Tag "Sharon Lesley"

  • Interview with Bill Barbanera

    5-20-14 Audio Interview

    Bill Barbanera is the conductor and musical director of the 45 piece Sarasota Concert Band, a high level semi professional group of musicians who play six to eight concerts a year, the most important of which is their Memorial Day concert honoring those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom. The concert takes place at Philippi Creek Park on May 26th, parking and kids are free others pay $5.00. The band will offer patriotic music and some lighter fare, as well as vocal performances by Ben Turoff. This year they will be highlighting the world premiere of Glory and Honor a stirring piece written by local composer David Ohrenstein and arranged for the concert band by his wife, actor, singer and author, Sharon Lesley. In this interview Bill talks about how he discovered his interest in and talent for playing “anything with a reed in it; saxophone, clarinet, oboe and bassoon,” and how he turned that talent into his career as conductor, musical director and teacher. Also whet your appetite for the real thing by listening to a digital version of Glory and Honor, and hear composer David Ohrensteirn at the piano playing George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.

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  • Interview with Meliss Kenworthy

    7-2-13 Audio Interview

    First a singer, then an actor and currently a director Meliss Kenworthy was the little girl with the loudest voice in her class. She fell in love with Opera as a very young child and pursued her passion for singing, until finally finding that where she really belonged was in Musical Theater, where her beautiful voice, acting ability and good looks made her a shoo-in. Currently she is expanding her reach by directing the Painting Churches the first play in the Banyan Summer Season – Listen to Meliss’s story and hear Sharon Lesley’s review of Painting Churches.

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  • Interview with Malev Babel

    4-23-13 Audio Interview

    Andrei Maleav-Babel – is a Russian Immigrant. The son and grandson of writers and artists, Andrei wrote musicals and directed his parent’s friends in his plays, by the time he was 10 or 12. Luckily coming of age as Perestroika was occurring in Russia, Andrei was able to start his own theater as a very young man. Barely able to speak English, he met, courted and married an American sociology student and became a Professor of Acting at the prestigious FSU Conservatory for actor training, one of the top ten actor training companies in the United States. Listen to him tell his amazing story and talk about his direction of the Conservatory’s production of Candida, which is now playing at the Cook theater, and hear Sharon Lesley’s review of the play.

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