Ayanna: Women Make Music
‘Truthfully’, is an extended set of songs for voice, cello, percussion and movement, to be performed live by Ayanna. All the songs, composed by Ayanna will expand the repertoire of the resurgent genre of ‘Black Folk’ music. A rich cultural style of music from the African Diaspora, including the Blues, Reggae, Jazz, Soul, Afro-Cuban and Gospel through which artists such as Roberta Flack and Nina Simone have been exponents. ‘Truthfully’ will be premiered live in September at the World Event Young Artists 2012 (WEYA), followed by a performance in November at King’s Place in London and form the basis of a future recording project to be toured in 2013.
About Ayanna
Ayanna is a vocalist, cellist, composer and pianist. In 2008 she was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme in addition to becoming an Emerging Artist in Residence (EAR) at London’s Southbank Centre and graduated from Trinity College of Music in London with a First Class Degree in Classical Composition. In 2009 she was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and in the following year became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC. In 2011 she was commissioned by Joanna MacGregor on behalf of Bath Festival to create a new programme in response to the work of Nina Simone. In 2011, having won the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund Scholarship, she completed a Masters of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music.
Last year she released her debut recording, Truthfully (EP), produced by Marc Mac (4Hero) and has since recorded one of those featured songs with the Kronos Quartet. Ayanna was recently co-orchestrator alongside Jason Yarde for Urban Classic 2012 featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Dynamite, Skepta, Fazer and Devlin and also toured the UK, supporting Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca.
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www.serious.org.uk/artists/ayanna-witter-johnson
‘Truthfully’, is an extended set of songs for voice, cello, percussion and movement, to be performed live by Ayanna. All the songs, composed by Ayanna will expand the repertoire of the resurgent genre of ‘Black Folk’ music. A rich cultural style of music from the African Diaspora, including the Blues, Reggae, Jazz, Soul, Afro-Cuban and Gospel through which artists such as Roberta Flack and Nina Simone have been exponents. ‘Truthfully’ will be premiered live in September at the World Event Young Artists 2012 (WEYA), followed by a performance in November at King’s Place in London and form the basis of a future recording project to be toured in 2013.
Ayanna is a vocalist, cellist, composer and pianist. In 2008 she was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme in addition to becoming an Emerging Artist in Residence (EAR) at London’s Southbank Centre and graduated from Trinity College of Music in London with a First Class Degree in Classical Composition. In 2009 she was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and in the following year became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC. In 2011 she was commissioned by Joanna MacGregor on behalf of Bath Festival to create a new programme in response to the work of Nina Simone. In 2011, having won the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund Scholarship, she completed a Masters of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music.
Last year she released her debut recording, Truthfully (EP), produced by Marc Mac (4Hero) and has since recorded one of those featured songs with the Kronos Quartet. Ayanna was recently co-orchestrator alongside Jason Yarde for Urban Classic 2012 featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Dynamite, Skepta, Fazer and Devlin and also toured the UK, supporting Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca.
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‘Truthfully’, is an extended set of songs for voice, cello, percussion and movement, to be performed live by Ayanna. All the songs, composed by Ayanna will expand the repertoire of the resurgent genre of ‘Black Folk’ music. A rich cultural style of music from the African Diaspora, including the Blues, Reggae, Jazz, Soul, Afro-Cuban and Gospel through which artists such as Roberta Flack and Nina Simone have been exponents. ‘Truthfully’ will be premiered live in September at the World Event Young Artists 2012 (WEYA), followed by a performance in November at King’s Place in London and form the basis of a future recording project to be toured in 2013.
Ayanna is a vocalist, cellist, composer and pianist. In 2008 she was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme in addition to becoming an Emerging Artist in Residence (EAR) at London’s Southbank Centre and graduated from Trinity College of Music in London with a First Class Degree in Classical Composition. In 2009 she was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and in the following year became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem, NYC. In 2011 she was commissioned by Joanna MacGregor on behalf of Bath Festival to create a new programme in response to the work of Nina Simone. In 2011, having won the Edward and Sally Van Lier Fund Scholarship, she completed a Masters of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music.
Last year she released her debut recording, Truthfully (EP), produced by Marc Mac (4Hero) and has since recorded one of those featured songs with the Kronos Quartet. Ayanna was recently co-orchestrator alongside Jason Yarde for Urban Classic 2012 featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Dynamite, Skepta, Fazer and Devlin and also toured the UK, supporting Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca.
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www.serious.org.uk/artists/ayanna-witter-johnson