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The CD includes:
Our thanks to all the CD contributors:
Composers, Lyricists, Arrangers & Performer Bios Alan Billingsley (In The Swing, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square arrangements) Alan Billingsley earned a bachelor's in music (piano) and psychology from Indiana University. While attending IU, Billingsley was accompanist and arranger for the Singing Hoosiers. He also has arranged, orchestrated and performed with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. His professional background includes a long-term relationship with Disney as an arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, vocal coach, clinician and producer. Alan also is composer, arranger and producer of more than 100 television and radio commercials for clients such as Beatrice Foods, International Harvester, John Deere, Mattel, McDonald's, Sunbeam, Swiss Miss and United Airlines. He has worked as music director and pianist for the NBC daytime series "Days of Our Lives" and pianist and arranger for the "Hart to Hart" television movie "Crimes of the Heart." His original compositions have been recorded by Karen and Richard Carpenter and Melanie, and he has been pianist, arranger and conductor for Deniece Williams, James Darren and Johnny Mathis for television appearances and extensive U.S. tours. Alan has arranged, orchestrated, produced or directed 82 musical albums for children, seven of which have been considered for Grammy Awards. He has composed and arranged more than 350 songs and produced more than 1,550 promotional recordings for various music publishers. Alan is now a freelance writer for Hal Leonard Corp. He also orchestrates musicals and produces accompaniment tape tracks. Nan Brooks Nan Brooks has been performing as Eleanor Roosevelt since 1985, when she wrote the one-woman play, Dear Mrs. Roosevelt. She toured the United States for 15 years, appearing as Roosevelt in various settings for audiences of all ages. Though she has been called a pioneer in feminist theatre, Nan says she was simply doing what she loved and what she had to do. Hers were the first theatre productions at women's music and arts festivals in Indiana and Michigan, sparking interest in feminist theatre that continues. Nan -- trained in dance, choral singing, acting, costume design and construction, stage managing and directing -- co-founded the feminist WomanShine Theatre in 1978. The company created numerous plays and a musical and toured the Midwest. More than 250 women benefited from training in various areas of theatre through WomanShine. Nan also has appeared in Oasis Productions' Gertrude Stein and a Companion and was costumer and director for the company in Bloomington, Ind. In 2000, Nan retired from the stage, but she occasionally stages a "come-back," usually donating her performance for a favorite cause. She is a member of The Indianapolis Women's Chorus and added "her" Eleanor to the concert. Brooks is also a mom, activist and priestess. She works as an editor, proofreader and seamstress. She is pursuing a graduate degree through the Women's Thealogical Institute and hopes to be ordained by the Re-formed Congregation of the Goddess - International. Norah Chambers (Largo editing) A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music in London, Norah lived on and off in Malaya for nearly 40 years, first with her parents and later when she married John Chambers. He was a government civil engineer. They evacuated their 5-year-old daughter to England when the Japanese invaded Malaya, but the Chambers were nearly caught. They made a harrowing 5-day trek through the jungle, finally finding a railway line and arriving in Singapore as full-scale evacuation was in progress. After their rescue vessel the Vyner Brooke was bombed and sunk, they were interned in separate camps. Chambers combined her talents with those of Margaret Dryburgh to transpose music for the vocal orchestra that was formed in the prison camps of Sumatra and Bangka Island. Chambers trained the singers, whose performances inspired the internees for as long as the "orchestra" was able to continue. The only reason for its demise was the gradual death, from starvation and deprivation, of its brave members. Her story has been told in Bruce Beresford's movie Paradise Road, which depicts life in a prison camp that closely resembled that known as "The Men's Camp" at Bangka Island, off the coast of Sumatra. Sally Childs-Helton (Shadows on the Rock percussion) At the age of 14, Sally put down the flute, picked up drum sticks and has never looked back. She majored in music education and percussion performance as an undergraduate, then studied ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Sally continues to study with musicians from many musical and cultural backgrounds, including David Darling and Glen Velez. She is a certified Music For People teacher, and she teaches and conducts workshops in hand drums and ethnic percussion, music improvisation and creativity. In addition to playing in the eclectic Celtic band Wild Mercy, Sally teaches ethnomusicology and world music at the university level, and accompanies dance, theater and choruses. She is a co-founder of the Midwest Drumming and Dance Festival and annually facilitates a Women's Drumming Weekend at Oakwood Retreat Center outside Muncie, Indiana. In her daily guise, she's an archivist at Butler University in Indianapolis and is board president of Susurrus, an Indianapolis organization that provides interdisciplinary arts experiences. Margaret Dryburgh (Largo arrangement) Margaret Dryburgh was born in Sunderland, England, in 1890 and spent her early years at Swalwell school while her father was a Presbyterian minister in the village. She gained a bachelor's degree and became a Presbyterian missionary, working in China and Singapore. Apart from being a missionary, Dryburgh also was a qualified nursing sister. She was the principal of a school in Singapore, and it was there that she was captured by the Japanese and interred at the infamous Bangka Island prisoner of war camp. She died in April 1945 at a POW camp in Loebok Linggau after becoming ill on the transfer journey from Bangka Island. She is buried in a Dutch war cemetery in Semarang, Central Java. While in the POW camp, she organized church services, hymns, anthems, singing, writing, short stories, poetry and songs. Then, after a while, Dryburgh began writing music with Norah Chambers for the singers, both the "Glee Club" and the "Orchestra" (of voices), the latter being light classical music written in four parts to be hummed or "ah-ed" which gave the effect of an orchestra. Dryburgh authored The Captive's Hymn which was sung daily in the POW camp. Not only was she a missionary, but a warm and considerate person who was greatly instrumental in keeping up the spirits of the internees with special poems and drawings on their birthdays, and many other random acts of cheer and kindness. Antonin Dvorák (Largo music) Antonin Dvorák was born on Sept. 8, 1841, in a little Bohemian village. He took his formal training at the Organ College in Prague and found a job as an organist in a small church. Johannes Brahms introduced Dvorák to a famous publisher and helped him qualify for an Austrian state fellowship for artists. Dvorák's Slavonic Dances launched his international reputation. Operas and symphonies followed, and he earned enough from his musical compositions to resign his organist job. A formal invitation to America was received by Dvorák with a contract offer from the National Conservatory of Music in New York. The E Minor Symphony, known as the New World Symphony, came about from his travels in the United States. In 1894, Dvorák returned home and composed for the last 10 years of his life. The Czechs honored him as their elder statesman of culture, and the Austrian government made him a senator. At the end of his life, Dvorák was in serious financial straits because he had sold his many compositions for so little money and had nothing to live on. He died in 1904. Redd Evans (Rosie the Riveter music and words) Redd Evans was born in the South and began his career by doing an odd hillbilly act. He later became a writer of lyrics, but he did write some tunes, too. He wound up finally as a music publisher. In addition to Rosie, he helped write There, I've Said It Again. Michael Isaacson (Cradle of Fire arrangement) Michael Isaacson was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and received music education and composition degrees from Hunter College, Brooklyn College and the Eastman School of Music, where he studied composition with Samuel Adler. The founding music director of the Israel Pops Orchestra, he now lives in Los Angeles, where he orchestrates and conducts television and film soundtracks. A prolific composer of instrumental and vocal music, he also has conducted and made recordings with the Munich Philharmonic, the Mexico City Symphony and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Gordon Jenkins (Tzena, Tzena English lyrics) Gordon Jenkins enjoyed sizable fame as an arranger, conductor, composer and bandleader from the '30s through the '60s. He began as a multi-instrumentalist freelancing on radio, then became a prolific arranger, contributing to sessions by Isham Jones, Benny Goodman, Lennie Hayton and others. He conducted The Show Is On in 1935 on Broadway. After a stint with Paramount, he worked for NBC in Hollywood from 1938-1944 and was Dick Haynes' arranger for four years after that. He became the managing director for Decca and had several hits for the label in the late '40s and '50s. He's noted for spotting the Weavers folk group in the Village Vanguard in the early '50s, getting them a recording session and later backing them. He supported other stars such as Louis Armstrong, the Andrews Sisters, and Haynes in the '50s. Later he was Judy Garland's conductor for an English concert, and then Nat King Cole's arranger and conductor for a time. Jenkins won a Grammy in 1967 for the Frank Sinatra album, September of My Years. Eric Maschwitz (A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square words) Eric Maschwitz was a British entertainer, writer and broadcaster. He wrote the screenplays of several successful films in the 1930s and '40s but is perhaps best remembered today for his lyrics to 1940s popular songs such as A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square. Maschwitz was educated at Repton and Cambridge. He started his stage acting career in the early 1920s and joined the BBC in 1926. His first radio show was In Town Tonight, and his first television show was The Black and White Minstrels. In 1939, he went to Hollywood under contract to MGM, where he worked on Goodbye Mr. Chips and Queen of Song, among other successful films. He also wrote the book and lyrics for numerous musicals. During the WWII, Maschwitz served with the Intelligence Corps and became chief broadcasting officer with the 21st Army Group. In 1958, he rejoined the BBC as head of TV light entertainment. Maschwitz left to join the rival ITV in 1963. During his varied entertainment career, Maschwitz adapted French comedies like Thirteen For Dinner; wrote the book and lyrics for numerous musicals, amongst them Balalaika, Summer Song and Zip Goes a Million; and created Café Collette. He also edited the Radio Times, turned The Ghost Train into a musical and wrote the words for A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square and These Foolish Things. Maschwitz was first married to Hermione Gingold, who was granted a divorce in 1945. He then married Phyllis Gordon that same year. Jane Ramseyer Miller (Shadows on the Rock, music and words) Jane studied psychology and music at the University of Waterloo in Ontario and music theory at the University of Minnesota. However, she credits her best musical training to growing up as a Mennonite surrounded by four-part a cappella singing. She has performed and led music for retreats, conferences and peace rallies across North America and sang for several years with a women's quartet, "Women of Note." Her compositions have been published by Yelton Rhodes Music, and she was one of four editors for a new songbook for the Re-Imagining Community titled Bring the Feast, published by Pilgrim Press. Jane has been as music director of Calliope Women's Chorus in Minneapolis and artistic director for One Voice Mixed Chorus, a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community chorus in Minneapolis. She was one of four editors for a new songbook for the Re-Imagining Community titled Bring the Feast. J. David Moore (Tzena, Tzena arrangement) David's original works and arrangements have been performed by vocal and instrumental groups all over North America, and he is represented on recordings by The Village Waytes, MUSE-Cincinnati Women's Choir, the Concert Choir of Seattle Pacific University, The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, The Women's Chorus of Dallas, VoiceBox, and Dare To Breathe. Many of his works for chorus are published by Yelton Rhodes Music. David has a master's degree in choral conducting and composition from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He has sung with The Plymouth Music Series Ensemble Singers and the Rose Ensemble for Early Music, and the Dale Warland Singers, and he founded Dare To Breathe. Sheena Phillips (Rugged But Right, Rosie the Riveter arrangements) Sheena Phillips is a busy singer, composer and choral musician. British by birth, she studied mathematics at Cambridge University (with lots of singing on the side) but gradually found that music was her real calling. In Edinburgh, Scotland, where she lived for ten years, she founded and directed the award winning Rudsambee company of singers, and began seriously to write music, especially for choirs. In January 2000 she moved with her husband and two sons to Columbus, Ohio. She sings professionally with the Lancaster Chorale, the Early Interval and the Columbus Bach Ensemble, and sings in and directs the Magpie Consort, a twelve voice ensemble. Her compositions are now being performed by a growing number of professional and amateur groups in Britain, France and the USA. With colleagues in Scotland, she is a partner of Canasg Music Publishing, a new on-line choral sheet music publisher. She also runs poetry and song writing workshops for children. Don Raye (Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy music and words) Don Raye was born Donald MacRae Wilhoite, Jr. in Washington, D. C. on March 16, 1909. After graduating from New York University, Raye began his career appearing in vaudeville shows, touring extensively throughout the United States and Europe. In 1935, he organized a nightclub act in New York and began writing his own material for the show. Under contract with film studios, Raye moved to Hollywood in 1940, however, in 1941, he joined the US Army and served during World War II. After the war, Raye returned to songwriting and produced a catalog of hit standards. Throughout his career, Raye worked with several collaborators, most notably, Gene De Paul. Other collaborators included Hughie Prince, Pat Johnston, Harry James, Freddie Slack, Artie Shaw, Charles Shavers and Benny Carter. The Raye catalog includes Rhythm in My Nursery Rhymes, Why Begin Again? He's My Guy, I'll Remember April, You Don't Know What Love Is, Irresistible You, The House of Blue Lights, A Song Was Born, They Were Doing the Mambo, Beat Me Daddy Eight to the Bar, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, This Is My Country, Domino, Too Little Time, I Know What God Is and Gentle Is My Love. Eleanor Roosevelt (The Beauty of Your Dreams, lyrics adapted from writings) A shy, awkward child, starved for recognition and love, Eleanor Roosevelt grew into a woman with great sensitivity to the underprivileged of all creeds, races and nations. Her constant work to improve their lot made her one of the most loved -- and, for some years, one of the most reviled -- women of her generation. She was born in New York City in 1884. When her mother died in 1892, she went to live with her Grandmother Hall. Eleanor's adored father died only two years later, leaving her orphaned when she was 10. When she was 15, Eleanor attended school in England, which gave her a chance to develop self-confidence among other girls. She returned for her society debut, which she dreaded. She met her future husband, a distant cousin named Franklin Delano Roosevelt, at her debut. They became engaged in 1903 and were married in 1905. Within 11 years, Eleanor bore six children. In Albany, N.Y., where Franklin served in the state Senate from 1910-13, Eleanor started her long career as political helpmate. She became active in the women's division of the State Democratic Committee to keep his interest in politics alive. Eleanor dedicated her life to his purposes. She became eyes and ears for him, a trusted and tireless reporter. When he was stricken with poliomyelitis in 1921, she tended him devotedly. When Eleanor went to the White House in 1933, she understood social conditions better than any of her predecessors, and she transformed the role of first lady. She greeted thousands with charming friendliness at official events. But she broke precedent by conducting news conferences, traveling around the country, gave lectures and radio broadcasts, and candidly expressed her opinions in a daily syndicated newspaper column, "My Day." This made her a tempting target for political enemies, but her integrity, graciousness and sincerity of purpose endeared her personally to many--from heads of state to servicemen she visited abroad during World War II. After the president's death in 1945 she returned to a cottage at the family's estate in Hyde Park, N.Y. She told reporters: "The story is over." Within a year, however, she became the country's spokeswoman in the United Nations. She continued a vigorous career until her strength began to wane in 1962. She died that November and was buried at Hyde Park beside her husband. Pete Seeger (Tzena, Tzena English lyrics) Pete Seeger was born in New York City on May 3, 1919. He grew up in an environment full of music and aggressive left wing politics. His father, Charles Seeger, was one of the great figures of American musicology and ethnomusicology, an enthusiastic scholar of folk music and a proselyte for what he called proletarian music. Pete Seeger attended Harvard College for two years but dropped out in 1938. For the next two years he explored the world of folk music. In 1940 he and Woody Guthrie, along with Lee Hays, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, founded the Almanac Singers. In 1949, he joined with Ronnie Gilbert, Lee Hays and Fred Hellerman to form The Weavers, one of the most successful and influential folk music groups ever. The Weavers had hit recordings with the traditional song On Top Of Old Smoky and with Lead Belly Ledbetter's Goodnight, Irene, but their left wing politics quickly became a point of controversy. Seeger had joined the Communist Party in 1942 and remained a member until around 1950, and in the crazed political climate that started in the late 1940s, he fell increasingly under attack. Soon The Weavers became blacklisted, and in 1955 Pete Seeger was called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. In 1956 he wrote Where Have All The Flowers Gone and was indicted for contempt of Congress. In 1961 he was found guilty and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but his case was dismissed on appeal due to a technicality. Pete Seeger has always been a socially conscious songwriter. Inspired by the civil rights movement, he wrote We Shall Overcome, based on an old spiritual. The song quickly became the anthem of the movement. Since the end of the 1960s, Seeger has become increasingly involved in the environmental movement. Joan Szymko (The Beauty of Your Dreams music) Now in her ninth season as director of Aurora Chorus in Portland, Oregon, Joan Szymko (SHIM-koh) has more than 20 years of experience as a choral conductor, composer, teacher and performer in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a commitment to presenting high-quality choral music for women's voices. As resident composer for the acclaimed Do Jump! Movement Theater (1995-2001), Joan performed with the company at home in Portland and on tour with runs on Broadway, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Joan's music is being performed by choruses across the country, and she is emerging as a choral composer of renown. Her work has been showcased at the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association. She is the recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Oregon Arts Commission and was selected to participate in the ASCAP Foundation's prestigious Film Scoring Workshop in LA. A CD collection of original vocal compositions, OPENINGS (1998), features Viriditas, a select chamber ensemble Joan founded and directs. Her choral music is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing. |
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