The New Music Ensemble at Towson University 

Concert April 25, 2007   8:15 PM


FEATURED PERFORMERS



Mezzo soprano, Leneida Crawford, was acclaimed as "an exceptional new performer" by Andrew Porter in "The New Yorker" and the "San Francisco Chronicle" described Crawford as "a fine-grained mezzo-soprano of remarkable agility with viola-like colors." The "Washington Post" agreed, characterizing her as a "rosy, unblemished mezzo..."

Crawford made her New York solo debut at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall. Solo assignments soon followed with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Eric Leinsdorf, the New England Symphonic Ensemble at Carnegie Hall and the National Chorale. She has appeared with the Santa Fe Opera, Maryland Opera Studio, Music from Bear Valley, and Eastern Opera.

Well known to Washington, D.C. and Baltimore audiences, Crawford has appeared as a soloist at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall with Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Kennedy Center with The Paul Hill Chorale, Washington Oratorio Society and The Choral Arts Society of Washington. In addition, she has performed with the Fairfax Symphony, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, the Virginia Chamber Orchestra, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Cayuga Chamber Symphony. Crawford has recorded on the Albany and VOX labels and has appeared on CBS and PBS.

Dr. Crawford is an Associate Professor of Voice and the vocal division leader at Towson University in Baltimore Maryland. She teaches applied voice and vocal diction. She also team teaches Vocal Literature and Pedagogy and is the associate director for Music for the Stage.


 


Marta Bradley is a freelance double bass player in the Washington D.C./Baltimore area. Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, she started studying the bass at the age of 10. In high school she studied with Steve Brewster and Robert Oppelt.  Marta graduated from Indiana University in 1990 where she studied with Lawrence Hurst.  In 1993, Marta received a Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory where she studied with Harold Robinson.  In 1990 she won both the Sigma Alpha Iota National String Scholarship and the A.S.T.A. solo competition for the state of Virginia - College Division.  Marta played in the orchestras for the national tour of the musical “Gypsy” in 1991-92 and for the European tour of the musical “My One and Only” in 1994. She has been a member of the Baltimore Opera Orchestra since 1993 and is currently co-Principal of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra.  She has also been a member of the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, the National Gallery Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore and has played as a substitute with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. Marta’s bass was made by Kai Johann Arvi in 1988.





Percussionist Barry Dove, a native Baltimorean, is acclaimed as one of today's outstanding percussionists. The Washington Post's critic cited Dove's "...superhuman dexterity [which] made his marimba seem to play itself...Barry Dove [is] a marvelous player...Barry Dove played with assurance and amazing agility...Exceptionally virtuosic marimba playing." He received his Bachelor's degree in Music Education, his Performer's Certificate, and his Master's degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music. Mr. Dove also attended the University of Ghana in Accra studying West African drumming styles of the Ewe, Akan and Dagarti people. In addition he has studied at the University de la Havana with special interests in Santeria Bata drumming. Mr. Dove's primary teachers have been Buster Bailey, Fred Begun, Shirley Givens, Jonathan Haas, Dennis Kain, Dale Rauschenberg, Berl Senofsky, Leigh Howard Stevens, Scott Stevens, Glen Velez, Sandip Burman and Ganesh Kumar. He is the Principal Percussionist of the Washington Contemporary Music Forum, Principal Timpanist of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Key West Symphony Orchestra and is a section percussion player with Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Dove also plays extra with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and is a percussionist for the National Theatre Playbill in Washington, DC. Mr. Dove is a vibraphonist and founder of the Barry Dove Jazz Quartet, Global Percussion Trio and is percussion instructor at University of Maryland Baltimore County and Loyola College.

In 1987 Barry Dove was the First Prize Winner in the Yale Gordon Concerto Competition, a prize which included a solo performance with the Peabody Symphony Orchestra in May of that year. He has also been a soloist with the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Johns Hopkins Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. Mr. Dove has been heard as a recitalist at Franklin and Marshall College, Hood College, Levine School of Music, Loyola College, The Johns Hopkins University Shriver Hall, Strathmore Hall, University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, Bucknell University, Western Maryland College, Music in the Great Hall, the Walden School of Music and the Walters Art Gallery.

Barry Dove performs on a four and one-half octave Kori Marimba, for which he has premiered twenty-one new works in the past fifteen years, thirteen of which were commissioned for him. He is active as a recitalist and clinician for the Kori Marimba Company and is a Gordon Artist. Mr. Dove has recorded Judith Lang Zaimont's Hidden Heritage on Arabesque CD, Dominick Argento's A Water Bird Talk, Baltimore Chamber Live and Robert Macht Suite for Javanese Gamelan. He also records for National Geographic Explorer Channel, The Discovery Channel, a PBS special with Wynton Marsalis, Denyce Graves, Take 6, Patti LaBelle and numerous radio and television jingles.