New Hanover County Community Action, Inc.

Archive for the ‘Special Initiatives’ Category

Saxophonist Stanley Baird will perform at Heart Strings, Music for the Soul, our benefit concert to aid women at risk of heart attack and stroke. The concert is Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Stephen AME Church 501 Red Cross Street in Wilmington.

Baird, as an acclaimed musician, composer and entertainer, has not only become a household name in his home state of North Carolina but he has also achieved wide recognition as an educator at both the public and university level. Stanley has shared the concert stage with his mentor Donald Byrd, Najee, Alex Bugnon, Regina Belle, Richard Elliot, Brian McKnight, Kirk Whalum, Kim Waters, The O’Jays and the late George Howard. During his teaching tenure in St.Croix of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Stanley was able to quench his thirst for West Indian and Latin music. This influence is heard through his music. Stanley has had airplay on at least three hundred Quiet Storm and Urban radio programs and one soap opera The Guiding Light. He received reviews and articles in Bre, Billboard, and the Gavin Report. Throughout his career, Baird has covered every aspect of jazz, using his gift to create music with heart. Stanley created the STANLEY BAIRD YOUTH JAZZ FOUNDATION because he believes jazz can be kept alive through young rising instrumentalists and vocalists. Baird ‘s philosophy is “Listening to music is good for the soul and the mind…don’t do drugs, get your high on soothing, inspirational music.” The Stanley Baird Group’s involment in the Armed Forces Entertainment program has taken them on a journey around the world, touring such places as Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Kwajalein, The Marshall Islands,  Hawaii and Guam.

Discography

Don’t Make Me Wait – 1991 CD
Stop Look & Listen – 1995 CD
Cover II Cover – 1996 CD
You Will Know – 1998 CD
Stan’s Christmas  1999 CD
Traffic Jam – 2007 CD

Marvin V. Curtis, a native of Chicago, Illinois, assumed the Deanship of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University-South Bend on August 1, 2008. He was the former Assistant Dean and Choral Director at Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  He previously served on the faculties of California State University, Stanislaus, Virginia Union University, Lane College, and The Virginia Governor’s School for the Humanities and the Performing at the University of Richmond.

Dr. Marvin Curtis, featured performer

He earned the Bachelor of Music Degree from North Park College in Chicago; his Master of Arts from The Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Virginia; and the Doctor of Education from The University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.  He did additional studies at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and The Juilliard School of Music in New York.  He was a 1993 Ford Foundation Fellow to the National Council for Black Studies Conference in Accra, Ghana, where he studied at the University of Ghana at Lagon.

Dr. Curtis is the first African-American composer commissioned to write a choral work for a Presidential Inauguration.  His work, The City on the Hill was premiered at President Clinton’s 1993 Inauguration performed by The Philander Smith Collegiate Choir of Little Rock, Arkansas and The United States Marine Band. This choral work is housed in the Smithsonian Institute’s National African American Project Archives and the Clinton Library. Other musical commissions have come from schools and churches and his orchestral works have been performed by The Richmond Symphony, The Minnesota Orchestra, The Stanislaus Orchestra, The Petersburg Symphony, and The Greensboro Symphony.  He is published by The Mark Foster Music Company (now affiliated with Shawnee Press), Music 70/80, Coronet Press, International Opus, and GIA publications.

He has led numerous workshops in African-American music and Multi-Cultural Education and been guest conductor for numerous choral festivals around the country.   He is published in scholarly journals and continues to serve as guest conductor at numerous choral festivals. He conducted several community choirs including The Riverside Community Chorale, The Richmond Festival Chorus, and The Stanislaus Choral Society. He served as Guest Conductor/Artistic Director for the In-Harmony Series sponsored by the Richmond Symphony.

Prior to his appointment at The Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, Curtis served as Artistic and Musical Director for the FSU Summer Opera Series leading the productions of The Magic Flute, H.M.S. Pinafore, and The Marriage of Figaro. As the FSU choral conductor, his choirs took two European tours and performed with the Vancouver Symphony. He hosted The Classical Sampler radio program on WFSS-FM 91.9 radio in Fayetteville for 12 years, served as President of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra Board of Directors, Trustee of the Fayetteville/Cumberland County Arts

Council, and as a member of the North Carolina Humanities Council.  He is the recipient of numerous awards including the University of North Carolina Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching and was vocal coach to Miss North Carolina 2002, Rebekah Chantay Revels.

You are cordially invited to Heart Strings, Music for the Soul, an evening of music and relaxation on Sunday, February 7, 2010 at 4:00 p.m. at St. Stephen AME Church 501 Red Cross Street in Wilmington.

Dr. Marvin Curtis, featured performer

This benefit concert to aid women at risk for heart attack and stroke will feature Dr. Marvin Curtis, Dean of the Raclin School of the Arts at Indiana University-South Bend.

Tickets are available at NHCCA, and cost $25.00 per person. If you know a woman who cannot afford medications or health care, please nominate her to benefit from this concert. Call us at 910-762-1177.

New Hanover County Community Action, Incorporated’s “From Our Hearts to Yours” heart disease awareness initiative presents Heart Strings: Music for the Soul, a benefit concert to raise awareness of the effects of cardiovascular disease on women and their families.

Save the Date: Sunday, February 7, 2010

4:00 p.m. at St. Stephen AME Church, Wilmington, NC

Concert tickets, $25.00 per person. Proceeds will be distributed to women on fixed incomes to assist them in purchasing prescription medications and groceries.  Watch this space for more details!