from
Who’s Who
CONNIE BECKLEY, music, text, set design and Calliope
FREDERICK NEUMANN, Naso, the Inventor
ROB SCHWIMMER, theremin
ADAM MARKS, keyboard
GEOFFREY KIORPES, keyboard
LISA LIU, keyboard and electric violin
AARON COPP, lighting design
JANE SHAW, sound
ANDREW HOLLAND, associate set design
CONNIE BECKLEY, music, text, set design and Calliope
FREDERICK NEUMANN, Naso, the Inventor
Frederick Neumann has acted in productions on and off Broadway, including the experimental theater company Mabou Mines, of which he is Co-Artistic Director. Productions in which he acted and/or directed include the world premier of Samuel Beckett’s Mercier and Camier, Company, co-directed with Honora Fergusson with original music by Philip Glass and Worstword Ho. He received an OBIE award for his performance with Ruth Maleczech in Kroetz’s Through the Leaves, directed by JoAnne Akalitis. He performed in The Shaggy Dog Animation, B-Beaver Animation, The Warrior Ant and An Epidog, written and directed by Lee Breuer, and In the Jungle of the Cities, directed by Anne Bogart. On Broadway, he appeared in the Tony award winning The Iceman Cometh, directed by Jose Quintero, in Richard III with Al Pacino, and as narrator in Robert Wilson’s and Philip Glass’s “Knee Plays” from Civil Wars at Carnegie Hall. Off-Broadway he appeared in David Rabe’s Goose and Tom-Tom, Cymbeline, and The Tempest at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, Beckett’s Theater I and Theater II, and That Time with Julian Beck and George Bertenieff at La Mama. He also appeared in the New York premiere of Tennessee Williams’ Red Devil Battery Sign at the WPA, The Changling directed by Robert Woodruff, and as the Elder Ruskin, in G. Murphy’s The Countess and recently with Ms. Maleczech in True Love by Charles Mee. His regional credits include Peer Gynt at the Guthrie Theater, Lulu at A.R.T. Tony Kushner’s The Comic Illusion and The Butcher’s Daughter at the Cleveland Playhouse, and The Homecoming at The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. His film work includes The Prince of Tides, Walker, Reversal of Fortune, Working Girl, Dead-End Kids, Astonished, and Me and Him.
ROB SCHWIMMER, theremin
Rob Schwimmer is a composer,
pianist, thereminist, synthesist, singer, and arranger who has performed and
recorded throughout the world. He has been
playing keyboards, theremin, and singing with Simon and Garfunkel's "Old
Friends" North American and European 2003/2004 tour. Over the years he has
written for many feature films (one of which won an Academy Award for Best Live
Action Short Film,) theatre works, television series, TV-movies, documentaries
and
CD's. Rob has worked with Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Willie Nelson,
Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Laurie Anderson, Muddy Waters, Queen Latifah, Arif
Mardin, Matthew Barney, Adam Guettel, Geoffrey Holder, John Cale, T-Bone
Walker, Steve Buscemi, Burt Bacharach, Jack Douglas, Edie Brickell, Teo Macero,
Hal Willner, Karen Black, C&C Music Factory, Vernon Reid, Liza Minnelli,
Kurt Vonnegut, The New Haven Symphony and Red, An Orchestra (as featured
theremin soloist), Paul Bley, Alwin Nikolai/ Murray Louis, The Zambonis, Henry
Jaglom, Talujon Quartet, Jay Black and the Americans, Keiko Matsuzaka, Mandy
Barnett, Annette Peacock, Mabou Mines, Sam Rivers, Mary Cleere Harran, Sammy
Davis, Jr., Towa Tei, and Denice Rich among others. His own theremin CD (with
Uri Caine and Mark Feldman) on the November Music label is titled
"Theremin Noir". Mr. Schwimmer can also be heard on CBS/Sony, Warner
Brothers, Toshiba/ EMI, Def Jam/ Island, Manhattan/Blue Note, Dorian, NHK,
Capricorn, Evidence, Knitting Factory, Polystar, Traditional Crossroads, and
records as well as Dreamworks SKG, Universal Pictures, TriStar Pictures, HBO,
Cinemax, Showtime, CBS, NBC, ABC, Discovery Channel, TBS, NHK (Japan),
Lifetime, Noggin, A&E, Polish National Television, NPR and Nickelodeon. He
is now preparing an off-Broadway show called Polygraph Lounge with
multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart, directed by Academy Award winning
screenwriter Marshall Brickman. www.polygraphlounge.com
ADAM MARKS, keyboard
Originally from California, 26-year-old pianist Adam Marks is an emerging soloist and chamber musician. He began his piano studies at the age of four, but has explored countless areas of interest including theatre, science, and the medical professions. After earning a B.A. from Brandeis University, Adam continued his studies at the Manhattan School of Music in the Masters Program. His teachers include Anthony DeMare, Donn-Alexandre Feder, Evan Hirsch, Sally Pinkas, and Lois Banke. Currently, Adam is a candidate for the Ph.D. in Piano Performance at New York University where he is also on the faculty. Adam has performed in master classes with such renowned artists as Ursula Oppens, Bruce Brubaker, Sara Davis Buechner, Marc Ponthus, and Aleck Karis.
In the fall of 2003, Adam made his Carnegie Hall debut in both Zankel and Weill Halls, performing the music of Aaron Copland under the baton and tutelage of Michael Tilson Thomas. Other recent performances include concerts as both soloist and ensemble with the New World Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, the Manhattan School of Music Orchestra. His appearances have taken him throughout New England, New York, Colorado, Florida, and Italy. This season, Adam returns to Boston to play Rhapsody in Blue with the Brandeis/Wellesley Symphony Orchestra, and is a featured artist in the Hudson Valley Piano Club giving lecture concerts on American music.
GEOFFREY KIORPES, keyboard
Pianist Geoffrey Kiorpes enjoys a busy career as soloist, accompanist, and composer, and has earned plaudits for his virtuoso technique and exquisite sensitivity in musical genres ranging from classical to contemporary concert music to Broadway and popular standards.
Mr. Kiorpes’ concerto appearances include the Raleigh Symphony, the Durham Symphony, and the North Carolina School of the Arts Orchestra under conductor Otto Werner-Mueller, and he has participated in the Aspen and Banff Festivals. A sought-after collaborator, Mr. Kiorpes is currently the principal accompanist of the Gay Gotham Chorus in New York City as well as the Music and Choir Director of New York’s First United Methodist Church. He has also frequently accompanied the Boy’s Choir of Harlem and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus. He gave a live performance of Phillip Glass’ Academy Award-nominated score for the motion picture The Hours at the film’s New York City premiere celebration at the Metropolitan Club.
Mr. Kiorpes’ many Broadway and popular credits include serving as keyboardist for the recent Broadway revival of Annie Get Your Gun with Bernadette Peters, and arranger for the hit Off-Broadway productions of Always, Patsy Cline and The Heat is On. He has also served as Music Director for Broadway stars Kaye Ballard and Miss Maggie Moore. In addition to his busy performance schedule, Mr. Kiorpes is also on the faculty of the Bronx Preparatory Charter School.
The son of noted professor and Chopin scholar George Kiorpes, Mr.Kiorpes is a native of Greensboro, NC. A piano student since the age of six, Mr. Kiorpes attended the North Carolina School of the Arts, receiving his Bachelor of Music after studies with Clifton Matthews, Marian Hahn, and Robert MacDonald. His studies continued with Ruth Laredo, Aube Tzerko, and Rebecca Penneys. Mr. Kiorpes recently received his Master of Music in Piano Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and is currently working toward his Doctor of Musical Arts degree under Jeffrey Cohen at the Manhattan School.
LISA LIU, keyboard and electric violin
Lisa Liu is an active teacher and performer based in New York City. She began her musical studies on piano and violin in Pittsburgh, and continued her formal training in the Pre-College division of The Juilliard School under the tutelage of the renowned pedagogue Dorothy DeLay and her associate, Naoko Tanaka. In addition to earning her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Juilliard, she assisted Ms. DeLay in teaching in her Scale Class program, and became a teaching assistant to the music theory department in the college and graduate divisions. She is currently on the faculty of Bronx Preparatory Charter School, where she teaches a violin, cello, and chamber music program. This year, Lisa was featured as soloist with the Southwest Symphony in New Mexico in a performance of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto.
Lisa’s musical pursuits reach far beyond classical music. She has collaborated with artists representing various genres. She was featured on a recording, “World Voice,” a project inspired by the Pope that involved Aerosmith, N’Sync, and Britney Spears. Last year, Lisa participated in the newly established Juilliard Electric Ensemble that premiered an electric string quartet written by Mark Wood. Additionally, she has written arrangements, performed, or recorded for Junior Vasquez music, DJs Victor Calderone, Gomi, and Eddie Baez, and has played in venues Avalon, XL, Taj, Don’t Tell Mama’s, Centro-fly, and Crobar. Recent engagements have included performances in Radio City Music Hall with Elton John, and in Madison Square Garden with Josh Groban, Celine Dion, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Lisa is currently pursuing a PhD in Music Performance at New York University.
AARON COPP, lighting design
Aaron Copp has designed lighting for such companies and choreographers as Merce Cunningham, New York City Ballet, Kronos Quartet, Sara Rudner, Paradigm, Rebecca Lazier, Jamie Bishton, Martita Goshen and the Second Hand Dance Company. His lighting designs also appear at many American theaters, such as the Old Globe in San Diego, Dallas Theater Center and the Kennedy Center; he lit the long running Off-Broadway musical Naked Boys Singing!; and he has been a lighting consultant for Lincoln Center and the Joyce Theater.
Aaron received the “Bessie” award for his lighting of Merce Cunningham’s Biped. He has an MFA from the Yale School of Drama, is a member of United Scenic Artists, and has been on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College since 2001.
Home “from” Artist’s bio Performance info Contact info
© Connie Beckley (all rights reserved)