Have You Ever Had This Much Fun with an Accordion?

Lauren Cook plays clarinet and accordion in the United State Navy Band, as well as in the New Orchestra of Washington. In addition to her tremendous talents as a performer, she is one of my favorite people to put in front of my camera, as this photo clearly shows. 

Women's History Month Portrait of an Artist: Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell

There are so many words you can use to describe Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell. Singer, composer, violinist, speech pathologist, activist - but the word that truly sums her up is this: storyteller. Dr. Barnwell has led thousands of people in communities around the world in using the framework of African American music traditions to tell their own stories. Her vocal community workshops bring amateur and professional singers together to learn and sing. You enter as strangers and throughout the course of the evening, a bond forms, and soon these strangers are singing as if they were a choir that's been performing together for years. It's a study in how we can dissolve the boundaries which, on the surface, separate us from each other. By the end of the night, new friendships have formed and people are sharing their personal stories with each other. 

My Night with Carbon Leaf!

The band, Carbon Leaf, is described as indie rock, alt country, Celtic, and indie folk, but I know them as fellow classmates who roamed the campus of Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Virginia with me. Last night, I got to hear and see them in performance at The Hamilton in Washington, DC. They formed Carbon Leaf in 1992 while we were all attending Randolph-Macon, and judging by their energetic performance and the obvious love of the singing, swaying, screaming, dancing audience members, they've not wasted one minute of those 22 years. What a night it was and here are a few images from my first of many Carbon Leaf concerts:) For more Carbon Leaf images, go to my Facebook page!

Artist Spotlight: The New Orchestra of Washington is What's Happening NOW!

The New Orchestra of Washington (NOW) is on a musical mission to bring a new generation into the concert hall, with a fresh take on classical music. The ensemble, led by artistic director Alejandro Hernandez-Valdez, featuring pianist Grace Cho, recently presented a concert of Debussy and Mahler at the First Congregational UCC in downtown Washington, DC, featuring Debussy's "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" and a chamber orchestral setting of Mahler's 1st Symphony. NOW's next concert, on May 17th in Washington, DC, will highlight the music of East Asia!

A Christmas Spectacular with the T.C. Williams High School Choir

It's the most wonderful time of the year, especially if you love choral music! There's just something right about dozens of voices joining together for some Christmas cheer, and one of the best choirs in the Washington, DC area is from T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, VA. I popped over for their annual Christmas concert this week and was treated to a thrilling concert of holiday classics, African rhythms, and even a little PDQ Bach with kazoo accompaniment. It was a great preview ahead of the choir's performance on the upcoming "Christmas in Washington" to be aired on TBS.

A Tribute to Chuck Brown

Chuck Brown, photographed at The Space, Washington, DC, August 24, 2008 by Shannon Finney 

On Wednesday, May 16, 2012, legendary musician Chuck Brown died at age 75. Aside from being an extraordinary musician, Chuck Brown was known as the

founder of Go-Go, a form of music he developed in the early 1970s in Washington,

DC.  Whatsgogo.com describes Go-Go music as, "continuous, complex heavy

rhythm arrangements focused through two thematic patterns performed on multiple

congas, timbale and roto-toms, interspersed with tambourine and cowbell parts, driven

by heavy-footed drumming and punctuated by crowd 'call and response' as in many

African-American church sermons." While these words accurately describe Go-Go,

the music is defined by the people who play it and the feelings of those

of us in the crowd, moving and grooving to the Go-Go beat. Thank you, Mr. Brown,
for the gift you gave to us, and for the gift you were to us.

A Symphony Silenced

I spent my Friday lunchtime in a most unusual way - listening to the soaring strings of the National Symphony Orchestra in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. While the NSO Friday matinee concerts have been a Washington, DC tradition for decades, the NSO's recent announcement that these concerts will be discontinued for the 2012-2013 season has sent a shock wave through this usually collegial crowd of concertgoers. On my 3-escalator ascent from the parking garage to the box office, I passed the usual gaggle of high school tour groups, but then, things became grayer, actually, the people became grayer. One by one, they made their way along the concourse, some with canes, some with walkers, some in wheelchairs. They greeted each other warmly, as if they were old friends, but amongst the friendly conversations was anger about the end of an era. Out on the terrace overlooking the Potomac River, they sat, eating sandwiches under the shade of the trees, splitting cans of soda, and enjoying, to the last, the fleeting moments - both musical and otherwise.

Concertgoers on their way to the NSO Friday matinee

Concertgoers on their way into the Kennedy Center Concert Hall

Friends catching up on the Kennedy Center terrace before the Friday matinee

Lunch under the trees on the Kennedy Center terrace before the Friday matinee

Portrait of the Artist: Composer/Conductor Julian Wachner



Photograph by Shannon Finney, July 2010, Washington, DC

It's always fun when a portrait shoot takes an unexpected twist, and when

the shoot involves Julian Wachner, well let's just say that it wasn't all

THAT unexpected:) Julian sports lots of titles: doctor, maestro, composer

organist, pianist, professor, and, the most recent addition, Director of Music

and Arts for the renowned music program at Trinity Wall Street Episcopal

in Lower Manhattan. But behind all of the genius is a generous man

with a great sense of humor, and hence the photo above. While it

may not make his next CD cover, it's got a place of honor on my wall.