“Roots and Branches” - Music - University of California, Irvine

CONFERENCE PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES
(Composer biographies listed separately)
Kei Akagi
Pianist and composer Kei Akagi has been a mainstay of the international jazz world for over two decades. Perhaps best known for his work as a member of
the Miles Davis band in the late 1980's, his career also includes extended associations with major figures such as Stanley Turrentine, James Newton, Joe
Farrell, Al DiMeola, and Airto Moreira. In addition, he has performed or recorded with Art Pepper, Blue Mitchell, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, Charlie
Haden, Charnett Moffett, Tom Harrell, Bobby Shew, Eddie Harris, Slide Hampton, Steve Turre, Robin Eubanks, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jeff Watts, Allan
Holdsworth, and others. Akagi has recorded 12 CD's as a solo artist and leader. As a sideman and accompanist, he has appeared on over 40 CD's worldwide,
including Miles Davis's last recorded works. He has also written numerous original works for his own and others' recordings, with over 30 compositions
currently in publication. Akagi's performance schedule revolves around two major international concert tours a year. As Professor of Music at the UC
Irvine, he directs the jazz studies program.
Babatunde Akinboboye
Equally at home in opera and in musical theater, Babatunde has sung the roles of Guglielmo (Così fan Tutte), Horace Tabor (The Ballad of Baby Doe),
Henry Davis (Street Scene), Elijah (Mendelsson's Elijah), and the Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince (Into the Woods) with the California State University, Northridge
Opera Theatre. Mr. Akinboboye’s honors include first place winner in the New Century Singers of Whittier Competition, finalist in the International
Eisteddfod Vocal Solo Competition in Llangollen, Wales, Village Voices Chorale scholarship recipient, and two time recipient of the CSUN Kurt Allen
scholarship. Babatunde is an Alumni of the OperaWorks Emerging Artist Program and he is nearing the completion of his Bachelors of Music degree in
Vocal Performance at California State University, Northridge under the instruction of Dr. David Sannerud and the vocal coaching of Carol Roberts.
Donnie Ray Albert
Now in his 36 th year of performing professionally, Donnie Ray Albert has sung baritone roles and concerts in some of the world’s most prominent opera
houses and symphony halls. Mr. Albert has performed such roles as Wotan and the Wanderer in New National Theatre (Tokyo, Japan) productions of Die
Walküre and Siegried, and Macbeth at Klangbogen Festival in Wien, Austria. Mr. Albert has performed baritone roles with opera companies in Atlanta,
Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Washington, DC, Vancouver, Berlin, Bordeaux, Bregenz, Cologne, Giessen,
Hamburg, Milan, and Sao Paulo. More information found at www.donnierayalbert.com. Mr. Albert has received three Grammy Awards: PORGY AND
BESS (1977 Best Opera Recording); and THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF MAHAGONNY (2009 Best Opera Recording and Best Classical
Album). In 1992, Mr. Albert was honored by the A. P. Tureaud, Sr. Chapter LSU Alumni Association for his outstanding musical achievement, LSU School
of Music Alumnus of the Year, the 2010 Musical Legend Award from the Shiloh Baptist Church in Baton Rouge, and the 2010 NOI “ Lift Every Voice”
Legend Award.
Jayme Alilaw
Acclaimed for her lush and vibrant tone, California native Jayme Alilaw has performed roles from both soprano and mezzo-soprano repertoires. Roles
performed include Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Second Lady (Die Zauberflöte), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Mrs. Jones (Street Scene), and world premieres:
Marketing Director in Paul Salerni’s Tony Caruso’s Last Broadcast and Laura Delano in Kenneth Wells’ The First Lady. This spring, Jayme will sing the
role of Suor Angelica with Capitol City Opera in Atlanta. As a Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserves, Ms. Alilaw sang for military ceremonies throughout the
U.S. and Middle East. Jayme’s honors include Metropolitan Opera National Auditions Los Angeles District Winner, Winner and Audience Choice in the
Harlem Opera Vocal Competition, National Association of Negro Musicians Vocal Competition Second Place, and Palm Springs Opera Guild Competition
finalist. Jayme Alilaw has a Master of Music degree in Vocal Performance from California State University, Northridge and currently lives in Atlanta,
Georgia.
Richard Alston
Richard Alston, pianist, is a native of East Orange, N.J., he received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees from the Juilliard School of Music, in New
York City. After receiving a standing ovation at the Brevard Festival for his performance of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.1, Richard made his New
York debut performing with the Symphony of the New World, under the direction of Everett Lee at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall at the age of 17.
Over the years he has performed at the Weill Recital Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York City, as well as an outstanding portrayal of “Jasbo Brown” in
the Metropolitan Opera revival of “Porgy and Bess”. Richard has been the subject of a PBS television documentary “Classically Black” in which he
performs piano compositions by composers of African descent. The renowned Maestro, Paul Freeman invited Richard to Europe to record the Arensky Piano
Concerto with the Czech National Orchestra. The CD recording which also included “Etudes for Piano Op.74” by Arensky has been released by Centaur
Records and is currently available in stores and online. Presently the Coordinator of Essex County College’s Performing Arts Dept., Alston is currently
pursuing a Doctoral of Musical Arts Degree at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.
Naomi André
Naomi André is Associate Professor in Women¹s Studies and the Residential College at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on nineteenthcentury
opera and issues surrounding gender, voice, and race. Her publications include topics on Italian opera, Schoenberg, and women composers. Her first
book, Voicing Gender: Castrati, Travesti, and the Second Woman in Early Nineteenth-Century Italian Opera was published in 2006. Her current research
interests extend to constructions of race, ethnicity, and identity in opera. She has co-edited a collection of essays on how blackness is represented in opera
which is due out March 2012,Blackness in Opera (University of Illinois Press) and is working on a monograph on how opera has engaged race over the past
30 years in the US, Europe and South Africa.
Jahmaul Abiodun Bakare
Jahmaul Abiodun Bakare, tenor, started his classical vocal training at Morehouse College studying with Dr. Uzee Brown, Dr. Mel Foster and Dr. David
Morrow. While at Morehouse, Bakare was sang in the Morehouse College Glee Club and Quartet. He has also sung in the Atlanta Opera Chorus in such
productions as Aïda and Don Giovanni; and the the Indianapolis Opera chorus for their production of Les Pecheurs de perles. In the summer of 2005,
Bakare also traveled with the historical Ebenezar Baptist Church Choir on a European concert series. Bakare received his masters in vocal performance
from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas where he studied with well-known pedagogues and coaches such as Dr. Alfonse Anderson, Mark Thomsen,
Luana DeVol, Kosta Popovic, and Susanna Lemberskaya. The roles Bakare has sung include Rodolfo, Pinkerton, Candide, Martin (from The Tender Land),
Spoletta, and Fenton. Bakare has participated in the NATS competition where he received two second place for awards for the Classical Adult category and
the Musical Theater Men’s category. He also participated in NAAM’s vocal competition where he received second place. Bakare now studies in New York
with Michael Paul and Virginia Grasso where he is currently participating in the Martina Arroyo Foundation role study program and Prelude to Performance.
He plans to finish the role study course and then plan to sing Fenton in their summer production of Falstaff.
Sonya Baker
Soprano, Sonya Gabrielle Baker, noted for her performances of American music, has been heard in concert both nationally and internationally, including
recent performances in Havana, Cuba with the Yale Alumni Chorus and at the World Equestrian Games opening ceremonies with the American Spiritual
Ensemble. Her debut recording, SHE SAYS, featuring art songs of American Women composers, was released in 2004, a year after she made her Carnegie