KENYON HALL PRESENTS

Bernard Struber & The Mighty Wurlitzer
Feat. Emi Aiken (Movement)

Saturday, January 18 2025
Doors: 7:00pm / Show: 7:30pm

Sunday, January 19 2025
Doors: 2:00pm / Show: 2:30pm

All Ages

Seated

$20 General Admission / $15 Senior/Student

Program Notes:

Organ Solo

L.BOELLMAN Suite Gothique (Toccata, Prière à Notre Dame) 1895

K.WEILL Les 7 Péchés Capitaux (Ouverture) 1933

September Song

Speak low

C.M.WIDOR 5ème Symphonie (Toccata) 1879

***Intermission***

Organ, Movement

P.GLASS Dance n° 4 1979

I.STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring (3 extracts) 1913

Improvisations

Bernard Struber lives in Strasbourg, France. He began studying music when he was nine years old. As a teenager, he displayed his musical range, performing regularly as a rock guitarist, a jazz pianist, and performing classical and liturgical pieces on pipe organ each Sunday. Mr. Struber’s range in instruments, style and repertoire, is part of his lifelong pursuit to enrich his musical life and achievements through the influence of multiple schools and cultures in music from around the world.

At the age of sixteen, Mr. Struber entered the Conservatory of Strasbourg, where he received several prizes for his mastery of the pipe organ. Not limited to one instrument, nor one style in music, he created the Department of Jazz and Improvisation at the Conservatory of Strasbourg in 1979. In 1987, Mr. Struber was instrumental in the creation of the Regional Jazz Orchestra in Alsace, now, “Struber’s Jazztett”. The Jazztett has premiered over 200 original compositions and arrangements and has played worldwide in major festivals in Paris, Vienne, Amsterdam, Washington, Berlin, and Odessa. Having also premiered compositions of contemporary music by Franco Donatoni, music for the Ballets de l’Opera du Rhin, and an original Jazz-Oratorio at the Strasbourg Cathedral, the Jazztet has many recordings in its long history. All show a range of interests and influences, including reflections on traditional music from Africa and Turkey (“The Flavours of Memory”), a recording influenced by rock music (“Parfum de Récidive”), and another recording inspired by 16th Century composer, Louise Labbé (“Soul Songs et Louise”). Recent original compositions by Mr. Struber include “Symphonie Déjouée”, recorded in May 2017, and “Fly to Hope”, a suite of seven preludes of improvisation based on polyrythmic questions and new Chinese modes, which premiered in April of this year.

Emily (Emi) Aiken is originally from Hudson, North Carolina. They hold a BFA in dance and a MFA in Choreography from UNCGreensboro studying dance, writing, pedagogy, and performance art. Emi additionally holds a Certificate in Counseling from NC State University, a Certificate in Integrative Health Coaching from Duke University, and is a final stage trainee of Kinetic Awareness (a mindful movement technique developed by Elaine Summers of Judson Dance Theater), under the direction of Dr. Jill Green. Emi has performed nationally and internationally for COMPANY by Justin Tornow (Durham, NC), Valerie Green Dance Entropy (Queens, New York), Thea Little ( Brooklyn, New York), and was a collective member of Collapss- Collective of Happy Sounds (Greensboro, NC). Emi is a member of the Royal House of LaBeija, the first national and international vogue house, studying Vogue Femme and New Way.

Emi has taught and performed creative dance, jazz, contemporary, gymnastics and movement technique for over 15 years in studios, public schools, and conferences in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Poland, and Bolivia. Emi is a lifelong student of Luigi and Francis of Luigi’s Jazz Center NYC, and is heavily influenced by the specificity, calmness, and emotion of Luigi’s teaching style. Additionally, Emi practices liberatory and hierarchically-aware pedagogy, seeing teaching and leading as a responsibility toward equitable and thoughtful facilitation. Emi treats themself, also, to this heartfelt awareness when creating and improvising- seeing every score, ritual, or performance as a way to explore, express, and learn through movement.