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Showing posts from 2012

Looking Forward

As I put the month of November away, I am glad to see some promising things and experiences on the horizon... December will bring an always-welcome opportunity to return to the gorgeous island of Oahu to enjoy Christmas Eve singing at the First Baptist Church of Honolulu! In February I will perform my inaugural jazz concert at the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC with the wonderful commercial music faculty from University of South Carolina Upstate, of which I am now a proud member. I'll return to that stage with my Peggy Lee Project in April, following a soprano soloist appearance in Schubert's Mass in G at the USC Upstate Performing Arts Center. June will bring more touring, this time in Nashua, NH, among other places, and the summer promises some new recording possibilities. Reviewing the year enables a working artist to reconnect with her goals and aspirations, revisit her career priorities and solidify yet-unmade plans to keep moving forward. Life can and w

An Evening With Tish Oney

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...is usually the title of my solo touring show when I spend the evening alone on a stage behind a piano (most of the time) singing and playing. My upcoming concert on September 11 will be a bit different... instead of going solo I will be joined by four wonderful musicians--Dr. Gregg Akkerman at the piano, Adam Knight on guitar, Shannon Hoover on bass and Tony Christopher on drums. We have set out to give the University of South Carolina Upstate community a taste of my various touring shows--there will be selections from "Jazz Seasons," my NYC cabaret show performed at both the Metropolitan Room (twice) and the Triad Theatre in Manhattan, "The Peggy Lee Project," performed nationwide at performing arts centers, regional theatres, jazz festivals and university concert series, and "Sweet Youth," my latest critically-acclaimed CD of originals and a few standards. We'll be trying different permutations of the band which will be fun... I'll be doing

Traveling Considerations

I'm back on the road again this week and into my pre-performance routine. What is that? Packing, organizing, practicing, running errands, writing a blog, checking and double-checking to make sure I have my music, equipment, costumes, shoes, jewelry, stage makeup, CDs, CD table supplies, and just enough clothes to last until I return... Fitting it all into one carry-on and a personal item is then the real test... But I usually can do it! One very relevant piece of advice I once absorbed was "Only pack what you absolutely cannot live without... and then empty half your suitcase. Now you're ready to go." I have lived by that sage wisdom whenever I travel and miraculously it seems to work... This week I'm looking forward to a relaxing time at Big Moose Lake in the Adirondack mountains of northern New York! This near-Canadian experience is always a refreshing retreat from the busier cities where I am fortunate to work. On the docket: music by G.F. Handel, Cesar

The Teacher-Performer

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Balancing a successful performing career with teaching can be a challenge and a delight at the same time. I am very excited to accept an offer to be the new Assistant Professor of Commercial Music at the University of South Carolina Upstate. One refreshing element of this faculty appointment is that my touring performance career remains important to the university and to our department in that we aim to train commercial musicians who are competitive in today's music business. Helping to build necessary skills for these students requires teachers that are true artists out in the real world providing real music for real audiences... Since the university has given me its blessing in continuing to pursue my international recording and performance schedule (much like the role of violinist Midori Goto at my alma mater, University of Southern California), I am thoroughly stoked to begin this work alongside my creative work. There are scores of professionally touring jazz and classica

International Jazz Day

...is today! Live and taped concerts streamed from Congo Square, New Orleans are available to watch here . Congo Square is the birthplace of jazz where a diversity of styles came together near the turn of the twentieth century and amalgamated into the art form we currently know as jazz, America's indigenous classical music. This special day is being celebrated worldwide by concerts and events honoring this beloved music. Today in New Orleans a star-studded lineup of artists will be featured throughout the day in a monumental jazz festival the world can watch online. Don't miss your chance to participate by sharing the link above and enjoying the music! Thank you for your ongoing support of this magnificent art form!

The Peggy Lee Project at The Glenridge

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I am pleased to be joining acclaimed pianist Michael Royal for my next tour performance May 6 at 2pm at The Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota, FL. Michael is a dynamite musician who has built quite a resume of performing experience. I am excited to explore Peggy Lee's music with him for this one-afternoon-only matinee! The Peggy Lee Project is a celebration of the songwriting talents of the late pop/jazz diva, Peggy Lee. While Lee was well-known for countless major hits including "Fever," "Is That All There Is?" and "Big Spender," she also contributed 270 original songs to the Great American Songbook, collaborating with songwriting giants Duke Ellington, Johnny Mandel, Harold Arlen, Victor Young, Quincy Jones and Sonny Burke, among many others. I am proud to announce that this production is the only Peggy Lee tribute concert in the world endorsed by The Peggy Lee Foundation, Peggy Lee Enterprises, Peggy Lee Associates and the family of

Collaboration

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I love working with exemplary musicians. There is nothing like good collaboration to inspire me to reach new artistic heights! Last week I had the privilege of working with my baroque trio (soprano, flute and organ, featuring Dr. Rik Noyce on flute and Walt Disney Concert Hall Organ Conservator Philip Smith on organ) in the opening concert for the fourth annual Redondo Beach Baroque Festival. Collaboration in the baroque style (as well as in jazz) involves trusting one's fellow musicians and embarking on a journey together during which ideas meld and mesh, folding over one another and layering into a fabric of aural experience that is unique upon each successive performance. This we call being "in the moment" or "in the zone." Listening and responding to the other two performers becomes a delightful dance in real time involving improvisation, rebalancing and adjustment as each part finds its way among the others in expressive freedom. Three intertwining lin

A Lenten Journey

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Next on my calendar of performance dates will be a baroque recital of soprano arias composed by J.S. Bach. This concert will be offered as part of the Riviera United Methodist Church Baroque Festival on Friday, February 24 at 7:30 pm at Riviera UMC in Redondo Beach, CA. The performance features the wonderful Dr. Rik Noyce on flute and Philip A. Smith on a newly refurbished organ. Entitled "A Lenten Journey With J.S. Bach" my trio will guide the audience through the Bible stories of Holy Week as exemplified through the incomparable music of a baroque master composer. Come and join us for a contemplative and beautiful journey of faith and love, pain and redemption.