The centerpiece of the program is a work featuring wood and steel sound sculptures created by Brevard artist Keith Holamon.  Musicians performing throughout the evening include Jeff Sipe, current drummer with Susan Tedeschi and formerly with Leftover Salmon; Brevard College faculty members Roger Cope, guitar; Laura Franklin, percussion; Todd Tucker, saxophone; and Christopher Harding, piano; percussionist Stuart Gerber of Georgia State University; and Rainbow Sipe on percussion; fiddler Steve Trisman of Jupiter Coyote fame, and mandolinist Daniel Coolik. Cheri Miller will provide improvisational choreography and Elwood will premiere a new work for electronics, banjo, and clogging. 

The first three works of the program are presented in a traditional chamber music setting.  Albrecht Durer 2: Melencolia I was composed in 2003. The work for saxophone, guitar, and percussion features performers Tucker, Cope, and Franklin. Christopher Harding will present two etudes from Shadow Red With Sun (2000/2001) – one of which is very easy, and the other which exploits the full range of Harding’s immense virtuosity.  The Inevitable Descent of Heaven  (2003) for solo glockenspiel will be played by Stuart Gerber and eclectically also features an electric fan, wind chimes, and whistle. 
            John Hartford’s Cadillac is a performance piece that combines recordings that Elwood made of the performer and songwriter John Hartford (composer of Glen Campell’s hit Gentle on My Mind) in his Tennessee home four years ago. Elwood will clog and play the banjo over and with the tape recordings that are electronically manipulated. The capstone for the concert is a structured improvisation entitled Albrecht Durer 3: The Knight, Death, and the Devil (2004) and features sound sculptures created by Keith Holamon, with resonant pieces of steel and wood that he and Elwood collected on several trips to the scrap metal yard in Asheville last summer.  Cheri Miller will provide improvisational dance. 

Performer Bios

Paul Elwood, composer/banjo, has had music performed by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra String Quartet, the Wichita Symphony, pianist Stephen Drury, pipa player Min Xiao-Fen, the Seattle Chamber Players, Ensemble Signos, and Tambuco, among others. He was Southern Regional Visiting Composer at the American Academy in Rome, a lecturer/performer at the Darmstadt (Germany) Summer Courses in New Music, and has had music performed at the Cold Alternativa Festival in Moscow, the Foro International New Music Festival in Mexico City, and the International New Music Festival in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. His music has earned awards including the Sigma Alpha Iota Philanthropies, Inc., Inter-American Music Award, a North Carolina Council for the Arts Fellowship, third place in the Accademia Musicale Pescarese computer music competition (Italy), and two North Carolina Arts Council Regional Artist Project Grants. Upcoming performances include Lewis University in Chicago, the University of Iowa, and Wichita State University. Elwood performs regularly in the realms of bluegrass, free improvisation, and new music. “Elwood is a wonderfully discreet banjo player,” stated the Buffalo News. “He played restricted scalar lines and disjunct lines with a feeling for exactness.” And the Ann Arbor News described “the astounding Paul Elwood, who turned his banjo every which way and loose. Elwood really turned people upside-down with his no-holds barred approach, pickin’ like mad or soulfully strumming.” 

Daniel Coolik, mandolin, is finishing up his undergraduate course work in history at the University of North Carolina in Asheville.  He has studied mandolin with Mike Compton of the Nashville Bluegrass Band as well as the eclectic clarinetist/mandolinist bluegrass/avant garde/klezmer musician Andy Statman in New York City.  Daniel’s proficiency as a performer and musician runs from bluegrass, through swing, the avant-garde, and Eastern European Balkan-styles.  He most recently performed with celebrated avant-guitarist Eugene Chadbourne on A Little Now Music at Brevard College.

Roger Allen Cope, guitar, holds a B.A./Masters with Guitar Performance Certificate, from Florida State University and he undertook further study with Eliot Fisk. He has given masterclass performances for Christopher Parkening, Oscar Ghiglia, Michael Lorimer and Angel Romero. Additionally, he has had interpretive study with Leo Brouwer, Beverly Wolf, Paul Badura-Skoda, and Aaron Copland. Cope possesses an extensive performance background in North America and Spain with emphasis on chamber music, including concerto performances in Charlotte and Seattle. He received the (Hendersonville) TIMES-NEWS award as "Outstanding Musician" for 1995.  

Laura Franklin, percussion, earned a B.M. in performance from Texas Tech University; a M.M. in performance and musicology from the New England Conservatory; and a D.M.A. in performance from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. She has appeared as a soloist with numerous bands and orchestras, and has presented solo recitals in Texas, North Carolina, and Boston. An active teacher, performer and lecturer in western and central North Carolina, she is currently engaged in ongoing research on the life and contributions of marimbist, linguist and ethnomusicologist Vida Chenoweth.

Christopher Harding, piano, has a B.M. and a Performer's Certificate from the Eastman School of Music; a M.M., Performer's Certificate, and Artist Diploma from Indiana University School of Music; and an Artist Certificate from the American University Department of Performing Arts Preparatory Division. His studies were with Milton Kidd, Nelita True, and Menahem Pressler. He has presented numerous solo, concerto, and chamber music performances in California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and in the cities of Chicago, New York, Washington, D.C., Tokyo, and Seoul. Harding is the winner of 25 first prizes in national and international competitions, including the special Mozart Prize at the 1999 Cleveland International Piano Competition. Most recently he has performed concerti with the Prince William Symphony orchestra, the San Angelo Symphony, the Tokyo City Philharmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Since 1994 he has been a faculty member of Indiana University Summer Piano Academy.

Percussionist Stuart Gerber has been involved in a number of premiere performances including that of John Luther Adams’ A Strange and Sacred Noise as well as the European premiere of his Earth and the Great Weather at the Almeida Theater in London. Additionly Gerber has given the U.S. and Australian premieres of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Nasenflügeltanz for percussion and synthesizer, and, most recently, the U.S. premiere of his solo percussion work Komet. In the Summer of 2000 Gerber was awarded a top prize at the international Stockhausen-Kurse in Kürten, Germany, for his interpretation of Kontakte.  Before moving to Atlanta Gerber was the timpanist and principal percussionist of the Kentucky Symphony.  Stuart Gerber is currently Assistant Professor of Music/Percussion Coordinator at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

Brevard artist Keith Holamon is a native of Zephyr, Texas, where he grew up on a ranch and learned a number of skills such as welding and woodworking that he now applies to his art.  Working primarily in mixed media of wood and metal, Keith has constructed three-dimensional wall-art, sculpture, and musical instruments.  Artists and artisans who have influenced in his work include his dad, Larry Holamon, who first showed Keith how to use a blow torch and chain saw, sheet metal worker Dan Gorman in Texas, JT Cooper, who specializes in copper, and Cooter Moore, a shop teacher.  Locally, Keith’s works have been featured at the Adorn Salon and at the Dirt and Sky People Gallery, both in Asheville. 

Cheri Miller, choreographer/dancer completed her undergraduate work in biology at Hollins University in Roanoke, Virginia, and a Master of Fine Arts in dance at the University of Colorado-Boulder.  She taught dance for two years at Hollins University and she has participated numerous times in the American Dance Festival in Durham, North Carolina – an international gathering in modern dance. 

Over the past five years, drummer Jeff Sipe has had a vast touring schedule with the bluegrass super jam band Leftover Salmon. During this period he also had the opportunity to work with musicians including Bryon Lopes, Neil Fountain, Chief Jim Billy, Jonathan Townes and John Medeski. Jeff even took on his own creation known as the Zambiland Orchestra. This experimental big band featured members of Phish, Widespread Panic, Michael Ray and the Cosmic Crew, the Derek Trucks Band, the Fiji Mariners and many others.  Even more recently Jeff teamed up with long time friend and famed guitar virtuoso Jimmy Herring on a project known as Z. Together with fellow Atlantian producer/musician Ricky Keller and mega organ/keyboardist Oliver Wells, Project Z recorded a self titled debut album filled with juicy fusion-esque tunes that has garnered much critical acclaim.

Rainbow Sipe of Brevard performed on “celestial percussion” with the Atlanta-based ensemble the Dribbling Hermits.  The Hermits were highlighted at the 1996 Olympics, and they have opened for prestigious acts such as Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and released a self-titled CD.  Rainbow also reads card at Crystal Blue in Atlanta. 

Steve Trisman of Brevard is widely-known as the fiddler for the famed rock band Jupiter Coyote.  A native of New Jersey, Trisman performed for a number of years in Colorado in a variety of bands that ranged from Celtic and bluegrass to swing and Cajun.  He moved to North Carolina to join Coyote and remains a stalwart performer on the traditional and not-so-traditional scene.  Recently he recorded a CD with Howard Levy, formerly of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, in Holland.

Todd Tucker, saxophone possesses a B.M. and M.M. in saxophone performance and jazz studies from the University of Kentucky; he has completed coursework for a D.M.A. in saxophone performance from Arizona State University and is past co-director of the Arizona Music Educators Association All-State Jazz-Lab Band.  He is currently on the staff of the Joseph Wytko Saxophone Campus (Phoenix, AZ).  Featured performances include the College Band Directors National Association Conference, the International Association Jazz Educators, the World Saxophone Congress, and the Phoenix Symphony, Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra (KY) and the Victoria Symphony (TX).  He is a member of the Helios Saxophone Quartet, winners of the Coleman Chamber Music Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.  Tucker has performed world premieres of works by David Stanhope and Lindsay Lafford and appeared with Bob Mintzer, Louis Bellson, Chris Vadalla, Matt Cattingob, Ed Calle, Greg Abate and Bobby Shen.