Innovative composer, performer, violinist and band leader Daniel Bernard Roumain and North Carolinian singer/songwriter Laurelyn Dossett will hold a week-long residency at Davidson College this fall. The pair will work with Music Department ensembles and other student artists throughout the course of the week, and their residency will culminate with a large group performance on Saturday, September 29th, at 8pm in Duke Family Performance Hall, an event co-sponsored by Davidson College Friends of the Arts, Concert Series, and Smith Artist Series.
Earlier in the week, Daniel will conduct master classes with the Davidson College Symphony Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, Chorale, Jazz Combo, and other student-run organizations. The first three groups will be featured in the culminating concert and will have the chance to collaborate musically with both Daniel and Laurelyn in that special performance. The Jazz Combo will work with Daniel to prepare a community concert to take place at Brickhouse Tavern one evening.
During their stay, Daniel and Laurelyn will also travel to local schools and the Ada Jenkins Center to work with the youth of the community. Laurelyn will host a songwriter's workshop and Daniel will lead a Live Thursdays Open Mic Night performance, which will likely feature many of the student a capella and gospel groups, the step team, and singer/songwriters who have had the chance to work with both Daniel and Laurelyn during their master classes.
On September 29th, Davidson College Friends of the Arts, Smith Artist Series, and Concert Series are proud to sponsor the performance Connecting Crossroads in North Carolina: Daniel Bernard Roumain & Laurelyn Dossett. The concert will begin at 8PM and will take place in Duke Family Performance Hall in the Knobloch Campus Center on Davidson's campus. The performance will feature unique collaborative works generated with the Davidson College Department of Music and student performers as well as new compositions by Daniel and Laurelyn inspired by the voices and images seen and heard while traveling in North Carolina.
After their time at Davidson, the pair will move on to visit other North Carolina institutions, as a result of the powerful collaboration between Daniel, Laurelyn, and North Carolina performing arts presenters to reflect, record and present musical stories of North Carolina. The compositions created for the culminating performance to the residency are commissioned by Davidson College Friends of the Arts, Concert Series and Smith Artist Series, NCSU Center Stage, UNCW Presents, East Carolina University's S. Rudolph Alexander Performing Arts Series, and the Performancing Arts Series at Appalachian State University. Additional support is provided by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the N.C. Arts Council. WDAV 89.9FM will serve as a media sponsor to the project.
For more information about the September 29th performance, please visit the Artist Series webpage. Individual tickets will be available for purchase through the Union Ticket Office beginning September 6, 2013.
