SHEONA WHITE http://www.sheonawhite.co.uk/store Internationally renowned as ‘The Voice of the Tenor Horn’ Sheona White has performed and toured as a soloist throughout Europe, Asia, Australasia and the USA. During her early years her prodigious talent was recognized when she won the prestigious title of BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year performing at The Queen Elizabeth Hall, London accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Other individual achievements include the first female winner of the British Open Solo Championships, the Harry Mortimer Performance Prize, the Stanley Wainright Memorial Trophy for Best Soloist at The British Open Brass Band Championships and being selected as a finalist in the Cosmopolitan Women of Achievement Awards. Sheona has performed with many of the world’s premier brass bands including Brighouse & Rastrick, Black Dyke and the Yorkshire Building Society Brass Band with whom she was Principal Horn for many years. During the ‘YBS era’, Sheona shared in the band’s huge success worldwide. This included winning the All England Masters 3 times, the British Open 4 times and representing England in the European ‘EBBA’ festival on 10 occasions, winning the European Championships an unprecedented 8 times in these 10 appearances. Her recording accomplishments include her latest Solo CD ‘Timeless’ and first solo CD ‘Voice of the Tenor Horn’ both highly acclaimed and receiving rave reviews. Other innovative recording projects include a solo feature on the BBC’s Children In Need single ‘Perfect Day’ and performing on the Mercury Prize winning album ‘The Seldom Seen Kid’ by the distinguished Manchester band ‘Elbow’. Sheona is a Besson Artist, playing the Besson Sovereign Tenor Horn, a Denis Wick Artist, playing a Denis Wick 3 mouthpiece and an endorsee for the Shhhmute practice mute range. She currently holds the post of Head of Academic Music at Bolton School Girls’ Division. Jeffrey Kaufman Composer and Record Producer, Jeffrey Kaufman attended The Manhattan School of Music and the Julliard School. He has received awards and grants from: The National Endowment for the Arts, The Rockefeller Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Martha Baird Rockefeller Foundation, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, The Alice Ditson Fund for Music, Meet the Composer, ASCAP Standard panel awards, The Gold Award International Film and TV Festival of New York, and has been nominated for Grammy awards three times. He has composed works for chamber ensemble, chorus, orchestra and concert band, all of which have been performed throughout the United States and Europe. He was active as a producer for National Public Radio. As a 60-year veteran of the recording industry serving as composer, arranger and producer. Also active as a concert and theatrical producer, his latest venture was as a member of the producer team of the Broadway hit “An American In Paris”. Among his recent commissions and performances: The Park Avenue Synagogue, New York; The Houston Brass Quintet premiere of his "Brass Quintet on Original Sea Shanties"; "Old Blues, New Blues, Ev'ry Body Gets the Blues" featuring the ARCO Chamber Orchestra, clarinet quartet and Cornet under the Direction of Levon Ambartsumian. In addition, he has served as Composer in Residence for the opening of The Bar Harbor Music Festival. About the ESSAY and the Eb TENOR HORN SONATA In late 2021 I was in the process of composing two works, the first a Sonata for Piano and bass clef instrument, the other, a Concerto for a bass clef instrument and String Orchestra. In February of 2023 I attended a concert of the Imperial Brass of New Jersey, which featured Sheona White as soloist. Until this concert I had never heard of Ms. White, nor had I ever heard solos performed on an Eb Tenor Horn, an instrument of which I had been totally ignorant. By the end of Sheona's performance, I knew that the two works I was in the midst of creating had to be totally revised for Eb Tenor Horn. I sent them to Sheona to see if she might find them of interest. I was so pleased when she responded most enthusiastically. I told her that The Concerto, a three-movement work entitled ESSAY, might receive a performance in early August 2023. Well, that performance never materialized. I was however, able to put together a string orchestra in New York for its recording. This recording would include other new works for Eb Tenor Horn by Joseph Turrin and Dorothy Gates. In that my Sonata would be completed in time for Sheona's visit for the ESSAY recording, I asked her if she would consider recording it as well. She happily agreed. I then immediately contacted my good friend and colleague pianist Ron Levy, who also enthusiastically agreed to record it. The three movements of ESSAY for Eb Tenor Horn and String Orchestra: 1) Sempre Agitato e Aggressivo. As the title implies, it is from the outset, restless and aggressive. Filled with strong, somewhat violent string accents also utilizing a sting technique known as col legno in which the player strikes the strings with the wooden part of the bow, creating a percussive effect. 2) Berceuse. A berceuse simply put is a lullaby. Here, a simple tune played by the horn is accompanied by muted strings playing undulating harmonies in 3/4 time. 3) Moto Perpetuo. As in the first movement, this too is aggressive and virtually nonstop. Strong pizzicato accents and powerful violin quadruple stops bring the movement to a seven bar String Bass pizzicato solo which is accompanied by soft eerie harmonies in the high strings. This exact solo is then taken up by the Horn leading to the next driving section featuring a string technique known as saltando or richochet. There is then a repeat back to the beginning of the movement a jump to the Coda, and a final solo statement by the Horn. The Sonata is in three movements as well. 1) Introduction Serioso and Vaudeville Song. A dramatic opening Horn call leads to a strange evocative tune (Vaudeville) which is not at all in keeping with the style of the opening. However, the dramatic opening returns to close out the movement. 2) Lento Arioso and Elegy, predominantly in 4/4 with a harmonically lush piano accompaniment. An elegiac middle section then develops, the opening motif returns concluding with a final statement of the elegy. 3) Capriccio Molto Vivace features an unrelenting piano accompaniment in 6/8. The middle section slows to a manageable 2/4 until returning to the original 6/8 tempo. A brief pause, then the Prestissimo finale. Dorothy Gates “You use a mirror to see your face; you use works of art to see your soul” – George Bernard Shaw. Michelle Baker, (a longtime friend), commissioned me to write Imaginings for her performance in recital at the International Women's Brass Conference, June 2017. Michelle asked me for a “low” solo which would play to her strengths. The recital coincided with her retirement from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and the title Imaginings is a nod towards her imagining her new life in retirement with her husband Charlie. Dorothy Gates was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Like her fellow countryman, George Bernard Shaw, she believes in the power of art to see your soul and transform the world. Dorothy received her Bachelor of Music degree in Composition and Trombone Performance from Queens University Belfast, Master of Music degree in Trombone Performance from the University of Michigan and her PhD in Composition from the University of Salford. Her principal composition teachers were Kevin Volans, George Wilson, Joseph Turrin and Peter Graham. Dorothy spent twenty years as the Senior Music Producer for The Salvation Army's Eastern Territory in New York and the Composer-in-Residence for the New York Staff Band. She was the first woman Composer/Editor to be employed by The Salvation Army in this role. Currently Dorothy, and her husband Mark live in Staunton, VA where they serve as Salvation Army officers. Joseph Turrin Joseph Turrin’s music has been commissioned and performed by the some of the world’s leading orchestras, chamber ensembles and soloists. His work encompasses many varied forms, including film, theater, opera, orchestral, chamber, jazz, electronic, and dance. Several of his films and recording projects have been nominated for Emmy and Grammy Awards. His works have been recorded on: RCA, EMI, Teldec, Naxos, Summit, Klavier, Cala Records, Albany, Crystal, and others. Not only a recipient of several commissions from the New York Philharmonic, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Live from Lincoln Center and the National Endowment on the Arts - his works have been championed by such noted musicians as: Kurt Masur, Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Bram Tovey, Wynton Marsalis, Canadian Brass, Renee Fleming and others. In 2006 he was awarded an honorary degree from the Eastman School of Music. Romance for Tenor Horn and string orchestra. I wrote Romance for Sheona White after I heard a convert she did in Montclair, NJ. I told her I was interested in writing something for her and the result off that conversation was Romance which I scored for solo horn and brass band. She was in the process of putting a recording project together in England and mentioned that she was interested in recording the piece. A few weeks later my good friend Jeffery Kaufman approached me and mentioned he would be interested in producing a recording on his label Phoenix USA featuring Sheona with string orchestra and asked if Romance could be transcribed for strings. After carefully looking at the brass band score I saw that it could work perfectly for horn and strings. Vespera The composition Vespera is the second movement from my Symphony Celestium for chamber orchestra. Each of the movements is based on celestial terms and events. The middle movement of the Symphony is titled Vespera which is derived from the word Vesper meaning evening and sometimes associated with the planet Venus, making its appearance as a evening star, but actually in reality a planet. Vespera is an ethereal movement conjuring up the quiet and peaceful mood of the evening.