Dance at nJPac Dazzles with Beauty and Boldness - ArtsFreePress

Meet the Artists
David Berger is a jazz composer, arranger,
conductor and teacher, recognized
internationally as a leading authority
on the music of Duke Ellington and the
Swing Era. Conductor and arranger for
the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra
from its inception in 1988 through 1994,
Berger has transcribed more than 750
full scores of classic recordings including
over 500 works by Duke Ellington
and Billy Strayhorn. He has composed
and arranged for Duke Ellington
Orchestra, Quincy Jones and WDR Big
Band, amongst many others and his
jazz compositions, arrangements and
transcriptions are played by hundreds of
bands daily all over the world.
Keith David is an award-winning actor,
singer and voice actor with over 150
film, television and stage credits to
his name. A native of Harlem, David
attended the High School of Performing
Arts and The Juilliard School. His list
of on-screen feature film roles include
Oliver Stone’s Academy Award-winning
Platoon, Clint Eastwood’s Bird and Paul
Haggis’ Academy Award-winning Crash,
as well as There’s Something About
Mary, Armageddon, Pitch Black, The
Chronicles of Riddick, Requiem for a
Dream, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Barbershop
and most recently Cloud Atlas.
Savion Glover is a toe-tapping phenom,
actor and choreographer. A native of
Newark, New Jersey, the 10-year-old
Glover landed his first part on Broadway
in The Tap Dance Kid. He went on to
perform with such legends as Gregory
Hines and Sammy Davis Jr. He was
later recognized with a Tony ® Award
for Best Choreography for the musical
Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk.
Glover joined the cast of the children’s
television show Sesame Street and
has also appeared in Spike Lee’s film
Bamboozled. He continues to tour his
production of Classical Savion, where he
taps to classical pieces played by a string
chamber ensemble.
Lizz Wright is a jazz and R&B singer
and composer from Hahira, Georgia.
Wright went on to study voice at Georgia
State University in Atlanta. Her debut
album, Salt, introduced Wright as both
an accomplished songwriter and an
effortlessly magnetic performer. Salt
won international acclaim and was
praised by The New York Times’ Stephen
Holden. Dreaming Wide Awake and The
Orchard followed, reaching the top of
the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart.
Wright’s newest recording, Fellowship,
continues her genre-defying journey by
nodding to her roots in gospel on the
one hand and her gospel of eclecticism
on the other.
Priscilla Baskerville is a versatile dramatic
soprano whose repertoire reaches from
Wagner to Puccini. She has appeared in
leading opera houses in North America
and around the world including the
Metropolitan Opera, where she has
performed the title roles in Verdi’s
Aida, Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and
Puccini’s La Bohème. Baskerville can
be seen singing the hauntingly beautiful
“Creole Love Call” of Duke Ellington
in the film The Cotton Club. She can
also be heard on the original cast
recordings of Broadway’s Sophisticated
Ladies, Davis’ The Life and Times of
Malcolm X and The Cotton Club motion
picture soundtrack.
Dance Theatre of Harlem School is a ballet
company and school of the allied arts
founded in Harlem, New York in 1969
by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook. The
Dance Theatre of Harlem is renowned
for being both the first black classical
ballet company and the first major ballet
company to prioritize black dancers.
Robert Garland (Choreographer) was the
Director and Resident Choreographer
of the Dance Theatre of Harlem School.
He has instructed for the Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater and the
Kennedy Center – Dance Theatre of
December 2013
njpac.org XI