Announcing Allison Willet as Director of Education
Allison Willet is a multi-instrumentalist throughout the southeast, performing on modern violin, baroque violin and viola, viola d'Amore, and viola da gamba. She has spent her career founding ensembles dedicated to historical performance practices.
Allison graduated summa cum laude from Appalachian State University in 2006 with a degree in violin performance. She went on to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and in 2008 earned a master's degree in violin performance. Immediately after finishing her degree, she started her first venture, Greensboro Early Music, which still exists today as a vocal ensemble. She was a founding member of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Raleigh Camerata, Bull City Baroque, and Triangle Viols. She also performs regularly with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Mallarme Music. She is currently the first violinist for the Triangle String Quartet.
Allison has been teaching since 2005 at various music schools including The Music Academy of North Carolina and the Chapel Hill School for the Musical Arts. Currently, she maintains a private studio at her home in Wake Forest where she teaches violin, viola, and piano.
See More from Donald Martin
Allison Willet is a multi-instrumentalist throughout the southeast, performing on modern violin, baroque violin and viola, viola d'Amore, and viola da gamba. She has spent her career founding ensembles dedicated to historical performance practices.
Allison graduated summa cum laude from Appalachian State University in 2006 with a degree in violin performance. She went on to graduate school at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and in 2008 earned a master's degree in violin performance. Immediately after finishing her degree, she started her first venture, Greensboro Early Music, which still exists today as a vocal ensemble. She was a founding member of the North Carolina Baroque Orchestra, Raleigh Camerata, Bull City Baroque, and Triangle Viols. She also performs regularly with the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra and Mallarme Music. She is currently the first violinist for the Triangle String Quartet.
Allison has been teaching since 2005 at various music schools including The Music Academy of North Carolina and the Chapel Hill School for the Musical Arts. Currently, she maintains a private studio at her home in Wake Forest where she teaches violin, viola, and piano.
See More from Donald Martin
Announcing Catherine Kelly as Creative Director
Catherine Kelly Johnson (MM Vocal Performance) is a soprano, actor, director, and arts manager based in Durham, NC. Catherine’s operatic career began abroad in Vienna, Austria, where she performed the role of Susanna in an 83-performance run of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and appeared as a soloist in music festivals such as Palais Sommer in Dresden, Germany, and the Mittelrhein Musik Festival in St. Goar. Since returning to her home state of North Carolina, she has sung the soprano solos in various sacred masterworks, including Mozart's Reqiuem, Handel's Messiah, John Rutter's Requiem, Bob Chilcott's St. John Passion, Fauré's Requiem, and Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden. Recent appearances include collaborations with Raleigh Camerata, the Duke Chapel Schola Cantorum, Feminine Lyrique Ensemble, and Voices of a New Renaissance in the North Carolina HIP Festival.
Catherine is the founder of Sidewalk Opera, a 501c3 nonprofit organization that provides free or low-cost classical music concerts for surrounding communities and provides musical instrument donations for lower-income families. She is a former company member of Sweet Tea Shakespeare, where she held the title of Master of Song and worked both as a performer and behind-the-scenes as part of the music production team. Additionally, Catherine has held teaching positions at Gardner-Webb University, Ravenscroft School, Fayetteville Technical Community College, and Isothermal Community College. Catherine is currently pursuing a second Master’s degree in Arts Management from the University of Oklahoma.
NCBF 2024 events
|
March 17, 2024
Live streaming starts at 5:30 pm. Click the link to view We apologize for the inconvenience while streaming the concert. It was streamed from a company website.
You can find the performance here: Bach & Beyond Celtic Fusion 
|
March 23, 2024 at 6 pm
Live streaming starts at 5:30 pm. Click the link to view 
|
|
DOWNLOAD THE NC BACH 2024 PROGRAM HERE -
|
| ||
NCBF 2024 Festival Artists
|
Donald Martin - clarinet
Educated at Wichita State University, Music Academy of the West, Julliard, and Appalachian State University, he helped found the NC Bach Festival in 1979 . He has played in the Wichita Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, Santa Fe Opera, the North Carolina Chamber Players, and many other groups in his 56 career. He has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Santa Fe. Opera, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, Ireland, Ecuador, Beethoven House in Bonn, Germany, Mozarts Women in Vienna, Austria, Covent Garden in London,and The Library of Congress, and Kennedy Center.He taught in the NC Public Schools, Chaired the Instrumental Music Department for the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. He is founder of the Moore Square Jazz Band, Celtic Fusion and many others. He retired as Professor of Clarinet and Saxophone from Campbell University in 2019. He has managed Shadowood Entertainment since 1975. He has been president of the NC Bach Festivai since 2019. Dan Cunningham - piano, guitar
Dan Cunningham started playing piano in 1957 and Cornet in 1960. He began playing guitar in 1963 and Has played it as a main instrument all over the USA to Ireland. Styles such as Rock, Bluegrass, Classical, Folk, Gospel, Country, Blues, Dixieland, Irish, and Jazz Are in the repertoire. Dan served as a church music Director in Durham and Franklinton, N.C. Degrees held Are a BA from Wichita State University and an MA from The Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. Ashley Kovacs - violin
Born and raised in North Carolina, Ashley has been playing the violin since the age of 7 and has always aspired to be a professional violinist. She comes from a musical family: her mother is a violist in the North Carolina Symphony, and her father is a band director and strolling clarinetist and saxophonist. Advancing on the violin very quickly, as a teenager she had the opportunity to attend numerous music festivals around the country, including North Carolina's Brevard Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music in New York, and the Kennedy Center Summer Music Institute in Washington, D.C. In April 2012, she then graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s Degree in Violin Performance. Throughout her life, Ashley has also won various competitions in Raleigh and in Michigan, including 2nd place in the Musical Society for the Arts Competition, 1st place in the Robert C. Young String Competition, the first and youngest string player ever to win the Raleigh and Durham Symphony concerto competitions in high school, and the Triangle Youth Philharmonic Concerto Competition. She was also chosen to represent the School of Music in Michigan’s “Conservatory Project” and got to perform a solo at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.Although Ashley has had an extensive background in Classical music, she is equally as passionate about learning other genres of music such as Irish/Scottish, Bluegrass, Blues, and Swing. She has been recorded on 5 CD’s, including playing the music in the background for a T.V. commercial. She was in a Bluegrass Band called "Swift Creek" for 2 years which performed for the International Bluegrass Music Association in Raleigh in 2013 and is now seen performing with other ensembles such as the North Carolina Symphony. In addition to Ashley's passion for performing, she also has a strong passion for teaching. Currently, she is a private violin and piano teacher from her home in Wake Forest where she has around 17 students and is also homeschooling her two older children who also play violin and piano. She also has 2 other younger children that are not school aged yet which keeps her very busy! |
Gabrielle Martin - voice
Gabrielle is a singer and songwriter from Statesville, North Carolina. She obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Music, in Spring of 2023 from Gardner-Webb University. Gabrielle has been singing, playing guitar, piano, and writing original songs since her early high school years. She has performed her original music at many venues across North Carolina. Her music career continues to expand and she can be found performing at many local venues both as a solo artist and with her band, Lady May and Redd. Gabrielle is also a classically trained soprano, and was heavily involved in the Gardner-Webb Concert Choir, an audition only ensemble, during her time at university. She also enjoyed performing multiple selections from operas and musicals such as, ‘Pirates of Penzance’, ‘Phantom of the Opera’, and more through the Gardner-Webb Opera and Musical Theatre program. Gabrielle was given numerous solo opportunities on campus and throughout the community, during her four years at Gardner-Webb University. Gabrielle currently resides in Wake Forest, NC and provides private voice, piano, and guitar instruction for children and adults at The Musicians Learning Center in Raleigh, NC. Chris Royce - guitar, vocals
DAN CUNN Christopher Royce grew up in the San Francisco area, where he graduated with a music degree from Lone Mountain College (1975) and was the guitarist and singer at La Creperie Restaurant for 2 years. He moved to Raleigh in 1977 and quickly established himself as a popular guitar teacher, giving private lessons at Pearson Music Co. and started performing in the Triangle area. In 1981 he started The Skydive Band, a popular variety / wedding band in the Triangle area, of which he is still the leader, guitarist and vocalist. In 1985 Christopher became an associate of The Musician’s Booking Agency, performing as a solo artist (classical, jazz and pop guitarist and singer), leader of The Skydive Band, guitar and flute duo (leader and arranger), guitar and violin duo, and old time and Dixieland banjo and vocalist. He was the strolling guitarist and vocalist at Cafe Roma, Six Forks Rd. Raleigh from 1992-1998. Christopher was a founding member and banjo, guitar, vocalist with The Moore Square Dixielanders, playing Saturday mornings at Big Ed’s Restaurant, Moore Square, Raleigh (1993-2003). He still plays with the Dixielanders but prefers sleeping in on Saturday mornings now. The Moore Square Band (an offshoot of the Dixielanders) plays jazz, swing, rock, pop and ballroom dance music. They played at The Irregardless Restaurant, Morgan St. Raleigh from 2002 to 2013. Christopher remains their guitar, guitar synthesizer, and vocalist. Christopher has also played Irish music with Erin Skye and other Irish folk ensembles for over 30 years including a 4 year stint at Ri Ra Irish Pub, Raleigh. He has helped many a crowd celebrate St. Patricks day including the City of Burlington St. Patrick festival 2015-2021 and the University Club, Durham 2023. In 1996, Christopher became the guitar teacher at Cardinal Gibbons High School. Initially he taught one class a day, but became full time with five classes a day in 1999. He retired as a full time teacher in 2007 having built the guitar program to 145 students with 7 classes a day |
Warren Ferguson - violin, viola
Violinist - Violist and Fiddler Warren Ferguson has been playing since the age of eight. He is a long term member of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and the Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also a member of other regional orchestras including the HBBC Orchestra, Musica Chamber Ensemble, and the Wilson Symphony Orchestra. He performs the majority of the weekends of the year for symphonies, weddings and other events. He is a past member of the Long Bay Symphony and Dayton Philharmonic and has played with the North Carolina Symphony and Durham Symphony. His music performance styles include baroque, classical, popular, Irish and Celtic music, bluegrass, Cajun and jazz. He studied viola performance at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music where he received his Bachelors of Music, and went on to receive a Masters in Computer Science from the College of Engineering at Wright State University and he studied Irish traditional music at the University of Limerick. He loves to perform and finds it helps provide a good life balance that brings enjoyment to many others. Tim Holley - cello
Timothy Holley is an alumnus of Baldwin-Wallace University and The University of Michigan.His doctoral dissertation focused on the cello music of African American composers, and he has given premiere performances of works by T. J. Anderson, William Banfield, Trevor Weston and Adolphus Hailstork (including the Sonata for SoloCello, written for him). He has performedValerie Capers’ Song of The Seasons for soprano, cello and piano with Louise Toppin in WeillHall at Carnegie Hall in New York City. He can also be heard on commercial recordings wit Nnenna Freelon (“Homefree”), Oral Moses (“Songs of America”), the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra, and the jazz faculty of North Carolina Central University (“Yule Be Swingin’). He also performed the music of “Map To The Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro” with pianist and composer Billy Childs at North Carolina State University (on short notice!!)with members of the Mallarme’ Chamber Players. He has performed at the Gateways Music Festival for BlackClassical Musicians at the Eastman School of Music since 2011, the VIDEMUS@25 Festival atThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2012). He co-hosted A Symposium ofCelebration for the 100 th birthday of Margaret Bonds at UNC-Chapel Hill and North CarolinaCentral University in 2013. He has also performed at the Colour of Music Festivals of Black Classical Musicians in Charleston, South Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee. Dr. Holley has written and lectured on a variety of topics: the aesthetic diversity of African American concert music, the influence of the Negro spiritual on the cello music of African American composers, the poetry of Langston Hughes and the music of Howard Swanson. He has made two transcriptions of works by William Grant Still, a revised edition of cello music by Dorothy RuddMoore, and contributed encyclopedia entries on the Negro String Quartet and the Symphony of the New World. He is Associate Professor of Music at North Carolina Central University and has collaborated with the Mallarme’ Chamber Players of Durham, NC and the North CarolinaSymphony Orchestra, The Ciompi Quartet and the Chamber Orchestra of The Triangle since1997. In 2013 he established the online public Facebook group “The African American Cello History Collective”, maintains a related blog site titled “A View From The Scroll” (www.viewedscroll.blogpost.com), and is also the host of “The Midday Jazz Adjustment” on WNCU, 90.7 FM (www.wncu.org). |