Meet the Artists
Soprano Emily Woodruff has appeared on the Composer’s Voice Concert Series (NYC), and the Brooklyn College Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, premiering The Raven Himself (Cholodenko), and offering a new multimedia interpretation of John Eaton’s song cycle A Greek Vision. She also created the role of Geraldine in Christabel, a chamber opera by Jennifer Bellor. Emily appears regularly on the operatic stage; recent credits include Mimì (La Bohemè), Marguerite (Faust), Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Violetta (La traviata), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Thais, and Anna Bolena. Emily holds both a B.A. in Music (piano) and an M.A. in Music Theory and History from the Penn State University’s Schreyer Honors College, as well as an M.A. in Musicology from the Eastman School of Music. www.emily-woodruff.com/
Jennifer Bellor is a versatile composer whose works blend contemporary jazz, classical, and rock styles. Her debut album Stay (2016) displays a “wonderful demonstration of how to maintain a highly individual compositional identity without needing to take refuge in pre-post-genre musical silos.” (Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox). She has been recognized for both her concert music and jazz, with awards including The American Prize for Chase the Stars (soprano, rapper, and ensemble), Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition prize for Noir, and a Downbeat Award for Midnight Swim. Her works have been presented by Washington National Opera, Lviv Philharmonic, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Mivos Quartet, among many others. Jennifer earned a PhD at Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University. www.jenniferbellor.com.
Bellor writes of her Queens Speak composition: From My Doleful Prison sets a letter Anne Boleyn supposedly wrote to Henry VIII while in prison awaiting execution. When I first read the letter, I knew I wanted to create a mad scene since she is angry, confused, anxious, and overwrought, having been wrongfully accused and sentenced to death for crimes that she may not even have committed. In addition to the soprano and piano parts, I used Logic samples to create a present day sonic atmosphere that one might experience sitting in a jail cell; footsteps of prison guards along with clanging of the metal bars, people yelling, and even the abstract electronic sounds of an electrocution chamber.
Drea Bim is a wanderer whose adventures have taken her to India, the UK, Europe, across North America, and she continues to travel extensively. Nonetheless, she still calls her native city Rochester, NY her home. Originally intending to pursue travel photography she shifted to the study of art when she discovered a love for high contrast imagery in any medium, an appreciation for ink drawing, and a style of implied presence; the feeling of a portrait without a fully defined figure if one at all. Beyond the two-dimensional she is also an aerial performer and single mother to a daughter – her main muse and partner in chaos. Drea's work and stories can be found online at wondersofbim.com/ and adventures followed on instagram @ WondersofBim.
Dustin Brown www.dustinbrownphoto.com/
Devin Cholodenko, a native New Yorker, is currently based in Brooklyn. He has had works performed locally in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island and internationally in Montreal and Tokyo. Devin holds a Bachelor of Music in both Composition and Performance (viola), both obtained from the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. He then continued his performance studies at McGill University in Montreal. His compositions are heavily influenced by his experiences as a performing musician.
Narin Shech was born in 1985 in Panama City, Panama. She has a diverse cultural background due to growing up in the United States and Israel. Narin is a multimedia artist currently living and working in Israel. She obtained her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2016 and is a recipient of the John Pfahl Scholarship Award. Through her artwork, Narin examines aspects of the human psyche within the spectrum of femininity and feminine identity. Her artistic background includes theatre, dance, performance art, sculpture, painting, photography and video art. www.narinshech.com/
Soprano Emily Woodruff has appeared on the Composer’s Voice Concert Series (NYC), and the Brooklyn College Electro-Acoustic Music Festival, premiering The Raven Himself (Cholodenko), and offering a new multimedia interpretation of John Eaton’s song cycle A Greek Vision. She also created the role of Geraldine in Christabel, a chamber opera by Jennifer Bellor. Emily appears regularly on the operatic stage; recent credits include Mimì (La Bohemè), Marguerite (Faust), Donna Anna and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni), Contessa (Le Nozze di Figaro), Violetta (La traviata), Josephine (H.M.S. Pinafore), Thais, and Anna Bolena. Emily holds both a B.A. in Music (piano) and an M.A. in Music Theory and History from the Penn State University’s Schreyer Honors College, as well as an M.A. in Musicology from the Eastman School of Music. www.emily-woodruff.com/
Jennifer Bellor is a versatile composer whose works blend contemporary jazz, classical, and rock styles. Her debut album Stay (2016) displays a “wonderful demonstration of how to maintain a highly individual compositional identity without needing to take refuge in pre-post-genre musical silos.” (Frank J. Oteri, NewMusicBox). She has been recognized for both her concert music and jazz, with awards including The American Prize for Chase the Stars (soprano, rapper, and ensemble), Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition prize for Noir, and a Downbeat Award for Midnight Swim. Her works have been presented by Washington National Opera, Lviv Philharmonic, Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, American Composers Orchestra, Mivos Quartet, among many others. Jennifer earned a PhD at Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music degree at Syracuse University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree at Cornell University. www.jenniferbellor.com.
Bellor writes of her Queens Speak composition: From My Doleful Prison sets a letter Anne Boleyn supposedly wrote to Henry VIII while in prison awaiting execution. When I first read the letter, I knew I wanted to create a mad scene since she is angry, confused, anxious, and overwrought, having been wrongfully accused and sentenced to death for crimes that she may not even have committed. In addition to the soprano and piano parts, I used Logic samples to create a present day sonic atmosphere that one might experience sitting in a jail cell; footsteps of prison guards along with clanging of the metal bars, people yelling, and even the abstract electronic sounds of an electrocution chamber.
Drea Bim is a wanderer whose adventures have taken her to India, the UK, Europe, across North America, and she continues to travel extensively. Nonetheless, she still calls her native city Rochester, NY her home. Originally intending to pursue travel photography she shifted to the study of art when she discovered a love for high contrast imagery in any medium, an appreciation for ink drawing, and a style of implied presence; the feeling of a portrait without a fully defined figure if one at all. Beyond the two-dimensional she is also an aerial performer and single mother to a daughter – her main muse and partner in chaos. Drea's work and stories can be found online at wondersofbim.com/ and adventures followed on instagram @ WondersofBim.
Dustin Brown www.dustinbrownphoto.com/
Devin Cholodenko, a native New Yorker, is currently based in Brooklyn. He has had works performed locally in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Long Island and internationally in Montreal and Tokyo. Devin holds a Bachelor of Music in both Composition and Performance (viola), both obtained from the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. He then continued his performance studies at McGill University in Montreal. His compositions are heavily influenced by his experiences as a performing musician.
Narin Shech was born in 1985 in Panama City, Panama. She has a diverse cultural background due to growing up in the United States and Israel. Narin is a multimedia artist currently living and working in Israel. She obtained her MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology in 2016 and is a recipient of the John Pfahl Scholarship Award. Through her artwork, Narin examines aspects of the human psyche within the spectrum of femininity and feminine identity. Her artistic background includes theatre, dance, performance art, sculpture, painting, photography and video art. www.narinshech.com/
