The music of Brazilian singer/songwriter Djavan fuses bossa nova, samba and northeastern folklore with jazz, pop and rock—a mix which has brought him global recognition as one of the country’s most important and innovative living artists. Voice faculty member Jocelyn Medina presents an intimate glimpse into Djavan's musical legacy with a program that will leave listeners dancing and singing along, as is characteristic of the iconic composers live performances. She’ll be joined by jazz and Brazilian music specialist Bill Kopper on guitar.
Vocalist Jocelyn Medina was born and raised in Clinton, New York into a family of singers and musicians, and began participating in choirs and piano lessons when she was five years old. “There was always music in the house, and as the youngest of three children I was fortunate to often have the music a parent or older sibling was playing passed on to me…singing came naturally.” Though she studied oboe and piano in high school, voice always remained her main focus.
Ms. Medina has also taught a wide range of adults, including seniors, both novice and professional adults, and those with injured voices. She is certified in all levels of Somatic Voicework, a functional, body-based method of vocal training whose techniques have been adopted by a number of her previous and most influential teachers, including Theo Bleckmann and Luciana Souza.
While jazz voice is her focus, Jocelyn loves to listen to and perform a wide variety of music, from jazz to classical, soul and improvisational rock. “I’m hugely inspired by many genres of world music,” she says, having studied in Ghana, West Africa (including percussion studies) as well as in Salvador, Brazil, and most recently spending six months immersed in Hindustani (North Indian Classical) Music in Mumbai, India. However, “If given my choice,” she reveals, “I love working on and performing my own original music the most.”
http://www.jocelynmedina.com/
Bill Kopper is a Boulder, Colorado based guitarist known for his expertise in American Jazz and Blues, and Brazilian Samba, Bossa Nova, and Choro. Adept on electric, classical and 7-string classical guitar (commonly used in Samba and Choro), he is featured on a diverse selection of recordings, from his own CDs “Samba de Chueca”, “El Oeste” and “Muzungu”, to Jazz vocalist and 2017 Grammy nominee Rene Marie’s CD “Black Lace Freudian Slip” and the soundtrack to her one-woman show “Slut Energy Theory, Brazilian pianist/composer Carmen Sandim’s 2019 Rope-a-Dope Records release, “Play Doh”, the Samba/Pagode group Ginga’s eponymous EP release, Choro Clarinetist Dexter Payne’s discs “Pra Voce” and “Jazz For All”, Spanish born vocalist Sonya Vallet’s debut recording “Moments in Passing”, Jazz Saxophonist Nelson Rangell’s discs “Soul to Soul” and “American Songbook, Chicago Jazz trumpet master “Brad Goode’s “Polytonal Dance Party” and “Chicago Red”, Peruvian songstress Cristina Mendoza Vidal’s debut release “La Aurora, Icaros From the Amazon”, among many others.
He is currently an instructor of guitar and the University of Colorado/Denver where he has taught for the last 8 years, and divides his time musically among the Samba/Pagode group Ginga, the Brazilian Choro/Forro group The Dexter Payne Quintet, the Brazilian Jazz Group Coraçao and Baltimore-based vocalist Sonya Vallet’s group Los Profugos Galacticos.
Venezuelan cellist, Maria Gabriela Figueroa, was born in Caracas where she started her music education in the “Conservatorio de Música Simón Bolívar” and soon joined El Sistema Infant Orchestra with children from all over the country. This enriching experience gave her the opportunity to grow and travel around the world with friends for life. Parallel to her university studies at UNEARTE University of the Arts where she obtained a Bachelor's degree with a special mention in Instrumental Execution, she worked for El Sistema as a trainer of children's and youth orchestras. She was also a coordinator and professor at the National Academy of Violoncello, Emil Friedman School.
For thirteen years, she performed as part of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, participating in international tours and under the baton of great masters such as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir. Simon Rattle, Claudio Abbado, Krzysztof Penderecki, among others. María Gabriela currently resides in New York City where her teaching career has taken center stage in her life. She teaches at programs inspired by the El Sistema model including the Union City Music Project and at the Bloomingdale School of Music. Recently, she has joined the faculty at CelloBello digital platform created by the respected cellist and pedagogue Paul Katz, where she teaches classes in Spanish for children and young people internationally. She is also developing various personal educational projects of her own held virtually.
Following in the footsteps of her older sister, Paloma started on the violin at age four. However, she always had her eye on the cello and after a few years of protest she made the switch. At just eight years old she knew that the bigger instrument with notes like ones you could sing was the one for her and it's a decision she hasn't looked back since.
Weekends and summers in her youth were filled with chamber music and youth orchestras, including studying at Manhattan School of Music Pre-College and playing Principal Cello of NY Youth Symphony. She continued her studies through college with Leonid Gorokhov at the Royal College of Music (London) earning both BM and MM degrees, and further at Michigan State University with Suren Bagratuni where she completed her DMA as a full scholarship teaching assistant.
Paloma resides in New York and collaborates frequently as a chamber musician and plays with the Chamber Orchestra of NY. She is a dedicated teacher to her studio of budding cellists, and recently joined the faculty of Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She also teaches at Music Institute of LI and privately.
