On Friday, September 15 from 7-8PM, you’re invited to an evening of listening and close-looking with visual artist Edie Read, vocalist Elissa Alvarez, and guitarist Andrew McEvoy. Register here.
September exhibiting artist Edie Read has invited soprano Elissa Alvarez and guitarist Andrew McEvoy to join her in creating a space for attention and intention. As the sound of Elissa and Andrew’s music surrounds you, take in Edie’s artwork and consider how sight and sound accompany one another as you look and listen in this immersive hour.
An RSVP is appreciated, but not required. Register here to let us know you’re coming.
Edie Read’s solo exhibition, Color Is Light, is on view at Welcome Gallery September 1-28, 2023. An artist with over 40 years of experience, Edie recently moved to Charlottesville from Boston. About her work, Edie says, "The source of my work is sensation; sensation of space, of shape, of sight, tactility, posture, gesture, physical memory. My path is the pursuit to make these sensations apparent, rather than an effort to replicate something. Part of my process, therefore, is not knowing until I see.” Learn more about Edie and her work here.
Classical Guitar Magazine lauded Andrew McEvoy’s solo album Parlor Tricks as “a delightful surprise,” “…played with all the verve and skill of the master himself.”
McEvoy is a versatile musician and arts advocate based in Richmond, VA. A 2003 concerto appearance with the Richmond Symphony drew Andrew to the city, then a vibrant and diverse culture kept him there. As his classical music career advanced and drew him abroad, Andrew also spent time at home immersed in a menagerie of local jazz, rock, folk, funk, latin dance, punk and hip hop.
In 2007 Andrew began expanding his reach outside concert halls, playing concert repertoire in venues like nightclubs, restaurants and art galleries. Five years later, he helped create the local chapter of a grassroots movement with similar goals called Classical Revolution RVA. As a deputy director (2014-17) and executive director (2018-2020) Andrew fostered the small company into a thriving, independent 501c3 nonprofit with hundreds of volunteers and dozens of events every year.
As a guitarist Andrew has given more than one thousand unique performances in various settings. He appears regularly at venues like George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the Smithsonian Museums. Recent features include the Richmond Forum; Richmond Symphony; VCU Guitar Series; Wintergreen Music Festival; a YouTube premiere of a new work by guitar legend Roland Dyens; and an impromptu appearance in Richmond’s Scuffletown Park.
Noted by the Boston Globe for her “intensely lyrical” singing, soprano Elissa Alvarez is committed to the exploration of unconventional programming and performs solo, chamber, and ensemble work across multiple eras and genres.
Recent engagements include appearances with Indictus Project, George Mason University, Boston University, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Mostly Moss, and performances with the Handel and Haydn Society at the New York Philharmonic. As a core member of H&H, she has appeared with the period ensemble at Lincoln Center, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tanglewood, Boston’s Jordan and Symphony Halls, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Other recent affiliations include performances as a guest artist with the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra, Tufts University’s New at Noon new music series, Bucknell University’s Debussy Centenary Symposium, Georgia Southern University’s Piano in the Arts Concert Series, "The Ghosts of Weimar" cabaret at the University of Delaware and the Lilypad, Cambridge, MA, “Una Voz, Un Mundo," a celebration of Latin American song for Latin American Heritage Month, as well as the New England Classical Singers, Coro Allegro, the Handel Society of Dartmouth, and the Picasso Machinery salon series in Brooklyn, NY. She is a founding member of Boston’s JEY Trio with saxophonist Jennifer Bill and pianist Yoshiko Kline and serves on the advisory board and leadership council of Indictus Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of underrepresented art music composers of all eras.
The works of Latin American composers feature substantially in Elissa’s research and performance. Other areas of interest include rock and heavy metal, interdisciplinary performance art, and the human voice’s ability to heal physical and emotional trauma. She completed her studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Boston University. She has served on the faculties of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, Bucknell University, and George Mason University, and currently teaches voice from her home in Washington, D.C. Learn more at www.alvarezvoice.com.