2003-2004 Season

Jeremy Gatlin & Hilary Smoot are members of the Brigham Young University's Ballroom Dance Company and have been dancing together for the past year and a half. Jeremy began tap dancing when he was ten years old and discovered ballroom dancing when he was in high school. While in high school he participated in Carriage House Players productions and was president of the Drama Club at Lincoln County High School. Jeremy, a native of Taft, Tennessee, is currently a senior at BYU majoring in composite dance with emphasis in ballet and ballroom dance. In 2002, Jeremy was a performer in the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics. That same year he completed a month long tour of the east coast performing in Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

Ballroom dance came easy for Hilary with her involvement in figure skating and cheerleading in high school. Hilary was involved in figure skating until two years ago when she discovered her passion for Latin dance. A native of Kamus, Utah, Hilary is a senior at BYU, majoring in English with minors in communications and dance, and currently works for University Communications at BYU. Hilary and Jeremy have just completed a tour of Washington State, performing in Seattle, Olympia, Yakima and other cities. Among their numerous awards, Jeremy and Hilary placed in the top 24 at the U, S, notional Championships for the International Latin category in March of the year.

Jeremy and Hilary provided a free dance workshop following the night's program.

Roger Wiblin and Natalie Wakefield

Roger Wiblin and Natalie Wakefield have been dancing together for a little over a year but they both have a long history of ballroom dance. Since Natalie's parents are directors of the Brigham Young University Ballroom Dance Company, dance has been part of her life since age ten. Her history of dance competition began as a member of the BYU youth ballroom dance team. She now competes in both Latin and Standard Ballroom. Natalie, native of Provo, Utah, is a junior majoring in English with a minor in ballroom dance.

Roger began dancing at age twelve and has been a teacher of ballroom dance for the last five years. He is a native of Durban, South Africa, and will be awarded his Master's degree in history at BYU this August. Roger and Natalie have placed in competitions in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco. This spring they ranked in the top 24 for the International Standard Ballroom Dancing category at the U. S. National Championships.

Both couples are privileged to be a part of the BYU Ballroom Dance Company which has the largest ballroom dance program in the United States. Each year over 5000 students enroll in ballroom dance classes but only 36 dancers are chosen to dance in the touring company. The BYU Ballroom Dance Company has been reigning U. S. and British National Formation Dance Champions for 20 years. The company has toured China, England, Austria, South Africa, Ukraine and Australia as well as many other countries. However, because of the war in Iraq, their tour abroad to the South Pacific was cancelled this summer.

Breand M. Hughes

Choreographer, Breand Hughes, was a member of the original Starpower PowerPac tour in 1998, performing in Las Vegas, Dallas and Orlando and training under choreographers such as Gus Giordano and Barry Lather. In 1999, Breand performed in the ProBowl haft-time show with N'Sync. After moving to Riverside, California in 2000, she furthered her dance education as an active member of the Riverside Community College dance department including their Dance Touring Ensemble. Also while in California, Breand worked for RCC's Norco campus as choreographer for the musical "Anything Goes". Breand is also the founder and director of the Community Outreach Touring Ensemble, a group of young dancers dedicated to helping our community and sharing the art of dance with all members of the community.

The 2nd of our 2003 - 2004 series.

John Johns - Classical Guitarist

Sunday, October 26, 2003 3:00 P.M.

Lincoln County High School

Adnia Rice Auditorium

John Johns was praised, at his New York debut at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, by the New York Times as a "first-rate" performer with sure fingers and a firm musical sense...a sensitive instrumentalist. The Guitar Review described him as "an unforgettable guitarist". The Nashville Tennessean called him "a superb musician" and "a classical guitar wizard", while England's Classical Guitar praised him as "always musical and often poetic". Johns first received national recognition when he appeared the Westinghouse-ABC television special, "A Pride of Guitars". He performed to critical acclaim on National Public Radio's "Concert Guitar", which featured some of the world's leading guitarists, among them Manuel Barrueco, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Leo Brouwer, Sharon Isben and Oscar Ghiglia. His recording, "John Johns Plays Bach, Bennet, Brouwer and Others" has received international acclaim by leading guitar periodicals and journals. He made his Paris debut performing a concert for the American Ambassador to the Office of Economic Cooperation and Development and invited guests and dignitaries from the French, American and Canadian governments. He has also performed in Nice, France in the Kautalus Guitar Association's Guitar Festival. In June 2003 he presented a recital at Chitarra Imperia International Guitar Festival in Imperia, Italy along with Alirio Diaz, Benjamin Verdery, Roland Dyens and Eliot Fisk. John Johns holds degrees from the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he was a scholarship student Aaron Shearer and from the George Peabody College. He is presently Associate Professor of Guitar t the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University where he is Chair of the Guitar Department.

The 3rd of our 2003 - 2004 series.

Music for Oboe, Bassoon & Piano

Sunday, January 25, 2004 3:00 P.M.

A R P Church, Huntsville Highway

Nina Alspaugh - Pianist

Nina Alspaugh is the Artistic Director of Huntsville Opera Theater, with whom she has prepared and performed more than 50 operas. She attended George Peabody College for teachers in Nashville, Tennessee. A professional coach/accompanist, Ms. Alspaugh also serves as accompanist for Ovation Arts and for the Grissom High School Choral, Drama and Band departments. She is a member of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and Organist/Choir Director at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama.

Jennifer Scott - Oboist

Jennifer Scott graduated from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in August of this year. She has been a substitute for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra including principal oboe, second oboe and English Horn since 1996. Jen has also played with the Huntsville Opera Theater for many years and numerous community orchestras throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. She now teaches private oboe lessons and regularly holds master classes for Grissom High School's oboe students.

Hunter Thomas - Bassoonist

Hunter Thomas was appointed principal bassoon of the Huntsville Orchestra in 1996 and has performed with the HSO in various positions since 1971. Mr. Thomas serves as HSO's personnel manager and music librarian. He actively promotes orchestra and chamber music through his teaching studio.

In March 2003, Mr. Thomas made his opera conducting debut in Huntsville Opera Theater's production of "Rigoletto", receiving stellar reviews.

Mr. Thomas' contributions over the last thirty years to the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra, classical music and music education are inestimable.

The 4th of our 2003 - 2004 series.

Margery McDuffie Whatley

Sunday, March 7, 2004 2:00 P.M.

First Presbyterian Church

East College Street at Mulberry Avenue

Margery McDuffie Whatley, Piano
Susan McDuffie, Piano

Margery McDuffie Whatley performs from coast to coast as piano soloist and as a chamber musician. She has performed at the United States Supreme Court at the request of former Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun, as well as at the World Congress Center in Atlanta for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame Awards Ceremony and at the Georgia Governor's Mansion with her brother Robert McDuffie, an internationally acclaimed violinist with whom she frequently collaborates.

Margery Whatley received her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance at the University of Southern California where she was named the most outstanding piano doctoral degree in 1984. She received her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

Presently, Margery Whatley is Associate Professor and Chair of the Music Department at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. She is very active in both campus and community endeavors, and in 2002, Dr. Whatley was awarded the University's Distinguished Teaching Award based on letters and recommendations from colleagues and students. She resides in Huntsville with her husband Dr. Terry Whatley and their twin girls Kendall ad Lindsay.

In November 1977, Margery Whatley released her first CD - Piano Reflections - Encore Favorites. Her second CD, Margery McDuffie Whatley plays Bach, Haydn, Brahms and Ravel, was released in December 2002 and features more extended works.

Susan McDuffie of Macon Georgia is a graduate of Wesleyan College with a BM degree in Piano performance and a minor in Organ. Further study was at the American Conservatory in Chicago. Mrs. McDuffie is the organist-director at Vineville Presbyterian Church and serves as guest organist at various churches in the area. She frequently performs as organ and piano soloist and collaborates as assisting artist with vocalists and instrumentalists in the classical as well as pop idioms.

A former Wesleyan College faculty member, she has performed and/or taught every year at MidSummer Macon and has served as guest keyboardist with the Macon Symphony Orchestra and former accompanist for the Macon Civic Chorale. Her piano students are often recognized for their outstanding accomplishments.

Mrs. McDuffie is a member of the Advisory Board for the Georgia Music Hall of Fame and currently serves on the board of the Macon Symphony Orchestra, where she served as president from 1998 to 2000; the Morning Music Club and the Macon Music Teachers Association, having also served as president of both these organizations; and MidSummer Macon. She was the recipient of the 1998 Macon Arts Alliance Cultural Award for outstanding contributions to the Georgia arts scene and recently received the Alumnae Award from Wesleyan College for Distinguished Service to the Community.

She and her husband Bill have 4 children and 8 grandchildren.

The 5th of our 2003 - 2004 series.

The Lee High School Concert Choir

Sunday, April 18, 2004 3:00 P.M.

Lincoln County High School

Adnia Rice Auditorium

Winner of numerous regional and national competitions,

this choral group of sixty-five young people,

is under the direction of Mr. Barry Petty.

The Lee High School Choral Department is made up of four performing groups including the Men's Chorale, the Women's Choir, the Concert Choir, and the "Trouveres" Showchoir. In addition, three levels of Vocal Labs are offered through the Huntsville City Schools Magnet Program which is housed at Lee High School. The performing groups are made up of students from both the regular high school population as well as the magnet program. The Men's Chorale is made of approximately fifty students in grades 9 through 12, and the Women's Choir is made up of approximately eighty students in grades 9 through 12.

The Lee High School Concert Choir is an accomplished 65-voice SATB choir of 10th through 12th grade students selected by audition. Included in the membership of the group are students above the freshman level who are enrolled in the Magnet Program for Vocal Music. The Choral Department, under the leadership of the voice faculty, Vivienne Atkins, chairman, and Barry Petty, director of choral activities, has distinguished itself nationally, as well as statewide and within the southeastern region. The various groups have been invited to numerous college campuses to perform for future music educators, have won grand championships in Chicago, Dallas, Orlando, Houston, Nashville, Branson, and Gatlinburg. Last year they were the proud winners of the National Sweepstakes Award, a national championship chosen from 26 sites throughout the United States and among 147 schools. Both the Trouveres Show Choir and the Concert Choir have performed for the Alabama Vocal Association Fall Workshop, as well as the Alabama Music Educators' Association State Convention. In addition, they have been invited to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City by numerous nationally-known conductors.

The choirs are under the direction of Barry A. Petty and are accompanied by Mrs. Vivienne Atkins.