Clarinetist Patricia Billings Presents 'AN EVENING OF MULTICULTURAL MUSIC' 7 PM Saturday, December 8, 2012 at Kaufman Center in New York City

[From Left: Seba Ali, Amr Selim, Patricia Billings]

Patricia Billings, http://www.patriciabillings.com/, is a clarinetist and educator in New York City.  She writes:

Dear Bill,

Thank you for your blog. It's such a pleasure to be a part of this community.  I would like to share an event I am presenting this Saturday at the Kaufman Center in NYC in the Ann Goodman Recital Hall. It's called AN EVENING OF MULTICULTURAL MUSIC. In this concert, music will be featured by composers from various cultural backgrounds. 

I'll be performing a piece by African American composer and french hornist from Imani Winds Jeffrey Scott--Toccata for Clarinet and Piano.  This is a collaboration concert with solo works and pieces for trio. I will be joined by Egyptian french hornist Amr Selim and Egyptian pianist Seba Ali. Other composers on the program include Cuban-born Paquito D’Rivera, Egyptian composer Gamal Abdel-Rahim,  French composer Olivier Messiaen, Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, young Taiwanese composer Yuan-Chen Li with a NYC PREMIERE, American composer Thomas Bacon, and Brazilian composer Jacob do Bandolim.

This concert is free and no ticket is necessary.

Please see link for details:

http://kaufman-center.org/mch/event/an-evening-of-multicultural-music

                                         

Patricia Billings

Patricia Billings, a native of Muskegon, MI, began playing clarinet at age 11.  Ms. Billings earned her undergraduate degree at Western Michigan University with a B.M. in Music Education. During her time at WMU, she co-founded the piano trio: TRIO APARICION. The ensemble toured throughout Michigan and performed in Spain. The group’s local success led to a radio feature on WMUK 102.1 FM.

That experience impelled Ms. Billings to want to pursue a career in chamber music and freelancing.  In the summer of 2010, she moved to New York to pursue her Masters in Instrumental Performance at New York University, and  her aspirations of creating an ensemble.

She had the pleasure of attending the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival, and studied under her mentors. Shortly after her move, she found opportunities to display her talents at the Apollo Theater and Morse Concert Hall, and played and recorded commercially for film.  She has also performed with the William D. Caballero Ensemble.

Her time at NYU Steinhardt was not only spent pursuing her Master’s degree. Ms. Billings also served as an Adjunct Instructor in clarinet to non-majors and she has done coaching in chamber music.

Ms. Billings was recently in concert with Imani Winds members’ bassoonist Monica Ellis and oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz (singing).  In New Jersey, Ms. Billings performs with TRILOGY: AN OPERA COMPANY, and has recently premièred The Mask in the Mirror by Richard Thompson with the company. This past summer she was asked to perform as a guest at the Imani Winds Chamber Music Festival and perform a piece by composer Mohammed Fairouz.

She has studied with Yamaha Artist Bradley Wong, and Pascual Martinez-Forteza of the New York Philharmonic. Ms. Billings has also performed in a master class for David Krakauer and has recently recorded with jazz artist Stefon Harris.

Experimenting with other genres and music of all kinds, Ms. Billings finds herself developing into a crossover musician. With her passion to make the “classical” listener rethink the traditional repertoire for “classical performances,” it is her goal to expand the minds of the audience.