LIHU‘E — “It’s not good to sit on your fannies for too long,” Berklee College of Music professor Jeannie Gagné told the audience gathered at Kaua‘i Community College’s Performing Arts Center Jan. 6. “That’s a doctoral fact.” With that, more
LIHU‘E — “It’s not good to sit on your fannies for too long,” Berklee College of Music professor Jeannie Gagné told the audience gathered at Kaua‘i Community College’s Performing Arts Center Jan. 6. “That’s a doctoral fact.”
With that, more than 20 concertgoers made their way on stage to dance and sing with the Berklee group, recent winners of the Berklee Steelgrass Residency Contest.
Each year, faculty members from Berklee compete for a two-week trip to Kaua‘i, which includes the annual performance at KCC, community workshops and recording sessions at the Steelgrass Recording Studio in Kapa‘a. This year’s group featured Jeannie Gagné on vocals and keys, Danny Morris on bass, Jon Hazilla on drums and Stan Strickland on woodwinds, percussion and vocals.
“The performance was excellent, three encores!” Will Lydgate, who helped create the Steelgrass Residency program with Berklee in 2009, wrote in an email Jan. 7. “The Berklee College of Music faculty played with skill and with dynamics so that every nuance of their playing was heard by the audience. All in all, a great success. I am excited for next year!”
Proceeds from the annual concerts go toward the Berklee Kaua‘i Scholarship program, which will allow local students to attend Berklee’s five-week Summer Performance Program.
For more information about the Berklee program visit http://www.berklee.edu/summer/fiveweeksummer/program-like.php.
1. Laurel Francis works the donation/ticket table for the Kaua‘i Concert Association, which continued its 2012-13 season Jan. 6 with a performance by a quartet of Berklee College of Music faculty members, the recent winners of the Steelgrass Faculty Residency Contest.
2. Berklee faculty member Stephen Webber and recent graduate Will Lydgate — who partnered up in 2009 to create the Steelgrass Residency program — introduce the evening’s performers.
3. Danny ‘Danny Mo’ Morris on bass.
4. Stan Strickland on saxophone and vocals.
5. Jeannie Gagné on piano and vocals.
6. Jon Hazilla on drums.
7. The Berklee group don lei and take a bow following their performance Jan. 6 at Kaua‘i Community College.
8. Catherine Stovall of Kapa‘a and Coni Westland of Po‘ipu during intermission.
9. A handful of audience members accept an invitation to groove on stage as part of the Berklee group’s highly-interactive second set.
10. Stan Strickland (right) sings and dances with an audience member.
11. Sophia Sherrer joins the Berklee group on stage.
