Collective Euphonia

10/26/2021

Please join Anna Billias, Julia Goudimova and me for a fun and spooky Collective Euphonia trio recital at W&L on Halloween at 3 pm. If you can't make it in person, check out the "Livestream" link below and tune in wherever you are.

W&L presents “A Gothic Romance”
Music Faculty Recital presented by
Scott Williamson, tenor and Anna Billias, piano
Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021 at 3 p.m.
No tickets are required.

“This program will sweep the listener away intro Halloween mode, allowing them to bathe in the spirit of fantastic and magical elements,” comments Anna Billias.

Scott Williamson, tenor and Anna Billias, piano, present a seasonal program entitled, “The Poet’s Echo: A Gothic Romance” on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 3 p.m. in the Wilson Concert Hall. Masks are required. No tickets are required and performance will be streamed at https://livestream.com/wlu.

Audience members are encouraged to come in costume for the hour-long program, which will be performed without intermission.

The recital opens with “The Siren, the Witch, and the Crow,” a group of songs by Schubert, Clara and Robert Schumann, and John Corigliano. Selections from Benjamin Britten’s rarely heard song cycle, “The Poet’s Echo,” are at the center of the program and feature Russia’s most famous writer, Alexander Pushkin.

Britten’s songs are framed by excerpts from Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” his operatic adaptation of Pushkin’s novel in verse. Cellist, Julia Goudimova joins her colleagues for the Tchaikovsky arias. Billias offers a trio of vivid portraits from Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition,” conjuring old castles, catacombs and gnomes.

Williamson shares musical theater favorites by Gershwin, Sondheim and Rupert Holmes. Goudimova joins tenor and pianist to conclude the program with one of Richard Strauss’s beloved songs, “Allerseelen” (All Souls’ Day).

“The program is eclectic by design to showcase a variety of responses to romantic and gothic themes,” says Williamson. “Mythological figures like the Lorelei, a German relative of Homer’s Sirens, connect Lieder by Schubert and the Schumann’s to Gershwin, and Pushkin’s verse is full of mystery and phantasmagoria.”

05/29/2021

Hope you can join us Sunday, May 30 at 4 pm! Info and links below for a special "Listening to Paintings" ( ) for Mental Health: "Renewal and Healing"

Collective Euphonia presents: Listening to Paintings: Renewal and Healing
recorded live at the Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
featuring: Asherah Capellaro, soprano, Scott Williamson, tenor,
Pedro Szalay, dancer, and William McCorkle, pianist

May 30, 2021, 4 pm ET. Free online “watch party”: https://w2g.tv/q5jcjjekqj2c17i9e2
Contact: [email protected]
Scott Williamson, artistic director: 917-584-6321

Collective Euphonia (CE) presents a special collaborative “Listening to Paintings” (L2P) called “Renewal and Healing.” To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, and in collaboration with the Taubman Museum of Art, members of the interdisciplinary Roanoke-based artist collective perform a program of song, poetry and dance in the TMA galleries.

CE founder, Scott Williamson described the program “as a journey from dark to light, like the journey of many artists, with creativity as a means of not only survival but process. Creativity is a primary means of expression for many artists. For example, Elizabethan lutenist and song-writer John Dowland could be called the first ‘emo’ composer. Robert Schumann is a literal case-study in bipolar health swings and creative cycles. This program of four centuries of song features artists on the mental health spectrum. It offers the potential for ‘renewal and healing.’ It also sheds light on the works of artists creating beauty through illness.”

Williamson, who also sings tenor in the ensemble, is joined by soprano and conductor, Asherah Capellaro. Southwest Virginia Ballet artistic director Pedro Szalay is choreographer and dancer, and Lexington conductor and collaborative artist, William McCorkle accompanies the trio who sing and dance among the galleries.

“The Taubman Museum (TMA) is a dream space for this kind of program, and we have a well-balanced quartet of engaging local artists for this collaboration,” Williamson said.

Combining vocal music and poetry specially curated for the TMA galleries, “L2P” began in 2011 when Williamson was Artistic Director of Opera Roanoke and TMA Executive Director Cindy Peterson was Director of Education. The series has included special programs for exhibits by John Cage, Norman Rockwell, Nick Cave and Ray Kass, among many others. Collective Euphonia’s debut residency in 2019 featured a special “L2P” with an a ca****la octet and is available online.

“Renewal and Healing” is available starting May 30, 4 pm ET, where the artists will host a “watch party,” which you can join by following this link: https://w2g.tv/q5jcjjekqj2c17i9e2

Thanks to the generosity of a pair of anonymous patrons, the performance will remain accessible online on the Collective Euphonia YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJnXBRQEosulxXdVOKaekw/featured

05/26/2021

Friends! Please help us spread the word about a special program, a free gift to our communities, creative therapy for Mental Health Awareness Month, featuring a special quartet: William McCorkle on keys, Asherah Capellaro, soprano Scott Williamson tenor with Pedro Szalay dancing and helping make this (Listening to Paintings) in the Taubman Museum of Art galleries so special.

Please share our press release below, and find info on the watch party May 30 at 4. This 45' live video will remain accessible!

Collective Euphonia presents:
Listening to Paintings: Renewal and Healing
recorded live at the Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, VA
featuring: Asherah Capellaro, soprano, Scott Williamson, tenor,
Pedro Szalay, dancer, and William McCorkle, pianist

May 30, 2021, 4 pm ET. Free online “watch party”: https://w2g.tv/q5jcjjekqj2c17i9e2
Contact: [email protected]
Scott Williamson, artistic director: 917-584-6321

Collective Euphonia (CE) presents a special collaborative “Listening to Paintings” (L2P) called “Renewal and Healing.” To honor Mental Health Awareness Month, and in collaboration with the Taubman Museum of Art, members of the interdisciplinary Roanoke-based artist collective perform a program of song, poetry and dance in the TMA galleries.

CE founder, Scott Williamson described the program “as a journey from dark to light, like the journey of many artists, with creativity as a means of not only survival but process. Creativity is a primary means of expression for many artists. For example, Elizabethan lutenist and song-writer John Dowland could be called the first ‘emo’ composer. Robert Schumann is a literal case-study in bipolar health swings and creative cycles. This program of four centuries of song features artists on the mental health spectrum. It offers the potential for ‘renewal and healing.’ It also sheds light on the works of artists creating beauty through illness.”

Williamson, who also sings tenor in the ensemble, is joined by soprano and conductor, Asherah Capellaro. Southwest Virginia Ballet artistic director Pedro Szalay is choreographer and dancer, and Lexington conductor and collaborative artist, William McCorkle accompanies the trio who sing and dance among the galleries.

“The Taubman Museum (TMA) is a dream space for this kind of program, and we have a well-balanced quartet of engaging local artists for this collaboration,” Williamson said.

Combining vocal music and poetry specially curated for the TMA galleries, “L2P” began in 2011 when Williamson was Artistic Director of Opera Roanoke and TMA Executive Director Cindy Peterson was Director of Education. The series has included special programs for exhibits by John Cage, Norman Rockwell, Nick Cave and Ray Kass, among many others. Collective Euphonia’s debut residency in 2019 featured a special “L2P” with an a ca****la octet and is available online.

“Renewal and Healing” is available starting May 30, 4 pm ET, where the artists will host a “watch party,” which you can join by following this link: https://w2g.tv/q5jcjjekqj2c17i9e2

Thanks to the generosity of a pair of anonymous patrons, the performance will remain accessible online on the Collective Euphonia YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkJnXBRQEosulxXdVOKaekw/featured

Though we won't be in front of Rembrandt's ekphrastic music therapy portrait, we do spend time with a 16th c. Tapestry, among other amazing pieces!

05/18/2021

Save the date! Link for our free program of song and dance, poetry and art coming soon!

12/22/2020

Pedro Szalay and I will be sharing a pair of beautiful English carols tonight at 7 pm ET on my page:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=617190508

Hope you can join us! 🎼🕺

Southwest Virginia Ballet

12/01/2020

In honor of national Romania Day and their spectacular holiday light illuminations, here’s to one of the collaborations currently on hold, but with plans in the works... Back here in Roanoke, Hermia and Puck helped illuminate Rudy the COVID-quarantined-indoor reindeer.

We’ll be back before the end of 2020 with an update on our plans for CREATIVE WELLNESS in 2021, including our first MUSIC & MENTAL HEALTH symposium in MAY 2021!