Alexandria, VA 22314
The Holiday spirit was out in full force for our 2019 Holiday Collage Concert!
The evening began with The Northern Virginia Sax Quartet performing carols in the lobby.
A lovely beginning to a festive evening.
The main concert hall showcased the NOVA Community Chorus, The NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble and the NOVA Alexandria Band.
The Chorus fired up the main concert with Personent Hodie, accompanied by a brass and percussion ensemble featuring Isabella Lowe & Josh Menez, trumpets; Margaret Forman, French horn; Ameer Yaqoob, trombone; Cristian Condor, tuba; and Tyler Brantley and Mayson Rangel on Percussion.
Tonight was bittersweet, since it was the final concert for Choral Director, Jessica Irish. She has had a truly memorable time with the Chorus this past semester and we were lucky to have her!
The Chorus followed with There Shall a Star (from “Christus”) by Felix Mendelssohn. and Winter’s Peace highlighting the Semi-Chorus: Halina Banas-Jones, Alan Bunner, Sarah Calvino, Larry Goldschmidt, Diane Halvorsen, Lock Handley, Laura Hanson, Jane Michaels, Casey Stucliffe and Neo Upod.
Chorus fans rejoiced after Ding, Dong! Merrily on High! featuring Jane Tavernier, second accompanist for four-hand piano and Mayson Ragel on chimes.
Meanwhile The NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble were gearing up for their holiday extravaganza! They performed four works, beginning with The Little Drummer Boy…
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,
The set ended with Greensleeves (What Child is This?) and Comfort and Joy.
A special intermission, shout out to those who came to the concert including our wonderful students, the community and friends and families!
The final half of the concert featured the NOVA Alexandria Band! performing A Christmas Fantasy, Gloria, Away in a Manger, Dreidel Dance and Sleight Ride….
Harpist Brian Stevenson, out quest artist for the evening stole the show and beautifully filled the hall with the lush sounds of strings.
I personally adore the hat’s so many band member adorn each holiday for the concert.
Best hat of the night? Well, I think it’s obvious!
This year’s concert was dedicated to our NOVA students and families. We wanted to thank them for their sacrifices to make it through school and onto the next chapter in the lives. To help give back to them, we held a free ticketed give-a-way for NOVA students. The prizes included: a $50. gift certificate to Ristorante Il Porto in Old Town Alexandria, a $50. gift certificate to Faccia Luna, also in Old Town Alexandria, a 15% off certificate to the Barnes’ and Noble Book Store and two bags of NOVA merchandise from Student Life!!!!
Our excited winners had some great prizes!
It was nice to see so many happy faces!
The Band’s final piece of the night was an audience singalong featuring Joy to the World, It Came Upon and Midnight Clear and Adeste Fidelis (O come all ye faithful)
The evening ended with a huge round of applause for the Band, the audience, the NOVA Nighthawks and The Chorus!!!! What a fun-filled evening.
Let’s hear for the Music Department’s 2019′, done well!!!! Happy Holidays everyone and Happy New Year!!!!!
Please come to our next concerts, this Spring!
In our AFA- building in room 118, (our recital hall) we Dmitri Steinberg coming at 7:30pm on Tuesday February 12th.
February 27th is the famed Children’s Concert for families and the community. A lot of fun! The Rachel M. Schlesinger Hall.
March 11th is the next Chorus Concert at The Rachel M. Schlesinger Hall.
5pm on April 15th in the AFA building 118 recital hall will be District 5 Wind Quintet.
and finally… The big Spring Concert feauturing All of the NOVA Ensembles will be at 7:30, may 8th at The Rachel M. Schlesinger Hall!
What a phenomenal night!
This year’s NOVA Jazz Night at The Carlyle Club in Alexandria, Virginia was a treat! The evening’s theme was Swing Revival tunes from the 1990’s featuring music from famous by bands including, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Lou Bega, and the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies.
The first jazz combo, Baby Shark Jazz Quintet, an ode to the Nationals recent World Series Win, performed:
My Favorite Things, Barbados and Equinox.
The second quartet, The Downstairs Guys performed, Black Orpheus, Baby Why? (original), St. Thomas and Mr. P.C.
Our third Jazz combo, the Are You Serious? performed Four Brothers and Triste.
The evening ended with The NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble performing a wonderful set list including:
Go Daddy-O, Hey Pachuco, As Long As I’m Singing (vocal), Yellow Days (vocal), Mambo No. 5, Jump, Jive, and Wail, Route 66 (vocal), Zoot Suit Riot, and Rock This Town.
What a wonderful response! A great night had by all!
Our Next NOVA concert will be at 8:00pm, December 10th at The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall! JOY TO THE WORLD! A Holiday College Concert featuring the NOVA Community Chorus, The Nighthawkes Jazz Ensemble and the NOVA Community Band!
The NOVA Alexandria Music Department Presented, The NOVA Community Chorus performing their October 22, 2019 concert, “Sing a Mighty Song.”
Our first song for the evening was, “Sing a might Song,” performed by all four Choirs! The NOVA Community Chorus was joined by Annandale, South County and Woodson High School Choirs. We managed to fit everyone on stage and the sheer sound was as impressive as the numbers.
The NOVA Community Chorus began their segment with Anton Bruckner’s Lucus Iste, (Translation: This Place was made by God, a priceless Sacrament; it is without reproach) and Joseph Hadar’s, Erev Shell Shoshanim (Evening of Roses).
Craig Hella Johnson’s The Water is Wide was beautifully accompanied by Soprano Susan Lewis Kavinski and cellist, Rachel Sexton.
One of my favorite works of the night.
This was followed by Sing My Child by Sarah Quartel. Our Quartet included Sarah Calvino, Luna Para, Phillip Todd and Neo Upod.
Our next segment featured The Annandale Singers, conducted by Patrick Vaughn. The Choir performed Michael John Trotta’s Shenandoah, Elain Hagenberg’s When We Love and Brian Tate’s Connected.
Amy Moir Conducted The Woodson Vocal Ensemble in Gerald Finzi’s My Spirit Sang All Day and Anders Edenroth’s, Chili con Carne.
The South County Choirs were conducted by Antonio Rodriguez and accompanied by Esther Lee and Tammy Lydon. Their performance begin with Goodnight, by Matthew Emery.
The South County Bella Voce: Performed Famine Song by Matthew Culton. The soloists were Josie Springer and Laurie Evans. This was followed by The South County Singers performing Michael Engelhardt’s Wayfaring Stranger showcasing soloist Ian Pathak. The final song was Hans Bridger Heruth’s “Joy” and featured soloists: Damaris Williams, Warisha Hussain and Madeline Schneider.
The final song of the evening was a beautiful work by Jacob Narverud, “Sisi Ni Moja (We Are One) featuring Steven Barnett on Percussion.
Please come to our next concerts:
Monday, Nov. 11: Jazz Ensemble Concert titled “NOVA Jazz Night at the Carlyle Club” — The Carlyle Club; 7:30-9:30pm; Address: 2050 Ballenger Ave., Alexandria, VA 22314; $25 minimum food and beverage purchase required per person; For more info, visit https://www.thecarlyleclub.com/about-us.html
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Holiday Concert titled “Joy to the World” featuring the band, chorus, and jazz band — Schlesinger Concert Hall; 8-9:45pm; FREE admission and parking.
Our music department wrapped up our semester with our 2019 spring concert! Friday, May 3, 2019 from 8-10pm.
It was a historic night for a couple of reasons. First, It was the final performance with a amazing chorus director, Chad Steffey. Chad has spend the past couple of years working with our chorus and helping build a new chapter in the chorus history with wonderfully fun Broadway reviews and bringing in fantastic guest singers.
The chorus gathered in the concert hall foyer to help send him off in style. Hugs, gifts and a massive round of applause.
The NOVA Community Chorus began the night with The Music of Living by Dan Forrest, followed by Selections from Old American Songs, Bring Me Little Water, Silvy, by Huddie Ledbetter, Cape Cod Girls, a traditional Sea Shanty and Ain’-a That Good News! by William Dawson.
The NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble picked up a jazzy set, with Maiden Voyage, by Herbie Hancock, Whisper Not by Benny Golson, Moment’s Notice by John Coltrane and Senor Mouse by Chick Corea.
Lisa Eckstein treated the audience by opening the band set with Mark Camphouse’s Air Mobility Command March.
Then the band provided a stunning performance of Nathan Pereda’s Starless Night.
Nathan’s piece offered a wonderful set of antiphonal trumpets that brought such beauty to the hall. The piece was extraordinary!
The band finished the evening with Xerxes by John Mackey and African Symphony by Van McCoy.
Everyone LOVED it all
Another great season coming to the close, but we’ll be back in the fall with more music!
The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, hosted this year’s JAZZ for JUSTICE event, featuring the NOVA Nighthawks with our very special guest Warren Wolf and TC Williams Jazz Ensemble!
The evening began with some music from one of NOVA’s Jazz student ensembles providing some wonderful sounds for the start of a great evening.
We had some artists from the Torpedo Factory take part in the evening as well. Pat Sargent (Studio 325), printed up some postcards for the evening that were beautifully done.
Rosemary Feit-Covey spent the evening doing demos on her card making on the second floor, in (Studio 224)
Patrons gathered and enjoyed an evening of music, art and silent auctions
The MainStage music portion started off with an introduction of The T.C. Williams Jazz Ensemble by Brett Johnson from The Torpedo Factory.
They had people dancing in no time.
There were proud parents friend and family everywhere.
And of course we had some of own NOVA support, come to check out the band!
There was a great crowd with a lot to enjoy between catching up and checking out the art!
Everyone looked like they had a great time enjoying conversation, the music the art and the reason for being there, JAZZ 4 JUSTICE!
The evening included a raffle some amazing prizes!
The later half of the evening featured the NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble featuring our very special guest, Warren Wolf! Warren is a world class performer and we were so lucky to have him. He’s traveled the world and played or recorded with the best: “Wynton Marsalis and The Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Jeremy Pelt and “Creation”, Nicholas Payton, Tim Warfield, Adonis Rose, Donal Fox, Anthony Wonsey, Aaron Goldberg, Cyrus Chestnut, Lewis Nash, Willie Jones, Eric Reed, Mulgrew Miller, Terri Lyne Carrington, Yoron Israel, Larry Willis, David “Fathead” Newman, Stefon Harris, Reuben Rogers, Kevin Eubanks, Curtis Lundy, Steve Davis, Duane Eubanks, Ron Carter, Wycliffe Gordon, Robert Glasper, Esperanza Spaulding and many others.”
The Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble performed:
Flying Home by Benny Goodman and Lionel Hampton, arr. Dave Barduhn
Satin Doll by Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, and Johnny Mercer, arr. Jerry Nowak “
Whisper Not by Benny Golson, arr.
Marty Paich “Maiden Voyage” by Herbie Hancock, arr. Mike Tomaro
Stardust by Hoagy Carmichael, arr. Bill Holman“
Moment’s Notice by John Coltrane, arr. Mark Taylor
Señor Mouse by Chick Corea, arr. Mike Tomaro “
Bag’s Groove by Milt Jackson, arr. John Clayton
Is That You? by Bryan Kidd
Oye Como Vaby by Tito Puente arr B Minzter
No Scuffle Shuffle by Dominic Spera
Not your Momma’s Samba by Paul Baker
La Malanga by Eddie Palmieri arr A Caceda
Nice ‘n’ Easy by Lew Spence, arr. S Nestico
Two Seconds to Midnight by AlanBaylock
Such Sweet Thunder by Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn arr. M Kamuf
Flow Chart – Paul Baker
The evening was a hit and all for a GREAT cause! JAZZ4JUSTICE
The concert for this event benefits the charitable endeavors of the Alexandria Bar Foundation, Legal Services of Northern Virginia and the music scholarship fund at NOVA.
In 2001, Fairfax attorney Ed Weiner attended a student recital at George Mason University. He was impressed by the music, but distressed by the small audience. As the President of the Fairfax Law Foundation (FLF), he saw an opportunity for a new part- nership — the GMU School of Music would provide the musical
talent and the local Bar Association would provide the audience and sponsors. Thegoal would be to raise funds to support local Legal Aid, as well as the university’sjazz program. With the support of George Mason and FLF leadership, Jazz 4Jus-ticeTM was born.
Today, through partnerships with 7 universities and numerous local Bar Associa- tions, 48 Jazz4Justice concerts have been held across the Commonwealth: George Mason University, James Madison University, Virginia Commonwealth Universi- ty, Christopher Newport University, Northern Virginia Community College, the University of Virginia, and the University of Mary Washington. These concerts have raised over $450,000 for jazz programs and an array of educational and chari- table legal services benefiting Virginia’s local communities.
Jazz4Justice has received awards from the American Bar Association and the Virginia State Bar. J4J is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Visit us atwww.jazz4justice.com.
Alexandria Bar Foundation
The Foundation of the Alexandria Bar Association is an integral part of theBar’s structure. The Foundation works with local organizations to providescholarships to high school seniors and provides grants to local organiza-tions to help them serve the community more effectively. The Foundation’s “Beat the Odds” program has been singled out for awards for their contribu-tions to the City of Alexandria and its citizens. The Alexandria Bar Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
An Evening of Environmental Music, Art and Inspiration at The Center for Design, Media and the Arts featuring the Third Millennium Ensemble. The evening brought together works from various composers illustrate environmental experience for places, wildlife and societal impacts on the earth. A beautiful partnership of music expressing our partnership with our planet.
A lovely and inspiring concert was begun by percussionist, Bill Richards who performed Suomineito for solo vibraphone by NJ Zivkovic. The Finish title, ‘Suomineito’, is from the language of the ‘Suomi’ People and essentially means, Finish girl. The work was inspired by a Finish folk song.
Terra Secundum, a piece our very own Jonthan Kolm, includes five movements that cover the journey through an apocalyptic planet event. The piece works through, Portal, Fossils, Blackout, Wasteland and Equilibrium.
Barbara Brown did a wonderful rendition of Givanni Sollima’s Lamentatio for solo cello. What a lovely piece. The work is for cello and human voice. It includes the vibration of the two as well as a bowing bounced percussion on the strings themselves. It’s really a wonderful work.
Barbara, Hui-Chuan Chen and Sally McLain performed Very Angry Birds by Piotr Szewczyk. A feverishly energetic work for Bass, Piano and Violin.
Pamel Helton Performed Elegy for The Earth for Bass Clarinet and Sound. It was an amazing work that used whale sounds with emulated whale sounds from the bass clarinet. Just lovely.
The final piece of the evening was Music of Amber by Joseph Schwantner. The work perfectly ended the evening with a journey that took us through the movements Wind, Willow and Whisper, ending with Sanctuary.
We are very lucky to the Third Millennium Ensemble come to our campus. Please visit www.thridmillenniumensemble.org for more information on upcoming concerts.
On Thursday, March 7th we gathered in the concert hall at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center for a great evening of music and fun, all around.
The NOVA Community Band began the evening with The Thunderer by John Philip Sousa, followed by Children’s March “Over the Hills and Far Away” by percent Grainger.
Clarinet soloists, Brian Jones and Charles West joined the band for Il Convegno by Amilcare Ponchielli. Hearing them together was a treat! What incredible nuance!
Trombonist Harry Watters took the crowd with Cherokee by Ray Noble and Over the Rainbow, by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. What a phenomenal stage presence!
The last piece from The Band for their first performance section, offered up a beautiful World Premiere by composer Robert Thurston, titled “Civil Discourse” which featured Dennis Edelbrock on Trumpet. The piece’s complexities and journey was stunningly written and we were lucky to have Robert Thurston in the audience to hear it performed.
The George Mason Elementary School Jazz Band rocked the house with Michael Sweeney’s “Blue Machine” and the Sesame Street Theme by Joe Raposo. Director, Heather Rosner, has everyone at a superb level of musicianship.
The annual Recognition for Student Winners from Alexandria City public Schools in the Visual and Performing Arts Categories of the National PTA Reflections Program was another heart-felt moment. Each student winner had the opportunity to tell the audience about their award.
The George Washington Middle School Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Richard Seracino, performedDouble Play by Carl Strommen, Buckjump by Troy Andrews and Mdke Ballard, and Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” by Stevie Wonder.
The final number of the night brought school children from area elementary and middle schools together with the NOVA Alexandria Band.
They all played Havana and Fanfare and Fireworks!!! What a great experience it was for everyone!!!
Please join us at The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria for a great benefit concert with the NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Ensemble!
Also, PLEASE COME TO THE LAST CONCERT OF THE SEASON!
May 3rd, 8:00-9:30PM at the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center!
We will have a combined concert featuring ALL of our ensembles! The Community Choir, The NOVA Alexandria Community Band and the NOVA Nighthawks Jazz Band!
We look forward to seeing you soon!
For more information contact Lisa Eckstein at Leckstein@nvcc.edu
This spring’s Faculty Recital was wonderful! On Tuesday, February 26th, 2019 we all gathered at 2:00pm in the Music Department Recital Hall and were taught by our very own masters. The recital began with Trombonist Harry Watters and Guitartist Kenneth Hall performing All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern.
Pianist Christine Hagan followed with the lovely piece of Fantasia by Giles Farnaby.
John Kocur joined her for Romance by William Grant-Still. A wonderful rendition!
Our Violin teacher, Rami Kanaan and accompanist Bettye Cooley performed Meditation from Thais by Jules Massenet and Czardas by Vittorio Monti.
Jonathan Caudill, on of our very talented voice teachers performed Liszt’s Die Lorelei, and Monti’s ‘A Vucchella.
Our piano teacher Ja-Hye Koo played the ever amazing Ondine by Maurice Ravel.
The recital ended with Jonathan Kolm joining Ja-Hye to perform Jonathans three movement composition “Four Hand Suite”
Jonathan was kind enough to put this together and we owe him our gratitude! Jonathan is also having a world premier of his piece Arboreal Dreams by The United States Air Force Band Woodwind Quintet, this Saturday in room 118 of Northern Virginia Community College – Alexandria Campus, Center for Design Media and the Arts at 7:00PM Parking is FREE!!!! Flyer is at the bottom of this page : )
Hope to see you Saturday!!!
Chorus had an exciting time putting on a great evening of Broadway Tunes. It all began with “There’s No Business Like Show Business!” Seriously… It’s true. Our host?, Director of the NOVA Community Chorus, Chad Steffey.
The evening featured some incredible works, mainly showing off some of our individual Chorus members. This was their night. These volunteer soloists picked their own songs and sang their hearts out! David Shilton sings C’est Moi from Camelot.
They took turns for a well over an hours worth of Broadway Tunes! Mary Shilton sang What I did for Love, from A Chorus Line.
Bernie Cohen’s “If I Were a Rich Man” from Fiddler on the Roof, was wonderful.
Our Guest Artist, Soloist, Emi Eiting, sang multiple songs, including What More Do I need? from Saturday Night, Times Are Hard For Dreamers, Vanilla Ice Cream, from She Loves Me and Meadowlark from The Baker’s Wife! Emi is a freelance performer, choral conductor, pianist, director choral adjudicator and vocal coach working in Northern Virginia. Her voice just fills the hall beautifully.
There were so many phenomenal Tunes! The Ensemble Women sang, “And All That Jazz” from Chicago, followed by the Ensemble Men adding “Gee, Officer Krupke from West Side Story.
With a trip down memory lane we embarked on a great 60’s feel, What a Piece of Work is Man/How Dare They Try from Hair. The work featured Margot Hanclich, followed by Alison Sheahan singing On a Clear Day.
Tom Munger and Bernie Cohen had us, “Brush Up on Your Shakespeare” from Kiss Me Kate!
Dylan Nohilly, asked, “Try to Remember” from The Fantasticks.
After a lovely round of soloists, the Chorus came in with a stunning rendition of Singing in the Rain! You can hear a part of it on Instagram! instagram.com/musicatnova Follow us and if you take pictures of our concerts feel free to hashtag #musicatnova, so that we can all enjoy them : )
This was followed by a beautiful and soulful, Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music. The final piece of the evening was Do You Hear the People Sing from Les Misérables!
If you want to catch the Chorus soon, we are having our Spring Concert, here at The Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center on May 3rd at 8:00pm! Please bring family and friends to help support all the efforts of our students and community with this, our Combined, Chorus, Band and Jazz Ensemble Concert.
For more information contact Lisa Eckstein at Leckstein@nvcc.edu
See you Soon!