Community Arts Project Has A Hot Summer LineUp For Its 40th Year
When the performing arts calendar slows down for the Miami summer, a six-concert music series plays every other Thursday inside a historic Coral Gables church.
From the clarinet stylings in a show remembering bandleader Benny Goodman to the transcendent sounds from a solo harp, the Community Arts Program (CAP) Summer Concert Series has going for it a varied program – something for everyone, you might say, along with the sublime setting of the Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ.
There’s also the conversational aspect the performers bring to the series that gives CAP a homespun atmosphere.
“My goal as a artistic director, and as a musician myself, is to present artists that deliver not only a compelling performance, but also establish an inviting rapport with the audience,” says Mark Hart, executive and artistic director of CAP.
Now in its 40th year, Hart says he’s chosen artists that “continue to stretch their abilities and offerings to draw in the concertgoer.”
The series kicks off Thursday, June 12 with husband-and-wife duo Hot Fiddle, featuring violinist Ashley Liberty and pianist Daniel Strange.
“It’s a very high energy performance.. They go through a wide variety of music from classical and jazz to fiddle and rock, one of those really good celebratory backdrops to open up a series like this,” says Hart.
Shows are every other Thursday through Aug. 21. Harpist Bridget Kibbey is the second concert of the series on June 26, trumpeter Anthony Hervey on July 10, cellist Leland Ko on July 24, clarinetist Ken Peplowski on Aug. 7 and vocalist Tyreek McDole accompanied by piano, bass, and drums to close out the season.
Hart mentions Hervey’s performance as a homecoming. “He’s an original South Florida guy who went to Dillard High School. And the bass player in his group is a kid by the name of Sebastian Rio, who was part of the Community Arts Program as a kid. He was in our jazz ensemble and went with us to Jazz at Lincoln Center.”
Throughout the school year, the Community Arts Program (CAP) also has an after-school music education program teaching music education to students from more than 58 Miami-Dade County schools with its CAP Conservatory for the Arts and its Miami Jazz Institute.
“No student is turned away,” says Hart. Tuition is based on a sliding scale. “All I ask is for interest and enthusiasm and commitment.”
On Friday mornings from 10 a.m. to noon, following some of the CAP concerts, musicians present CAP summer master classes and jam sessions, which Hart says always lead to fun discoveries. Bridget Kibbey, Anthony Harvey and Leland Ko will host the Friday morning master classes and jam sessions after their concerts, also held in the United Church of Christ sanctuary.
“We have Bridget and Leland on the classical side where they do more of a master class. Students come and play for them but the public comes, too, and then they answer questions about their music and careers. Then on the jam side is Anthony and Ken, where they talk about their profession and we invited kids or anyone to bring their instruments for a jam session,” says Hart.
The piano part of the Hot Fiddle duo, who opens the series, is the director of CAP’s All-Star Jazz Ensemble. Under Strange’s leadership, the released an album, “With A Swing!” and were three-time finalists in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition and Festival.
“We started it the All-Star Jazz Ensemble in 2009. It was a big band originally, and four years in, when Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Essentially Ellington Competition opened up to community bands we scored an invite out of the 15 between the United States and Canada and it was a life changing experience,” says Strange.
He is the Assistant Professor of Contemporary Keyboard and the MADE (Musicianship, Artistry Development and Entrepreneurship) program director at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music, where he directs the award-winning American Music Ensemble.
“One of my primary roles at Frost is working with young songwriters and composers in the commercial vein and I thought it was a missing element for high school instrumentalists because generally you show up to a group in your school and you learn the song,”
He had a student who was a writer in the group who wanted to play their music.
“Other students said they wanted to write. The group is now a Jazz Ensemble Plus with the plus being with the emphasis on composition. I’ve discovered some real talented writers. Over the last four years more than 30 pieces have been written. I guide them and give them my opinions, but it’s very collaborative like it would be in any real band situation.”
The Hot Fiddle duo were once young music students themselves and actually met when they were youngsters at band camp.
“When we were kids, we played in chamber groups in summer camps. We lost touch for 10 years and reunited at a camp that I was working at in Maine,” says Strange.
Liberty had transferred from the Manhattan School of Music in the middle of her master’s degree to the Frost School of Music at University of Miami
By that time the music duo was deeply in love and she convinced him to follow her to the University of Miami. It wasn’t that difficult of a sell as Strange wanted to study piano with Shelley Berg, who became dean of the Frost School of Music in 2007.
She plays with the XXX but says one of her proudest achievements as of late is working with the Southwood Orchestra at Southwood Middle School in Palmetto Bay. Professionally, highlights include a regular gig with Andrea Bocelli and playing with Shakira in the Pepsi Halftime show.
They formed Hot Fiddle in 2007 after a show they performed in Maine. “We called that show Hot Fiddle and then were realized that it was a really great name for our artistry and who we are. And it kind of stuck from there. The name is the promise of something fun. We just love playing for audiences because we end up connecting with them. There’s just this undeniable connection and there’s a feeling of excitement. And that’s the ‘hot’ part, you know?” says Liberty.
Early Ordering Recommended!
General Admission Ticket: $35 advance; $40 at the door.
Patron Ticket: $50 advance; $55 at the door.
Includes reserved, general seating within rows 1 through 9.
Patron Series Package: $270 ($30 savings!) ALL SIX concerts.
Includes reserved, general seating within rows 1 through 9.
Patron Mini-Series Package: $190 ($10 savings!) FOUR concerts of one’s choice.
Includes reserved, general seating within rows 1 through 9.
Order tickets by calling 305.448.7421, ext. 12. VISA and MasterCard are accepted. For instant processing and confirmation anytime: Order tickets quickly, safely, and conveniently online at www.CommunityArtsProgram.org. All concerts are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Free and convenient parking is available.
FREE Community Arts Program (CAP) Summer Master Classes & Jam Sessions
CAP Summer Concert Series concerts are also held).
DIRECTIONS
Coral Gables Congregational United Church of Christ is located at 3010 De Soto Boulevard (directly across from the Biltmore Hotel and five miles from Miami International Airport) in Coral Gables, FL, USA.