David Darling

Barry Green

Alan Scofield

Chungliang Al Huang

Mary Knysh

Rhiannon

Rhiannon

Rhiannon is a vibrant, gifted singer, composer and master teacher who hasbeen bringing her potent blend of world music, jazz, improvisation and storytelling to audiences for over three decades. Her journey has taken her from a South Dakota farm to New York, where she studied theater and earned her MFA from Cornell University. For the next ten years, she worked as a singer, actor and director in New York, Chicago and San Francisco. Her richly expansive and experimental vocal style is greatly influenced by her
early life on the South Dakota prairie and the vibrant musical cultures of these cities, as well as that of coastal Northern California, her home of many years.

In addition to her many ongoing performing and recording collaborations, Rhiannon enjoys a long time musical friendship with vocal improvisation master Bobby McFerrin. An original member of his twelve-voice orchestra, Voicestra, Rhiannon recorded "Circlesongs" with Bobby in 1997, and has
been featured soloist on his annual U.S. and European Voicestra tours since 1997.

Rhiannon co-founded the groundbreaking women's jazz quintet, Alive! in 1976. This pioneering group toured internationally and released three albums during their ten years together. She is also a founding member of the innovative a cappella ensembles Voicestra and SoVoSo'.

Rhiannon's love of music, theater and improvisation has resulted in performance pieces and collaborations with poets, storytellers, performance artists, visual artists and dancers around the world. She has appeared at
Monterey Jazz Festival, Montreaux Jazz Festival, Vancouver International Folk Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival, Montreal Jazz Festival, North
Sea Jazz Festival, The Restless Gravity Festival (Wales), The Festival of Romance (New Zealand) and many others.

Rhiannon is a gifted and dedicated master teacher. In master classes, clinics, workshop and retreats around the world she teaches her own unique vocal improvisation process, developed over a period of thirty years, and
based on her work on the cutting edge of music and theater- as a singer, improviser, actor and storyteller.

At the center of Rhiannon's teaching is the integration of the breath, body and voice. Her workshops provide a holistic and challenging environment for singers to let go of the "known" and discover a more spontaneous musical expression. Her program is designed to help students discover that improvisation is a skill as well as being magic, and that to grow as an improviser means studying the forms that hold this magic. Working alone, in pairs and in ensemble, participants strengthen their skills in rhythm, vocal technique, body integration, harmony, and ear training. Improvisation exercises put these tools into context, and encourage deep listening,
musical awareness and expanded creativity. Participants learn to balance skill and abandon, and learn to express their own unique musical impulses.

Sessions are often taught in a cappella circle, a technique that grew out of Rhiannon's experience with Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra. This format reinforces group dynamics, full presence, and allows the group to create
vocal grooves and interlocking parts as a foundation for soloing. This demonstrates to the singers that they are the bottom line of the rhythm and form of the music. Students also experiment with words, personal scat
language, movement and a variety of other innovative exercises that allow for greater levels of freedom, joy and unselfconscious expression. Singers of all levels benefit from this work: inexperienced singers develop skills
and courage, professional singers tap into new levels of creativity and personal expression. Rhiannon is a compassionate and constructive guide.

In October 2000 Rhiannon released the critically acclaimed "Flight: Rhiannon's Interactive Guide to Vocal Improvisation" (Sounds True). This unique 2 CD package is the realization of her vision to provide singers and musicians a learning experience that is challenging, entertaining and joyful.

Rhiannon is deeply interested in the relationship between music and healing. After decades of exploration in her performances, teaching, social activism and personal life, Rhiannon now brings her experience and her gifts to
hospital and hospice settings, creating improvised music in private sessions for terminally ill patients and premature infants. She also shares her approach to sound healing in workshops for singers who want to use their
voices beyond the realm of performance.

First and foremost, Rhiannon is a singer?? a captivating entertainer and a true collaborative artist, with a vision of music as a vehicle for healing, community-building, transformation, and social change.

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