Archives for July 2009

After six seasons at The Metropolitan Opera, numerous engagements on the stage of Carnegie Hall, touring the world with Leonard Bernstein, and thousands of performances as a solo artist, contralto Gwenneth Bean decided to come back home to Michigan, near her family and friends, where she now resides.and she will be performing on the Dogwood Center’s Main Stage on March 20! 
Ms. Bean’s program at the Dogwood Center will include classical pieces from Copland, Schubert and Handel to more contemporary pieces from Gershwin, Bernstein, and Rogers and Hammerstein.
Michigan born contralto, Gwenneth Bean, is a graduate of Mona Shores High School.  Her 17 year career has taken her to opera stages and concert halls throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Japan.  She has sung numerous roles with the New York Metropolitan Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and opera houses in Dallas, Miami, Santa Fe, Toronto, San Francisco, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Vienna, Rome, Paris, London, and more.
Bean toured Japan with the Metropolitan Opera, and toured Europe and the United States with the late Maestro Leonard Bernstein.  She has worked with conductors Zubin Mehta, Leonard Slatkin, Seji Ozawa, Andrew Davis, Hugh Wolf, James Levine, Charles Dutoit, and of course the late Bernstein, to name a few.
Gwenneth Bean has shared the stage with Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Sherill Milnes, Sam Ramey, Jerry Hadley, Jessye Norman, and many others. 
Locally, she has performed with Opera Grand Rapids in Faust, Romeo and Juliet, and The Flying Dutchman and was the alto soloist for Handel’s Messiah at DeVos Hall.  Ms. Bean sang Mahler’s Eighth with the Grand Rapids Symphony and was featured in Night of the Opera with the Holland Symphony.
Ms. Bean resides in Grand Rapids, teaching private voice and is the Director of Music and Worship at Spring Lake Christian Reformed Church.  She sings as much as possible including the national anthem at many sporting events.  She is often seen performing benefits for the charities and issues she supports.
Tickets $15.  Main stage.  7:30 p.m.
http://photos.mlive.com/grandrapidspress/2010/02/gwenneth_bean_profile_1.html
Wikipedia trivia:  A contralto voice is a type of classical female singing voice with a vocal range between a tenor and a mezzo-soprano;  it is the deepest female singing voice.

Electrifying blues artist Big Daddy Fox and the Krewe are coming to the Dogwood!  Big Daddy is one of the Muskegon area’s seminal blues figures!

Big Daddy Fox was recently the headliner for the nationally recognized “Detroit Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise”, was the winner of the 2008 Battle of the Bands Regional Competition in Petoskey and competed in the finals at the Memphis International Blues Contest.  He also was recently recognized and presented the Mid-Northern Michigan Blues Society’s Farmhouse Music Organization “Lifetime Achievement Award for 40 years of Blues, Soul and R&B”.
Big Daddy Fox and the Krewe include, of course, Big Daddy Fox, with Sam “I Am” Morgan on keyboards, and Miss Kelly-Kelly as guest vocalist.
Big Daddy has the groove to make you move!  And just between you and me….Big Daddy has a mission…..and that mission is to make sure EVERBODY has a good time!  Join us for a great night!
Tickets $10.  Black Box.  7:30 p.m. 
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and one hour prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.
Big Daddy Fox photo courtesy of Stacy Niedzwiecki.

Braunschweiger Blues Band is back!  Playing a little country and good old classic rock and roll with a few surprises thrown in, this band creates a fun and entertaining experience for the audience.  
A little Credence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynrd, and Rolling Stones and much more……all the great tunes you love to dance to and sing along with!
Band members include John Chandonnet on drums and vocals, Todd Juengel with guitar, bass guitar, keyboards and vocals, Wade Perkins with bass guitar, horns and vocals, and Doug Harmon on guitar and vocals.
“Hunter’s Ball” is the theme for the night, so feel free to come in your best camo attire!!
The Braunschweiger Blues Band performance is sponsored by Ace Hardware – Fremont, Hendon & Slate PC, and Harmon, Inc.  Thank you!
Tickets $10.  Black Box.  7:30 p.m.
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and one hour prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.

A musical experience in silent film not to be missed!  F.W. Murnau’s 1922 horror classic “Nosferatu” with the live performance by Kalamazoo’s Blue Dahlia. 
The film sets the stage for an unsettling performance of modern music and visual arts collaboration.  For just over a decade, Blue Dahlia has developed an extensive repertoire of silent film scores for live performances.
Blue Dahlia band members include Derek Menchinger, Leslis Boughton, Cara Lieurance, Levi Strickland and Carolyn Koebel.  An independent band formed in 1995, Blue Dahlia has completed six arresting studio releases and continues to create a captivating hybrid of world fusion and adult alternative music.
“Nosferatu”, a silent film masterpiece, is a classic horror film.  F.W. Marnau used the 1897 Bram Stoker book Dracula and centuries-old vampire legends to create this frightening tale.  While not “terrifying” by today’s horror show standards, the film is still considered “good and creepy”!  Blue Dahlia ventures into experimental territory for this film, using modified instruments, pieces designed with “chance operations”, and a great deal of atmospheric improvisation.
This performance is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council.
Tickets $10.  7:30 p.m.  Main Stage.
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and one hour prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.

Bob Milne is a world renowned “Boogie-Woogie” ragtime pianist who has performed in Japan and Ireland.  Bob has been recorded by the Library of Congress, played at Bill Gates’ private club in Palm Springs, and for the past president George Bush. 
Bob’s enthusiasm is contagious; he loves to share his knowledge, and is excited about keeping  ragtime music alive.
Bob is regarded as an American Treasure.  As a recording artist, he has produced ten collections of solo piano rags, blues, boogies and folk/traditional tunes, and has written a Concerto for Orchestra and Ragtime Piano.  The Library of Congress has collected memorabilia and made a film of a day in his life to be stored for posterity as part of the American Music Project.  Bob lives in La Peer, Michigan.
Tickets $15.  7:30 p.m. Main Stage.
The Dogwood Center Box Office is open Monday – Friday, 9:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. and one hour prior to an event.  For information, phone 231.924.8885.