A Conversation Long Overdue: Perspectives From POC In Our Community
Valerie Coleman is among the world's most played composers living today. Whether it be live or via radio, her compositions are easily recognizable for their inspired style and can be throughout venues, institutions and competitions globally. With works that range from flute sonatas that recount the stories of trafficked humans during Middle Passage and orchestral and chamber works based on nomadic Roma tribes, to scherzos about moonshine in the Mississippi Delta region and motifs based from Morse Code, her body of works have been highly regarded as a deeply relevant contribution to modern music.
A native of Louisville, Kentucky, Valerie began her music studies at the age of eleven and by the age of fourteen, had written three symphonies and won several local and state performance competitions. She is the founder, creator, and former flutist of the Grammy nominated Imani Winds, one of the worlds premier chamber music ensembles, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Performance, Chamber Music, and Entrepreneurship at the University of Miami.
With over two decades of conducting masterclasses, lectures and clinics across the country, Valerie is a highly sought-after clinician and recitalist. Recently, she has immensely enjoyed being the featured guest artist of flute fairs around the country, such as Mid-South, South Carolina, Colorado, New Jersey, and Mid-Atlantic, and was also featured as an artist in residence at Boston University Tanglewood Institute, LunArts Festival, and the National Women's Music Festival.
Valerie is known among educators to be a strong advocate and mentoring source for emerging artists and ensembles around the country. In 2011, she created a summer mentorship program in New York City for highly advanced collegiate and post-graduate musicians, called Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival. Now in its 9th season, the festival has welcomed musicians from over 100 institutions both national and abroad. Her works are published by Theodore Presser, International Opus, and her own company, V Coleman Music. Her music can be heard on labels: Cedille Records, BMG France, Sony Classics, Eone (formerly Koch International Classics) and Naxos.
Roxanne Stevenson is Professor of Music Education and Director of Bands at Chicago State University. She earned a B.S. degree in music education from Bethune-Cookman University and the M.S. degree in music education from The University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. In addition to her duties as Director of Bands at Chicago State University, Professor Stevenson serves as woodwind instructor, supervises student teachers and field experience students, and has acted as Departmental Advisor. A saxophonist, she performed regularly with Singsation, a weekly gospel music show that is aired internationally and currently plays for the music ministry of Trinity United Church of Christ aired nightly. Among the many artists with whom she has performed are Bernie Mac, Vickie Winans, Jean Carnes, Cherelle, and the Chi-Lites. As a soloist, she has been featured with her group Roxanne Stevenson RSVP on WLS-abc 7 Chicagos morning television show Windy City Live, Chicago's "Gospel on the Pier," WGN's "Gospel Heritage," Fox Television's Christmas Special "For Colored Girls WGN," and the Chicago Jazz Festival. She has also participated as saxophonist and/or arranger on compact discs released by five different artists/groups, including Stellar Award and Grammy Award nominated "Unplugged by Ricky Dillard, on Crystal Rose Records. Ms. Stevenson, who is currently a panelist/reviewer for the Illinois Arts Council, has served as an adjudicator at numerous festivals and competitions such as the Chicago Public Schools Music Festival and the NAACP ACT-SO Awards Chicago Area/Far South Area Competitions. She has worked as a band/choral director and a classroom/music teacher in several public and private schools in both Indiana and Illinois, from elementary through high school, and has guest-directed many high-school and college bands. Professor Stevenson is a contributor to the textbooks Teaching Music Through Performance in Jazz Volume I and Volume II. Ms. Stevenson is a member of the Women Band Directors National Association, the Illinois Music Educators Association, Jazz Education Network, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. Professor Stevenson received the African American Arts Alliance of Chicagos Black Excellence Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music Jazz and has been nominated for best jazz performance 2016. The Absolute Winds of Change, the First Annual Tribute to Chicagos African-American Women in Jazz, recognized her as a saxophonist/educator. She was a quarter finalist for the 2014 Grammy Music Educator Award. Professor Stevenson is the mother of two girls, Morgan and Bailey.
Anoa Green, M.M. is on the Music Faculty at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where she is the Coordinator of Wind Studies and the Director of the BSA Wind Symphony. She has held this position for thirteen of her fifteen years with Baltimore City Public Schools.
Anoa is also passionate about social inequality and Urban Arts Education and has a background in clarinet and conducting. When Anoa is not in the band room, she enjoys time spent with her husband and two children.
William Talley is the Director of Bands at Ohio University, where he directs the wind symphony and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in conducting and wind literature. Dr. Talley received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where he served as the associate director of the Eastman Wind Orchestra and the assistant director of the Eastman Wind Ensemble. In addition to his responsibilities with these ensembles at Eastman, Dr. Talley taught undergraduate conducting and served as the assistant director of the Eastman Harmonie. While a student at Eastman, Dr. Talley was a recipient of the Frederick Fennell Conducting Fellowship, the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize, and was the first recipient of the newly established Donald and Polly Hunsberger Endowed Conducting Scholarship. While in residence at Eastman, Dr. Talley concurrently served as the wind ensemble director at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, NY.
Prior to attending Eastman and receiving a Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of South Carolina, Dr. Talley taught for 15 years in the Asheville City Schools district in Asheville, NC. In his time as a band director Dr. Talley served as the president of the Western North Carolina Bandmasters' Association, and he also received the Award of Excellence from that organization.
Mrs. Jammie Phillips is a Flutist and middle school band director of the last 12 years in Clayton County, GA. She is a graduate of Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, FL, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Education while a member of the Marching Wildcat band as Piccolo Section Leader. During her first couple years teaching, she was able to obtain her Master of Science in Education with emphasis in Teacher Leadership and Educational Specialist in Administrator Leadership for Teaching & Learning from Walden University. Mrs. Phillips is a member of Georgia Music Educators Association where she has served as District VI secretary for the last 2 years, Kappa Delta Pi Education Honor Society, Womens Band Director Association, Intl., and Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity where she has served as a member of the National Officers Conference as Province Officer for Tau A Province which includes Colleges & Universities in North Georgia area for the last 3 years, and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Incorporated, Epsilon Zeta Chapter. Mrs. Phillips performs regularly wherever asked, including Community Orchestras, concert bands, and her favorite are Pit Orchestras for various musicals in the Atlanta area. She is called on constantly for Flute clinician work for various band programs all over the Atlanta and surrounding areas. She is married to Mr. Doron Phillips whom is also a long-time Band Director in Clayton County at Forest Park High School. They have 3 children and reside in McDonough, GA. The Wolfpack Band under the direction of Mrs. Phillips has received a "Superior" rating for the last five years at band festivals throughout Georgia as well as District VI Large Group Performance Evaluations in music as well as consecutive superiors in sight-reading. Members of the EWA Wolfpack band participate yearly in District Honor Bands, Mid-fest Honor Band festivals, and All-county honor bands. The band has participated in Southern Star Band festivals at Six Flags over Georgia and Music Performances and workshops at Walt Disney World, Orlando. Mrs. Phillips is regularly sought after to present clinics for her tips on teaching a successful middle school band as well as her tips on getting the students to love and be passionate about the band program.
Dr. William L. Lake, Jr., is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at the Crane School of Music (SUNY-Potsdam) and Associate Director of Bands. His additional academic responsibilities include conducting the Crane Concert Band and Community Band, teaching conducting, and supervisor of instrumental music education majors in their pre-field experiences. Dr. Lake earned his Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Instrumental Conducting from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro under the mentorship of Drs. John R. Locke and Kevin Geraldi. As a graduate student, Professor Lake was principal conductor of The University of North Carolina University Band and guest conductor of the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Casella Sinfonietta Chamber Ensemble, and Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Lake also taught undergraduate courses in conducting.
Dr. Lake is the recipient of two masters degrees, the first from Boston University in Music Education (2011), and the second from the University of Maryland, College Park in Wind Conducting (2014) under the mentorship of Dr. Michael Votta, Jr. In May 2006, Dr. Lake received the Bachelor of Music Liberal Arts -Jazz Studies Piano Performance Degree from the University of Maryland, College Park as a student of Jon Ozment and Christopher Vadala.
Krystal Williams is currently the Fine Arts Department Chair and Director of Bands at Western High School in Baltimore, MD. The premier ensemble, the Western High School Symphonic Doves consists of 60 female instrumentalists dedicated to providing their school and community with an array of music from classical, Hiphop, Soul, R&B to Gospel music. With every performance, the lady musicians of Western High School bring a positive self-image of “girlpower” and “Only the Best” instrumental music.
Before taking the helm at the music band director at Western Senior High School, Mrs. Williams was Director of Bands at Baltimore Freedom Academy, and KIPP Ujima Village Academy. Mrs. Williams is sought after as a multitalented musician playing over seven instruments.She has served as the principal clarinetist at Morgan State University, Graduate Assistant to the Director of Bands at Morgan State University (2006 2009), composer and arranger at Healthy Choice Ministries Cathedral, teacher residentmusician with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and as a musician in multiple theatrical productions as a studio musician. Mrs. Williams holds a B.A. in Music, a Masters in the Arts in Teaching, and a master’s degree in music Conducting. In 2017, Mrs. Williams won the “Arts Education Leadership Award” through Arts Everyday Inc. In addition to administering and managing the instrumental music curriculum at Western, Mrs. Williams oversees and conducts the Western Concert and Honor Bands and the Combined Jazz Band, and the PolyWestern Marching “Flock” Band. Currently she serves as a Deaconess in her local church along with her husband, Deacon Dwight E. Williams Jr. and Matthew Williams.
Kevin Day (b. 1996) is an American composer, conductor, multi-instrumentalist, and native of Arlington, Texas. Day is currently attending the University of Georgia and is working on his Master of Music in Music Composition Degree. He currently studies with composer Peter Van Zandt Lane and conductor Cynthia Johnston Turner. He has worked with and has been mentored by distinguished composers Gabriela Lena Frank, Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, William Owens, and Julie Giroux. He has also collaborated with euphonium virtuoso Demondrae Thurman and trumpet virtuoso Jens Lindemann on new concertos for their respective instruments. A winner of the 2019 BMI Student Composer Award, Day has composed over 150 compositions and has received numerous performances from ensembles across the United States, Austria, Australia, Taiwan, and South Africa, as well as several commissions for new works. In 2020, his works were debuted at Carnegie Hall, as a part of the New York Wind Band Festival. He has also received a performance of his Concerto for Euphonium & Wind Ensemble by the The Pershings Own United States Army Band with soloist Hiram Diaz. Day currently serves as the Composer-In-Residence of the Mesquite Symphony Orchestra in Mesquite, Texas for their 2019-2021 seasons. His works are published through Murphy Music Press, Cimarron Music, and Kevin Day Music. Day is a member of the Millennium Composers Initiative and an alumni brother of Kappa Kappa Psi and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
Shemeka Nash is the Fine Arts Department Chair at Morgan Park High School. She is also the director of bands, conducting the Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Modern Band and Beginning Band. Shemeka also serves as the Orchestra Conductor for Sistema Ravinia. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education Degree from DePaul University and a Master of Music Education degree from Northwestern University. She also holds National Board Teacher Certification for the area of Early Adolescence Through Young Adulthood (EAYA) Music. Shemeka has been honored as a Fund for Teachers Fellow and a Jones New York in the Classroom Model Teacher. In 2006, Shemeka was nominated for a Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching. She is also a recipient of the Oppenheimer Foundation's Teacher Incentive Grant, Adopt-a-Classroom and Donors Choose award winner. Shemeka continues to be an active saxophonist with the Soundmine Merchants Big Band, KCR Ensemble, and the Noteworthy Jazz Ensemble.
Damien Crutcher is a native Detroiter and a graduate of Cass Technical High School. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Michigan State University, and a Masters in Conducting from The University of Michigan. Damien studied horn with Bryan Kennedy and Doug Campbell and Conducting with H. Robert Reynolds
After graduating from The University of Michigan, Damien served as Director of Bands and Orchestra at Southfield-Lathrup High School. Under his direction the Southfield-Lathrup ensembles, including the Lathrup Symphony Band have performed in San Francisco, Chicago, the Bahamas, the White House and Carnegie Hall. Many of his students from Southfield Lathrup are currently professional musicians, music teachers and artists across the country
He is currently the co founder and CEO of Crescendo Detroit. Crescendo Detroit is a nonprofit whos mission is to transform the lives of school age children, ages 5-18, in Detroit, by engaging kids in intense instrumental music, vocal music and dance programs that promote artistic excellence and character building. It is the goal of Crescendo Detroit to create a neighborhood to college pipeline using the arts
Damien is a frequent guest conductor and clinician throughout Michigan and Ohio and also serves as the conductor of the Farmington Community Band and the DSOs Dettoit Community Concert Band.