a Master’s in Fine Arts in Dance and Performance Studies.
An Evening with Guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto
Bass River Arts Campus
Saturday, July 6, 2024 at 07:30 PM Price: $25
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Eclectic, immersive and mesmerizing; guitarist and songwriter Hiroya Tsukamoto embodies the notion that music has no language: beautifully raw and cathartically emotional, Tsukamoto is a world-renowned, self-made musician.
Hiroya Tsukamoto is a Japanese-born fingerstyle guitarist who moved to the United States in 2000 to attend the Berklee College of Music. He’s not only a dizzyingly agile fingerpicker, but a soulful and transcendent performer, with compositions that combine instrumental guitar work with lyrical performance and spoken stories from his life.
Tsukamoto has been recognized for his talents on stages such as at Blue Note in New York City, Japanese National Television, at the United Nations, and by scoring second place at the International Fingerstyle Guitar Championship both in 2018 and 2022.
Gabriella Simpkins- Salon at the Barn
HyArts Programming Annex
Friday, July 19, 2024 at 07:30 PM Price: $25
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Gabriella Simpkins is an award-winning singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist hailing from Cape Cod, MA.
Informed by her experiences across genres and performance settings her music exists at the intersections of folk, classical, jazz, and indie rock. While independently managing her career, Simpkins is currently attending Salem State University in the Bachelor of Arts in Music program with a focus on music theory in classical composition.
She performs her singer-songwriter material regularly in the Boston area, teaches applied music theory and songwriting, and hopes to establish herself further as a freelance composer in the coming years.
This performance will feature original songs and compositions, including selections from her upcoming album.