Archives: Events

Sometimes When You Fall, You Fly: What I learned about life, love, and tofu. From New York City’s famed cabaret club Don’t Tell Mama on West 46th Street to Rancho La Puerta. Singer and performance artist Samantha Heller performs songs from the past and present as she takes you on a fun and inspiring journey through the ups and downs of her experiences in relationships, living in New York City, and navigating the passage of time. Enjoy an evening of songs you can relate to and sing to and stories that will move you and make you laugh.

No Time at All Samantha and her team of talented artists will present performances of No Time at All and Triangulating Talent. No Time at All premiered in March 2025 at New York’s most famous cabaret club, Don’t Tell Mama, to rave reviews. No Time at All includes a variety of songs from show tunes to pop with a smattering of jazz. With her wry sense of humor, Samantha shares her experiences of living in New York City and how life has led her to a most important revelation.

Triangulating Talent Triangulating Talent is a 3 act compilation of the creative stories and musical expressions of Lee Lobenhofer, Michael Coppola, and Samantha Heller. In Act I, Lee shares stories and songs from his experiences as Broadway performer, director, and teacher. In Act II Michael showcases his jazz harmonics and stylings on the Hydra, a unique 9 string guitar, he invented. In the last act all three artists join together to perform some of their favorite songs.

Samantha Heller: Singer/Sirius XM Host

Michael Coppola: jazz guitarist
Michael Coppola is listed as “The master of the 9 string guitar” in jazz critic Scott Yannow’s book The Great Jazz Guitarists. Michael has played at major jazz and guitar events such as the Montreal Jazz festival, the Namm show, New Haven Jazz Festival and the Chet Atkins festival. He has also played at New York City clubs such as the Blue Note, Knickerbockers and the Iridium. where he was invited to perform with the legendary guitarist Les Paul, and has of course performed at countless CT clubs and concert venues. Michael has several recordings as a leader, including “Return of the Hydra” which was a top ten pick for Coda magazine in 2004.  Coppola has been featured in many guitar-based magazines such as Just Jazz Guitar, 20th Century Guitar, Guitar Player, Fingerstyle Guitar and more. His composition “Movin’ was a winner in the “John Lennon Song Competition” jazz division.  He began playing guitar at age 11, later taking jazz lessons with Sal Salvador at 15. Michael added classical guitar to his music studies the following year, and pursued it along with classical composition after high school at the Boston Conservatory of Music and The Vienna International Music Center in Austria.   In 1986, after a stint in the John Mehegan Trio, Michael began expanding the harmonic possibilities of the guitar by adding two extra inner higher octave strings between the 4th and 5th, to easily achieve the tight voicing pianistic sounds of Bill Evans. In 2000, he added a 9th string to the new group, completing the “Hydra” guitar. From this instrument, in Michael’s hands, one hears not only pianistic comping, but unique harp-like sounds woven into traditional guitar type lines.  In addition to extensive solo guitar playing, Michael performs with small groups and duos with vocalists, bassists and other guitarists, including many of today’s notable players such as Gene Bertoncini, Jack Wilkins, Tony Purrone, Howard Alden, Robert Conti and more.

Lee Lobenhofer: Director, actor, singer
Lee Lobenhofer is a Broadway and international performer who played principal roles in 5 Broadway shows including CATS, Grand Hotel, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum with Whoopie Goldberg, Shogun The Musical, and I Married an Angel. He appeared in Broadway national tours such as  Cats, Joseph, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Music of the Night, and multiple international tours and regional theaters. Lee can be heard on the Donny Osmond soundtrack of Joseph/ Dreamcoat, where he originated the role of Reuben. After his greatest productions, his two children Emma and Matt, he decided to come off the road to be the best father he could be. He began teaching acting and directing shows at LaGuardia High School (the Fame school). He has been there for 25 years and has had the privilege of teaching and launching the careers of performers like Timothée Chalamet, Michaela Diamond, Lola Tung and Jharrel Jerome. These days you can’t watch any performing awards shows without seeing LaGuardia grads, many of whom he had the honor of teaching.

Juan Pablo Andrade, a prominent Costa Rican pianist, enjoys a dynamic presence both on stage and in the academic realm. Recognized with several prestigious awards, including the Costa Rican National Prize of Music— the highest honor bestowed upon a musician by the Costa Rican Ministry of Culture. He has also received top honors at international competitions like the Artlivre International Piano Competition in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and the Carlos Enrique Vargas National Piano Competition in Costa Rica. With a performance schedule that spans several continents, Andrade has played as a soloist with orchestras such as the South Bend Symphony in Indiana, the Greensboro Symphony in North Carolina, the Powder River Symphony in Wyoming, and the Bolivian National Symphony. He’s a familiar face with the Costa Rican National Symphony, performing there on numerous occasions. His recital tours have taken him through the Americas and Europe, with standout performances at the Yehudi Menuhin Forum in Bern, Switzerland, the World Piano Conference in Novi Sad, Serbia, and a recent solo recital tour in South America. His CD “War to Peace” with violinist Betul Soykan, has been warmly received by critics, including a notable review in Fanfare magazine. In the academic realm, Andrade serves as a Professor of Piano at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, where he brings his rich performance experiences into the classroom. His educational journey spans prestigious institutions, including the University of Costa Rica, Arizona State University, Indiana University-South Bend, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His commitment to music education extends beyond his university role, frequently serving as a guest faculty at international festivals and founding the La Frontera International Piano Conference in Brownsville, Texas. This event underscores his passion for enriching the cultural tapestry of the region and providing platforms for musical exchange.

Linda Chávez is a distinguished Mexican-American pianist. She holds degrees from the University of Texas at Brownsville and Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachussetts. A laureate of an impressive array of awards, grants, and scholarships, Miss Chávez has crafted a career that epitomizes excellence in both performance and education. Her talents have garnered her coveted invitations to international festivals as diverse as Costa Rica, Italy, Aruba, Austria, Puerto Rico, and Lincoln Center in New York City. There, she participated in the exclusive Teaching Artist Program, a curriculum which aims to activate the artistry in others, including the listener.  Currently, Ms. Chávez is the principal pianist for the Valley Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, she is the visionary founder and enthusiastic proprietor of the Brownsville Piano Studio, South Texas’ premiere institution dedicated to piano education. Under her guidance, the studio provides instruction to over 225 students each week. Her entrepreneurial spirit also led to the creation of Ananda Music Experience, an innovative online music program tailored for adult women who aspire to learn music in a mindful and enriching environment.  Linda Chávez continues to inspire and make a profound impact in the world of music;  fostering positive change through music is a hallmark of her distinguished career.

MARY GAUTHIER (Songwriter, guitarist, vocalist, author, activist) “Writing helps me sort out confusion, untangle powerful emotions, and ward off desperation. It helps me navigate the powerful emotional weather systems of life.”– Mary Gauthier, Saved by a Song. As she has so eloquently accomplished over the past 25 years, Mary Gauthier has used her art once again to traverse the uncharted waters of the past few years. “I’m the kind of songwriter who writes what I see in the world right now,” she affirms. Thankfully, amid dark storms of pandemic loss, she found and followed the beacon of new love. Her gift to us, the powerful Dark Enough to See the Stars, collects ten sparkling jewels of Gauthier songcraft reflecting both love and loss. Her eleventh album, Dark Enough to See the Stars, follows the profound antidote to trauma, Rifles & Rosary Beads, her 2018 collaborative work with wounded Iraq war veterans. It garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album, as well as a nomination for Album of the Year by the Americana Music Association. Publication of her first book, the illuminating Saved by a Song: The Art and Healing Power of Songwriting, in 2021, brought her more praise. Brandi Carlile has said, “Mary’s songwriting speaks to the tender aspects of our humanness. We need her voice in times like these more than we ever have.” The Associated Press called Gauthier “one of the best songwriters of her generation.”

JAIMEE HARRIS (Guitarist, vocalist, songwriter, storyteller) When Jaimee Harris alighted upon the scene in Austin, TX, the jaded music city, replete with (and weary of) singer-songwriters, woke up and took notice. Here, finally, was a new voice. Her singing voice is noteworthy: rich, sonorous, and full, delivering a uniquely stylized, throaty tone; the voice of a writer and performer. When you watch her sing, she’ll break, cradle, and win your heart, then break it all over again. Harris turned 30 during the pandemic. It’s a milestone that is a rite of passage even during normal times. But for this Texas-born singer-songwriter, it came in the midst of one of the strangest and most tumultuous periods in American history. When the world stopped during lockdown, Harris, like many others, found herself gazing back into the past, ruminating on the nature of her hometown and family origins, and reckoning with their imprint on her. The term ‘nostalgia’ derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain), and if Harris’s new album Boomerang Town can be regarded as a nostalgic album, it is only nostalgic in the sense that the longing for home is a desire to return to the past and heal old wounds. A poet and stunning vocalist, Harris has created an arresting, ambitious song-cycle that explores the generational arc of family, the stranglehold of addiction, and the fragile ties that bind us together as Americans.

Reflections
An evening of soothing music for solo violin by Bach, Biber and Anna Clyne, interspersed with poetry and prose.

Violinist Kate Hatmaker is the founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Art of Élan, a San Diego-based chamber music organization committed to bringing innovative classical music to diverse audiences (www.artofelan.org), and has been a violinist with the San Diego Symphony since 2006. She has played with a wide variety of American orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and the New World Symphony. She completed her Master of Music degree at Carnegie Mellon University and her undergraduate training at both the University of Iowa and the Sorbonne University in Paris, France.

Music and spirituality have always been intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator, and activist Sean Jones. Mr. Jones sang and performed as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, and switched from playing the drums to the trumpet at the age of 10.

Mr. Jones is a musical chameleon, comfortable in any musical setting no matter the role or genre. After a six-month stint with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Wynton Marsalis offered him a permanent position as lead trumpeter of the ensemble, a post he held from 2004 until 2010. In 2015, Mr. Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective. During this time, he has managed to keep a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership, forming the foundation for groups that have produced and released eight recordings on Mack Avenue Records. His most recent is the 2017 release Sean Jones: Live from Jazz at the Bistro.

Mr. Jones has been prominently featured in recordings and performances with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson, and Marcus Miller. He was selected by Mr. Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter for their A Tribute to Miles tour in 2011. He has also performed with the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown symphony orchestras, as well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and a chamber group at the Salt Bay Chamberfest.

Mr. Jones is an internationally recognized educator. He is president of the Jazz Education Network and holds the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair in Jazz Studies at The John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. As well as artistic Director for the NYO JAZZ Program of Carnegie Hall. Previously, he served as chair of the Brass department at Berklee College of Music in Boston.

https://www.sean-jones.com/

Billy Childs has emerged as one of the foremost American composers of his era, successfully marrying the musical products of his heritage with the Western neoclassical traditions of the twentieth century in a powerful symbiosis of style, range, and dynamism.

Thus far, in his career, Childs has garnered seventeen Grammy nominations and six Grammy awards including two for Best Instrumental Jazz Album (Winds of Change in 2024 and Rebirth in 2018), and two for Best Arrangement Accompanying a Vocalist (including New York Tendaberry from Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, featuring Renee Fleming and Yo-Yo Ma). In 2006, Childs was awarded a Chamber Music America composer’s grant, and in 2009 was the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship.  In 2013 he was awarded the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.  He has also been awarded a composers award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (2015).  In 2018, Childs was named “Outstanding Alumnus” of the Thornton School of Music (sharing that honor with, among others, Morton Lauridsen, Michael Tilson Thomas, and Marilyn Horne).  Childs has also served as president of Chamber Music America (2016-2022).

Born in Los Angeles, he entered USC as a composition major, graduating four years later with a bachelor of music in composition under the tutelage of Robert Linn. Since then Mr. Childs has received a number of orchestral and chamber commissions from, among others: Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin, the Los Angeles Master Chorale,  Monterey Jazz Festival, the Dorian Wind Quintet, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, the American Brass Quintet, the Ying Quartet, the Lyris Quartet, Anne Akiko Meyers, Rachel Barton Pine, and Inna Faliks.

As a pianist Childs has performed with, among others, Freddie Hubbard, J.J. Johnson, Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, Renee Fleming, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, Chick Corea, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, the Dorian Wind Quintet, Ying Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, and Dave Holland.

Childs’ solo jazz recording career includes four critically acclaimed albums on the Windham Hill Jazz label and two volumes of Chamber Jazz music (Lyric, Vol. 1, 2006 and Autumn: In Moving Pictures, Vol. 2, 2010). Childs expanded upon his talent for seamlessly straddling the lines between jazz and classical worlds with a collection of re-imagined Laura Nyro compositions for Sony Masterworks, released in September 2014.  Map to the Treasure: Reimagining Laura Nyro, was produced by Larry Klein and features as guest artists, among others: Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Wayne Shorter, Alison Kraus, Dianne Reeves, Chris Botti, Esperanza Spalding, and Lisa Fischer.  In 2017, Childs released the first of his three Mack Avenue recordings, the Grammy Award-winning Rebirth, which was followed by 2020’s Acceptance and 2023’s Grammy Award-winning The Winds of Change.

Childs is an in-demand clinician, whose recent invitations include working with students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, masterclasses at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, Germany, and an educational residency at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

https://billychilds.com/