The Modern Artist Project Podcast

Evangelos Saklaras, a Greek double bassist, began his music studies in Athens at the age of 25. Three years later, he was granted a scholarship at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London where he studied with Colin Paris, Co-Principal of the London Symphony Orchestra. Evangelos frequently performs with various ensembles and orchestras in both the UK and Greece and has a particular interest in Historical Performance. Additionally, he is a talented jazz performer, improviser, and composer, and is actively involved in diverse creative projects. Notable performances include his participation in the London Händel Festival, the Athens-Epidaurus Festival, and the EFG London Jazz Festival. Driven by his enthusiasm for using music to make a positive impact on society, Evangelos served as a Fellow with the Nevis Ensemble in Scotland and worked as a teaching artist with Nucleo, a Sistema-inspired program in London, for four years. He has led composition workshops in community hubs and schools and has been invited to participate in the Lullaby Project. Additionally, Evangelos is a member of the ImPossibilities Collective and an alumnus of the Global Leaders Institute.

Takeaways

Social Media Links

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/walking.bass/

Please consider donating to their hardship fundraiser:

Gofundme: https://www.gofundme.com/f/former-nevis-fellows-hardship-fund

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

Jeff Bernett has been playing guitar since he was 13 years old, inspired by his older brother and uncle. Like many young guitarists, he learned to play songs by ear from his favorite bands, such as Nirvana and Creedence Clearwater Revival. He was fortunate to receive lessons from his brother, uncle, and Mark Arneson, a multi-talented musician, producer, and songwriter based in Minneapolis. Jeff has played guitar and bass for several bands, including The Rule, which supported Cyndi Lauper on her 2006 Body Acoustic tour throughout the United States, as well as in locations like Qatar on the United States Air Force base in Doha, and São Paulo. In 2018, Jeff became the musical director and guitarist for Starlette's Web, a tribute band that honors women in pop, rock, and country music from the 80s to the present. As the band's musical director, Jeff conceptualized Caedence, which is a browser-based music collaboration software that enables musicians to synchronize and personalize music charts, lyrics, audio, MIDI, visuals, and more across devices in real-time.  Through Caedence, Jeff combines his passion for music and technology to help other artists bring their creative vision to life with less time, money, and effort. The beta version of the software is scheduled to be released in 2023.

Takeaways

Social Media Links

Website: https://caedence.io/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caedence.io

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caedencemusic/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Caedence

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

Francesco Rocco is a multi-talented and versatile artist based in the UK and Italy. He graduated from Bologna Conservatoire, attended the Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone, and holds an MMus from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in classical guitar as well. Aside from his music studies, he is a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering from Università degli Studi di Padova. With a versatile approach to guitar, Francesco has won numerous awards and performed in a wide range of genres. Francesco won first prize in the Alison Stephens’ Guitar Competition in the UK, second prize in the Concorso Internazionale Giovani Musicisti “Antonio Salieri”, and third prize in the Concorso di Esecuzione Musicale "Città Piove di Sacco" in Italy. He is also the Vice President of Lilium SoundArt, an association promoting music and art through cultural digital projects with young musicians and cultural institutions worldwide. Francesco is also an avid learner, regularly practicing yoga, improving his cooking skills through learning new recipes, and caring for two stray cats.

Takeaways

Social Media Links

Website: https://liliumsoundart.com/en/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiliumSoundArtVideo/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/liliumsoundart

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp2GaodqHLEHzNp3wy6deKg

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

Adrián Nájera-Coto holds degrees from Universidad de Costa Rica (2005), Western Illinois University (2007), and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University (2009). As a member of the Youth Orchestra of the Americas (YOA), Nájera-Coto performed in important venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City, Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro, National Theater of Panama, Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC and St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. From 2010 to 2017, he served as principal bass trombonist of the Orquesta Sinfónica de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. Adrián has extensively performed and taught in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, México, and Costa Rica, as well as in different cities in the United States. Adrián has served as a full-time professor and associate director of the Department of Media and Digital Culture at Tec de Monterrey, Campus Monterrey. In 2021-2022,

Takeaways

Kristine Dizon, the CEO and founder of the Modern Artist Project, interviews Adrián Nájera-Coto, a bass trombonist and graduate research assistant at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Adrián has a background in music performance and has taught at the university level. In the interview, they discuss the challenges of communicating and connecting with people in regards to education and art. Adrián emphasizes the importance of involving people in the decision-making process and making connections through art. They also suggest using different approaches and methods to reach different groups of people and finding common ground with them. Kristine agrees and adds that it is important to be open to change and to listen to the needs and concerns of others. Adrián also discusses the importance of not being afraid of failure and learning from mistakes, as well as having a strong belief in oneself and one's actions. Kristine asks for advice on how to approach a career in the digital age, and Adrián advises being open to learning new things, staying up to date with technology and trends, and finding ways to stand out in a competitive field. They also recommend networking and building relationships with others in the industry. Kristine agrees and adds the importance of having a strong work ethic and being able to adapt to change.

Social Media Links

Website: https://centerstage.conn-selmer.com/artists/adrian-najera-coto

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adrianbasstrombone/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriannajeracoto/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adrian.najera.coto/

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

David Alexander Rahbee is currently Senior Artist in Residence at the University of Washington School of Music in Seattle, where he is Director of Orchestral Activities and Chair of Orchestral Conducting. He is the Music Director and Conductor of the University of Washington Symphony Orchestra and founder of the UW Campus Philharmonia Orchestras. He is a recipient of the American-Austrian Foundation's 2003 Herbert von Karajan Fellowship for Young Conductors, the 2005 International Richard-Wagner-Verband Stipend, a fellowship from the Acanthes Centre in Paris (2007), and is a first prize winner in conducting from The American Prize national non-profit competitions in the performing arts for 2020.

He has appeared in concert with orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony, RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Orchestre Philharmonique du Luxembourg, Kammerphilharmonie Berlin-Brandenburg, Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Chattanooga Symphony, National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, Orchestre de la Francophonie, Orchesterakademie der Bochumer Symphoniker, Seattle Modern Orchestra among many others, and has appeared at summer festivals around Europe and North America.

His brass arrangements are published by Warwick Music, and his articles on the music of Mahler have appeared in journals of the International Gustav Mahler Gesellschaft, among others. He is co-editor of Daniels’ Orchestral Music (6thedition) and Daniels’ Orchestral Music Online (DOMO), the gold standard among conductors, orchestral administrators, orchestra librarians as well as other music professionals and students researching for orchestral programming.

Takeaways

Kristine Dizon and David Rahbee are discussing the role that music played in Rahbee's life and how it led to his career as a conductor. Rahbee discusses the role that social media and the internet can play in promoting classical music, but also expresses concerns about the loss of personal interaction. He mentioned the importance of engaging with people who make comments or ask questions, and the potential for sharing performances online. However, he also mentions challenges to doing so, including the cost of streaming performances that include rental pieces and the restrictions placed on them by rental companies.

Dizon asks for ideas on how to make classical music more human in the digital age, and Rahbee suggests engaging with people who are interested in the music and asking them questions about what they find interesting about it. They also mention the importance of trying to work out the kinks in the process of sharing performances online and finding a way to make it more accessible to a wider audience.

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.davidrahbee.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DARahbee/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidrahbee/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darahbee/?hl=en

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

American saxophonist Nathan Mertens (he/him) currently serves as the Teaching Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Arkansas and in the Fall of 2023 will begin as the Assistant Professor of Saxophone at the University of Colorado Boulder. As an active soloist and chamber musician, he has performed recitals in Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Croatia, Bolivia, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras including the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra, Hastings Symphony Orchestra, The University of Texas Symphony Orchestra, and the University of Arkansas Saxophone Ensemble. Mertens’ orchestral experience includes performances with the San Antonio Symphony and the Omaha Symphony. In competition, he was awarded Third Prize in the 14th Kurashiki International Saxophone Competition, Second Grand Prize in the North International Music Competition in Sweden, and has been a finalist for many national competitions.

Previously, Mertens lived in Tokyo, Japan as a Monbukagakusho Research Scholarship recipient with the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. As such, Mertens was the first American Saxophonist to formally study in Japan. Realizing that awareness and access to Japanese music were lacking in the West, Mertens created the Japanese Saxophone Database, a resource to connect the rest of the world with all things saxophone in Japan. While in Tokyo, he performed with the Kunitachi Saxophone Ensemble, the Japan Saxophone Orchestra, Marie Kikuchi, and Emi Kondo.

Mertens studied at The University of Texas at Austin - Butler School of Music, Hastings College, and Kunitachi College of Music, with Stephen Page, Debra Rhodes, and Masato Kumoi, respectively. Mertens is a D'Addario Woodwind Artist, a Yamaha Performing Artist, and a Rousseau Artist Endorser, and performs exclusively on these products.

Takeaways

Resources: http://www.nathanmertens.com

Social Media Links

Website: http://www.nathanmertens.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathanmertens

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nathanmertens

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at [email protected]. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

The Modern Artist Project

Dr. Garrett Hope is an award-winning composer, speaker, and money coach. His focus is on helping people change their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about money. Since money is the most taboo topic we have in our culture, and since everyone learned about it at a very young age, money beliefs often affect people negatively. His mission is to change that. In 2020 he delivered a TEDx talk on how music, and the arts, can make science more accessible and engaging for general audiences. From 2005–2020 he taught at a variety of colleges and universities in Colorado, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. Currently, he travels the country (and over Zoom) speaking to audiences of all sizes, helping them untangle their business knots and begin to think business-ly. Garrett holds degrees from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of Northern Colorado, and Colorado Christian University. He is a native of Colorado, but currently lives in Nebraska with his wife and daughter. For more information, visit www.garretthope.com.

Arthur Breur focuses on composing personalized melodic music for live performance, for everything from solo instrument or voice to full orchestra, concert band, and other large ensembles. He is the Composer in Residence for the Tualatin Valley Community Band and the Tualatin Valley Symphony, working not just to create new music, but to promote the creation and performance of new music by others. He is the co-founder of ComposerInResidence.org, a model for creating custom artist residencies for community ensembles. He is also the host of the Melodology Podcast.

Takeaways

Resources: https://www.musicsummit.biz/

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.musicsummit.biz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/UltimateMusicBizSummit/

Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/ultimatemusicb1

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at info@themodernartistproject.com. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

As an actor, Eric Booth performed in many plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and around the U.S. As a businessman, he started a small company, Alert Publishing, that in seven years became the largest of its kind in the U.S. analyzing research on trends in American lifestyles. As an author, he has had seven books published—The Everyday Work of Art was a Book of the Month Club bestseller, and The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible, was published by Oxford University Press, and is used as a textbook around the world.  He has published 45 articles, and was the Founding Editor of the quarterly Teaching Artist Journal.

He has been on the faculty of Juilliard (13 years), Tanglewood (5 years) and Lincoln Center Institute (for 41 years); and he has given workshops at over 30 universities, and 60 cultural institutions.  He has designed and led over twenty research projects, and seven online courses and workshops, including the new course Teaching Artistry for Social Impact, offered free on Kadenze. He serves as a consultant for many organizations, cities, school districts, states and businesses around the U.S., and in 11 other countries.  Clients have included seven of the ten largest U.S. orchestras, six national service organizations, Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center. Formerly the Founding Director of the Teacher Center of the Leonard Bernstein Center (now on the Board of Directors), he is a frequent keynote speaker on the arts to groups of all kinds. He gave the closing keynote address to UNESCO’s first ever worldwide arts education conference (Lisbon 2006), the opening keynote to UNESCO’s 2014 World Conference. A decade ago he founded ITAC—the International Teaching Artist Collaborative—the world’s first network of artists who work in communities and schools.  He is the first person to be given an honorary doctorate for teaching artistry (New England Conservatory 2012). In 2015 he was given the nation’s highest award in arts education and was named one of the “25 Most Powerful and Influential People in the American Arts.”

Takeaways

Resources: https://ericbooth.net/

Social Media Links

Website: https://ericbooth.net/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eric.booth.9822

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-booth-06b426/

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at info@themodernartistproject.com. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon

Dr. Julia Lougheed was recently appointed as the new Executive Director of the New Works Project. The New Works Project is a 501(c)(3) organization that enables musicians to participate in the commissioning of new music at an accessible price. Our programs serve those who are interested in contemporary music but are limited in their capacity to engage in the community, either because of access to funds to initiate the commissioning process or access to large or specialty instruments. The works we commission are intentionally portable and flexible. Thus, while they are of a degree of artistic excellence suitable for a formal recital setting, they can just as easily be included in a variety of school settings, public areas, hospitals, or institutions.

The project was founded in 2014 by Melanie Voytovich in response to these challenges. Although ad hoc commissions were available through community members, she sought to create a structure of regularly scheduled commission projects that united small communities of performers for each work. We also recognize access to personnel is often a barrier and have made a commitment to commissioning works for solo and duo exclusively.

Takeaways

Resources: https://www.newworksproject.org/

Social Media Links

Website: https://www.newworksproject.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewWorksProject

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/newworksproject/?hl=en

What’s Next?!

Thank you for supporting this show by listening and sharing with your friends. If you liked this podcast, please rate and write a review of how this show has helped you. This will help us be able to increase our visibility nationally and in being able to make an impact on the profession.

If you would like to hear more about any specific topics, please email us at info@themodernartistproject.com. I would love to help support your community in all artistic disciplines.

Kristine Dizon