monthly

Monthly Update

JULY 2010

Along with yet another incredible Summer Intensive with Central City, CSC enjoyed a busy and productive month of July. (see Fatlady Newsletter)

The Conservatory students and alumni were invited to open the ‘Blues Under the Bridge’ Festival in Downtown Colorado Springs. Brendon Searle, David Musante, James Swan, David Siegel, Kenny Martinez and Devin Malloy wowed the crowd with blues and jazz favorites.

Other July performance highlights included a CSC faculty concert in Woodland Park at the Ute Pass Cultural Center. John Flores, Dennis Bueno, Wayne Wilkinson and Jacob Herold played under the afternoon sun with Pikes Peak behind them. The audience included young and old.

The Chamber of Commerce graciously invited CSC students to perform at their annual “Evening in Tuscany”event. This year CSC alumni Kenny Martinez, Michael Hawkins, and Devin Malloy performed jazz for a capacity crowd of 300.

Councilwoman Jan Martin celebrated her 60th birthday and CSC was the privileged group to perform at her private party. Guests included government and city officials as well as leaders from all sectors of the community.

JUNE 2010

“Suessical, the Musical” was most definitely the highlight for the participating students in June. The cast enjoyed sold out performances at UCCS Theatreworks Dusty Loo Bon Vivant Theater.

Other June events and performances included the jazz combo performing at a fundraiser event for Attorney General John Suthers. The event was hosted by State Representative Larry Liston. The Conservatory enjoys supporting all political parties. It has really served the students well to be exposed to so many political perspectives through such outreaches.

The CSC jazz combo supported our partners at UCCS Theatreworks when they played background for the VIP reception for the Dave Valentin Concert. Dave has been coming to Colorado Springs to help many organizations raise funds. His performances have been wowing Springs’ audiences for over a decade! The Conservatory has even been the privileged recipient for several years in the past.

Service to the Senior Citizen Community included performances at the Parade of Retirement Homes. David Siegel and Linda Weise performed in the auditorium at Village at Skyline. Support for the senior community included a performance at the UCCS Aging Center Fundraiser “Ageless Cuisine” .

Art on the Streets kicked off at the Pikes Peak Center where the students played background music for the guests. More downtown activity included the First Friday at the Pioneers Museum.

Folks from the Colorado Humanities came to meet at the Conservatory to discuss the potential for CSC to be host to the premier “Young Chautauquans” program in the Springs. CSC’s commitment to quality arts education as it ties into meaningful history studies makes CSC a good candidate. Judy Casey, former Board Chair of the Colorado Humanities served as hostess to the meeting. It is an exciting moment for the Conservatory to be a part of such incredible learning opportunities for the students through this organization. More to come on that discussion.

MAY 2010

The semester classes finished up with stellar juries given by all students. the Senior/Alumni Recital is always a well received performance that includes any alumni home at that time. This year we sent off students Ryan Biondo, Taylor Grezsieck, Tatum Price and Megan Flynn.

The school-wide performance of Kurt Weill’s “Down in the Valley” included a cast of Novices to College Prep Company. CC Wells and Michael Dewar were a great team as the ill-fated lovers, Jenny and Brack. Brendon Searle made his debut as a vocalist as the preacher and David Musante was Brack’s nemesis, Thomas Bouche. Joelle Sostheim and Bailey Crumpton shared the role of the narrator. The opera was preceded by a prologue that was developed by the students. Linda Weise set the opera in Hartsel, 1879. Students preceded their rehearsal process with an afternoon at the Pioneers Museum with Matt Mayberry, Cultural Director for the City of Colorado Springs. Matt provided actual period newspapers from the Park County region so that students could get an idea of what was pertinent to life back then. They then created a prologue that was set at a Birthday party and included folk songs, square dances and letters that contained some of the information they found at the museum. Was truly a creative way to integrate other period elements into the final performance.

Outreach programs during May included a program for the Colorado Springs Symphonic League, Kidpower Chocoholic Frolic and the Monument Senior Center.

The YPO (Young President’s Organization) invited CSC to perform at a reception prior to it’s Denver event featuring conductor Benjamin Zander. The performance was help at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House.

APRIL 2010

April was a busy full and busy month. Outreach performances included the Annual ABE Luncheon, a guest spot at the Woodland Park Singers concert, Boots and Starts event for the UCCS Chancellor’s Leadership and performances throughout the weekend of the Broadmoor Jazz Festival with Earl Klugh. A fun family night at the North End Diner featured the CSC jazz combo.

Our dear friend, Marylou Makepeace turned 70 years old and she invited the CSC jazz combo to perform at her private party.

That same combo was thrilled to know that we were invited to perform at the Pioneers Museum First Firday event that would kick off their Roll and Roll photo exhibit. It’s a good assignment for a group of young musicians to have to learn The Who, Beatles, and Eric Clapton to name a few. They were more than happy for those extra rehearsals.

CSC was host to guest artist Lenore Raphael, internationally acclaimed jazz pianist. She was on site to give a master class to the CSC jazz Company students.

Other on site activities included the semester “Second Sunday”. Participating students created a funny and witty show called “CSC: our blog” . The performance included references to classes and social situations unique to CSC. What fun they had making fun of all that is so meaningful to them at CSC! The audience laughed until they hurt. Everything from NO GUM to their take on the Chekov class was covered with a tongue in cheek approach.

CSC was host to the Pikes Peak Jazz and Swing Society annual scholarship competition. Our student partners from the Harrison School District 9th grade 21st century program presented their final performance piece at Harrison High School. Instructors Charla McGaugh, Maureen Simpson, Wayne Wilkinson, Antonia Chastain, and Holly Haverkorn put together an incredible piece that emphasized various world cultures.