Recent Highlights
The Bahamas Business Outlook is the premier annual business and industry conference in the country. Thankful to have been given the opportunity to take over 300 business, industry and political leaders to music class in my lecture "Applied Skills of Artistic Expression in Business Communication." I also presented a subsequent lecture entitled "Branding the National Identity" the following year.
Artistry in Business
SMILE!
Chen Yidan Fellowship: Teaching at Harvard
The Chen Yidan Visiting Global Fellows Program bring a diverse group of international leaders and scholars from a variety of sectors – nonprofit, academic, government, and for-profit – and geographical regions to the Harvard Graduate School of Education to create curricular and co-curricular experiences for graduate students at Harvard. Out of over 200 applicants, I was one of five fellows selected globally. I taught a graduate course entitled "Music as the Universal Language" as well as presented a university-wide lecture-performance "Teaching and Learning through European Classics, Video Games and the African Experience."
Opera's Contemporary Relevance
One of my life's missions is to establish the relevance of performing and visual art within our contemporary context. With the support of the leadership and membership of the Lyford Cay Club, I serve as musical curator for the annual "A Night at the Opera" where I collaborate with the finest of local and international vocalists in one-of-a-kind performances and contemporary storytelling paired with culinary arts and wine pairings. This experience takes place throughout the Club's unique spaces within the single evening.
Bahamas High Commission London: Carol Service
By request of the Bahamas High Commission London, led by His Excellency Paul Andrew Gomez, I served as a soloist and collaborator for the commission's annual carol service - a cultural event bringing together the Bahamian diaspora in the UK as well as diplomats of other nations.
Playing for Paradise Plates
Verbier Festival
East Lake Expression Engine: "Lay The Tracks"
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The music created by the youth of East Lake Expression Engine - a music outreach non-profit based in Chattanooga, TN will change the world. A partner in the work of this incredible organization since 2015, I was grateful to serve as pianist/keyboardist and co-musical director of "Lay the Tracks," their debut album.
One of the most unique and important performances I've done. Played in the atrium of the Atlantis Ballroom in service of "Paradise Plates," an initiative of Hands for Hunger geared towards improving food security for at risk communities.
Arguably the premier art music festival in the world, I was grateful to attend the Verbier Music Festival (Verbier, Switzerland) as a guest of the festival.
Dwight Strachan of Morning Blend and Shenique Miller of Beyond the Headlines are some of the finest in the news business. Always a privilege to grace their respective shows to talk music, education, outreach and national development.
Interviews with some of the best!
Love the chance to flex the athlete in me at this important fundraiser. The Myles and Ruth Munroe Foundation supports the work of so many non-profits locally and globally. Grateful to give back on behalf of Adventures in the Arts which this foundation supports.
Few things are as difficult as training for an Ironman. Starting as a way to keep in shape during the pandemic when gyms were closed, I am now a 2-time Ironman 70.3 finisher. Thankful to Lang the Sage for capturing some of what consumes the early morning hours of my days.
More Highlights
(From the not too distant past...)
Legacy Run: Myles and Ruth Munore Foundation
Ironman 70.3 Training (and Suffering;)
Mundance Drudgery and Extraordinary Discoveries
So in order to fund my doctoral studies, I spent 20 hrs a week for the better part of 3 years in the piano maintenance department at my university. It was hard, physical and mental work and I suffered a serious injury from the job. But I didn't know that this work would be the foundation of my professional life as a researcher.
Dr. Jae Kun Shim - The Most Chill Korean
And I say that with the utmost respect for his scholarship and professionalism:) Besides being a hand neuromechanics specialist in my UMD's Kinesiology Department, Professor Shim been a mentor in my interdisciplinary research aspirations. I owe much of my dissertation work to his meticulous guidance.
OrchKids Choir Concert
The Baltimore Symphony OrchKids program is transforming the lives of thousands of children and youth within inner city Baltimore. I remain humbled by the opportunity to serve some 120 of them as a choral director. Here is a fraction of them presenting everything from Latin to gospel.
The Great American Soprano
It's beyond amazing and terrifing when one of the world's finest sopranos joins in the choir warmups you're leading! This was on the occassion of the Baltimore Symphony's Season Opening Gala Concert featuring Renee Fleming and yours truly conducting the OrchKids choir.
Starstruck! Just Another Day At Peabody
I don't even remember taking this picture, what I said or what she said. It's all a black hole for me :) What I do know is that 3 years later, I was under her artistic direction as the pianist in the Smithsonian commissioned opera "Qadar." Denyce Graves is an amazing artist and an even better person.
Joshua Bell! The Underground Violinist
So my second instrument is violin (which sadly has been on rest since 2011). And I love Joshua and his willingness to play literally anywhere - including the underground subways of NYC. This shot was taken at Ravina Music Festival (Chicago, IL). An admirer of the passion with which he plays musically and visually.
