NJYS

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT WESTON SPROTT

Weston Sprott enjoys an exciting career that includes orchestral, chamber, and solo performances, as well as numerous educational and outreach efforts. He is Dean of the Preparatory Division at The Juilliard School, leading Juilliard Pre-College and the Music Advancement Program, and a trombonist in New York’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, of which he has been a member since 2005. He has been recognized as “an excellent trombonist” with a “sense of style and phrasing [that] takes a backseat to no one”. He is a recipient of the Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the Atlanta Symphony Talent Development Program Aspire Award.

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT SEAN C. JONES

Music and spirituality have always been fully intertwined in the artistic vision of trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and activist Sean Jones. Singing and performing as a child with the church choir in his hometown of Warren, Ohio, Jones switched from the drums to the trumpet at the age of 10. Jones is a musical chameleon and comfortable in any musical setting, no matter what the role or the genre. He is equally adept as a member of an ensemble as he is at being a bandleader. Jones turned a 6-month engagement with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra into an offer from Wynton Marsalis for a permanent position as lead trumpeter, a post he held from 2004-2010. In 2015, Jones was tapped to become a member of the SFJAZZ Collective where he was a member until 2018. During this time, Jones managed to keep a core group of talented musicians together under his leadership forming the foundation for his groups that have produced and released eight recordings on the Mack Avenue Records, the latest being the 2017 release Sean Jones: Live from the Jazz Bistro. Jones has been prominently featured with a number of artists, recording and/or performing with many major figures in jazz, including Illinois Jacquet, Jimmy Heath, Frank Foster, Nancy Wilson, Dianne Reeves, Gerald Wilson, and Marcus Miller. He was selected by Miller, Herbie Hancock, and Wayne Shorter for their Tribute to Miles Tour in 2011. He has also performed with the Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Youngstown Symphony Orchestras as well as Soulful Symphony in Baltimore and at the Salt Bay Chamber Festival.

Jones is an internationally recognized educator and was recently named the Richard and Elizabeth Case Chair of Jazz at John Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Before coming to Peabody, Jones served as the Chair of the Brass Department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT CARMEN RUBY FLOYD

Carmen Ruby Floyd grew up with God, love, joy, and music. The love for singing began with her mom, Alice, and her siblings, the Gayles Family Singers, who traveled the country performing their original gospel music. Although the performance bug caught her early, she also carries a great sports legacy: Robert Floyd, Jr., her father, played in the American Basketball Association and his father, Robert, Sr., was a member of the historic Negro Baseball League playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. Once enrolled at Niagara University, Carmen Ruby Floyd attended an open call for Disney’s The Lion King, booking the role of Shenzi in the original Toronto cast. She came to New York City to play the part of Tiny Lee in the show Langton Hughes’s Little Ham (AMAS Musical Theater). For her role in Little Ham, Floyd received a nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for the AUDELCO Awards. Critic Bruce Weber said of her performance, “The swagger and big voice of Carmen Ruby Floyd provide… a shot of star quality and star charisma…” and Broadway.com said, “Best of all is Tiny’s “Big Ideas’’….sung by Floyd with a wistfulness and eventually giant powerful belt….leaves you wanting nothing but more.” She followed the nomination with an AUDELCO win for Best Cast in a Musical for the show, Crowns at Second Stage, originating the role of Yolanda. Floyd then joined the Original Broadway Company of the Tony Award-winning musical Avenue Q and received the coveted Broadway Gypsy Robe, awarded to the ensemble member with the most Broadway shows under their belt. In her fourth Broadway show, After Midnight, Floyd delighted audiences with her wordless but thrilling rendition of “Creole Love Call.” She originated the role at Encores! City Center under the show title Cotton Club Parade. The New York Times said, “Ellington’s lyric-free but gorgeous ‘Creole Love Call’ is delivered by Carmen Ruby Floyd with a hypnotic simplicity, her voice taking flight in tandem with the swooning melody, which seems to glimmer visibly in the air before you.” – Charles Isherwood.

Last seen on Broadway in Hello, Dolly!, Floyd had the honor of understudying the role of Dolly Levi played by legends Bernadette Peters, Donna Murphy, and Bette Midler. She was first African American Dolly on Broadway since the iconic Pearl Bailey. Proudly, she has performed several times for former President Obama and Mrs. Obama, as well as former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A few other favorites include Whoopi Goldberg, Natalie Cole, Bryan Cranston, Diana Ross, Tom Hanks, Oprah, Jimmy Fallon, Janet Jackson, Barbra Streisand, Renee Fleming, Jim Carrey, and Aretha Franklin. She has worked with Tina Fey, Gladys Knight, Toni Braxton, Babyface, Fantasia, Hugh Jackman, and mentor Vanessa Williams, whom she now tours with around the world. Along with her stage work, Floyd has been seen in commercials and heard in voice-overs. Television roles include appearances on Orange is the New Black, Person of Interest, The Super Bowl XLVII, The Tony Awards, One Life to Live, Law & Order: SVU, and The Traveler.

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT JEFF SCOTT

A native of Queens, NY, Jeff Scott started the French horn at age 14, receiving an anonymous gift scholarship to the Brooklyn College Preparatory Division. An even greater gift came from his first teacher, Carolyn Clark, who taught Scott for free during his high school years, giving him the opportunity to study music when resources were not available. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, studying with David Jolley, and Master of Music degree from SUNY Stony Brook, studying with William Purvis. He later continued his horn studies with Scott Brubaker and the late Jerome Ashby. Scott’s performance credits are many and varied, including The Lion King on Broadway (1997-2005), and the 1994 revival of Showboat (1994-1997). He has been a member of the Alvin Ailey and Dance Theater of Harlem orchestras since 1995 and has performed numerous times under the direction of Wynton Marsalis with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Scott is also the hornist in the internationally acclaimed wind quintet Imani Winds. Scott can be heard on movie soundtracks scored by Terrence Blanchard and Tan Dun and on commercial recordings with notable artists such as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Chris Brubeck, Chico O’Farill, Robin Eubanks, Freddy Cole, and Jimmy Heath. Additionally, he has toured with artists such as Barbra Streisand and the late Luther Vandross. Scott’s arranging and composing credits are many, and include scoring the Off-Broadway production of Becoming Something, The Canada Lee Story, the staged production of Josephine Baker: A Life of Le Jazz Hot!, and many original works for solo winds as well as winds, brass, and jazz ensembles. His works are published by International Opus, Trevco Music, To The Fore Music, and self-published at Music by The Breadman.

Scott has been on the faculty of the music department at Montclair State University since 2002 and will join the faculty of Oberlin Conservatory in the fall.

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT KELLY HALL-TOMPKINS

Winner of a Naumburg International Violin Competition Honorarium Prize and featured in the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Kelly Hall-Tompkins is a violin soloist entrepreneur who has been acclaimed by the New York Times as “the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive,” for her “tonal mastery” (BBC Music Magazine) and as New York Times “New Yorker of the Year.” She has appeared as co-soloist in Carnegie Hall with Glenn Dicterow and conductor Leonard Slatkin, in London at Queen Elizabeth Hall, at Lincoln Center and with the Symphonies of Baltimore, Dallas, Jacksonville, Oakland, recitals in Paris, New York, Toronto, Washington, Chicago, and festivals of Tanglewood, Ravinia, Santa Fe, France, Germany, and Italy. She was “Fiddler”/Violin Soloist in the Grammy and Tony-nominated Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof.  Inspired by her experience, she commissioned and developed the first ever Fiddler solo disc of all new arrangements, “The Fiddler Expanding Tradition,” which is featured in the new documentary “Fiddler: A Miracle of Miracles” on the 55-year history of the musical. As founder of Music Kitchen-Food for the Soul, Hall-Tompkins is a pioneer of social justice in classical music, bringing top artists in over 100 concerts coast to coast to homeless shelters from New York to Los Angeles and internationally in Paris, France. Music Kitchen will present the world premiere of the Forgotten Voices Song Cycle in association with and coming soon to Carnegie Hall. Hall-Tompkins is a newly appointed faculty member of the Manhattan School of Music.

Join us as the New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) and New Jersey Youth Symphony (NJYS) co-host an Artist Stories Series, a series of weekly one-hour virtual conversations exploring the importance of equity, inclusion, and representation in the classical music, jazz, and Broadway world. Featured guest speakers include Toyin Spellman-Diaz, Kelly Hall-Tompkins, Jeff Scott, Carmen Ruby Floyd, Sean C. Jones, and Weston Sprott discussing what it means to navigate a professional music career.

In addition to the sharing of personal experiences, the artists will have the opportunity to impart their insights into needed actions to reinforce accountability and pursue responsive outcomes in American orchestras, music education, and the music industry. Attendees are encouraged to submit questions for the artists in advance, to be answered during a Q&A portion of each session. The six-week webinar series is free and open to the public.

CLICK HERE for Zoom login and to register for this webinar.

ABOUT TOYIN SPELLMAN-DIAZ

Oboist Toyin Spellman-Diaz grew up surrounded by her parent’s enormous record collection in Washington, DC. It was there that she absorbed the many layers of classical music’s beauty and the inspiring and uniting potential of the world’s diverse cultural landscape. Spellman-Diaz earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music and Professional Studies degrees at the Manhattan School of Music. Her orchestral career includes performances with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Civic Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Hailed by the Washington Post for her “smooth, controlled tone and excellent technique,” Spellman-Diaz has appeared as a soloist with the Chicago Civic Orchestra, Manhattan Virtuosi, and the Kennedy Center Youth Orchestra. An original member of Imani Winds, Spellman-Diaz has built a career as a champion of contemporary chamber music. Along with her Imani Winds colleagues, she is devoted to discovering new and diverse musical voices and cultures to increase and enhance the woodwind quintet repertoire. She has also collaborated with some of today’s most influential chamber music ensembles, including Alarm Will Sound, the Antara Ensemble, and Camerata Pacifica.