Free Tickets for Hope Academy Students

The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh presents “HEILIG” on Sunday, Feb 4 at 3 pm at East Liberty Presbyterian Church, with the Academy Chamber Orchestra Betsy Burleigh, Music Director, conducting. If you would like to attend, please see Linda Addlespurger or Norma Meyer and let them know how many tickets you would like.

Weekly Announcements for Jan 27, 2007

Read this week's announcements here (click the back arrow to return to this page). Printed announcements are available at the front desk.

HALO (Hope Academy Little Ones) classes are filled for the Winter term. If you would like to be put onto a waiting list for Creative Movement, Pre-Ballet or Songs and Stories I & II, please call Norma Meyer at 412-441-3800 x11.

Musical Theater and Shakespeare Video

Thanks to everyone who helped with last Saturday's open classes for Musical Theater and Shakespeare Workshop. Especially our teaching artists, Suzanne Polak, Staycee Walters-Pearl, Linda Haston, Karen Baum and Joe McGranaghan. Here is a video with photos from the day.



The music in the video is Gustav Holst's The Brook Green Suite, performed by Julieta Ugartemendia's woodwind quintet, Cincopation. Hope Academy students and their families will be able to see them perform Peter and the Wolf on Saturday, May 5 at East Liberty Presbyterian Church. Thank you to Julieta and Cincopation.

Weekly Announcements for Jan 20, 2007

Read this week's announcements here (click the back arrow to return to this page). Printed announcements are available at the front desk.

Remember, open classes for Voices of Hope, Creative Dramatics, African Drumming and Songwriting and Recording (Young Creators) this week. Winter term begins Sat January 27. Please get your registrations in!

Musical Theater and Shakespeare Open Classes Sat Jan 20

Come to see our open classes for Musical Theater and Shakespeare Workshops this Saturday, Jan 20. This is your chance to meet our teaching artists and see what our students are doing in their classes.

This is the final class of the term so, if you like what you see, you can sign up for our Winter Term which begins next Saturday, Jan 27.

Parents, family and friends are invited.

Musical Theater Workshop - 9:30am to 12:30 pm
Singing, dancing and acting for grades 4-12

Shakespeare Workshop - 1:30 to 3pm for grades 4-12

Video from HALO Open Classes

Over 100 people attended the HALO (Hope Academy Little Ones) open classes on Saturday. With music, songs, stories, dance, cookies, cakes, juice and bowling -- a fun time was had by all! Thanks to everyone who helped. Classes begin again on Saturday, Jan 27.



The song in the video "Turn Around and Smile," was written and performed by Brad Yoder, who some of you may know better as the tutoring program coordinator. Brad will be performing at the Hope Academy fundraising benefit, Love and all that Jazz, on Friday, Feb 16. His new CD will be released this coming Saturday (go to his website for more information, and to hear more of his music).

HALO Story: Chen Ping and his Magic Axe

HALO students (Hope Academy Little Ones) in Songs and Stories learned the story of "Chen Ping and his Magic Axe," and the accompanying song, "Purple Bamboo Shoot." Both the story and the song were included in the open class presentation on Saturday.


Click on the audio player (above) to hear the story of Chen Ping and his Magic Axe, as told by Holly Thuma with musical accompaniment by Julieta Ugartemendia. This story represents the attribute of Honesty, one of Heartwood Institute's seven universal ethical attributes.

Benefit Performances in February and March

Two benefits have been planned to help raise money for our showcase performances in May. Please attend and invite your family and friends. If you would like to volunteer to help usher or distribute posters, call Norma Meyer at 412-441-3800 x11.

Love and All That Jazz, Friday, Feb 16 at 7 pm
at East Liberty Presbyterian Church

A love-themed evening of jazz and Broadway standards in the spirit of Valentine's Day. With performances by Randy and Beth Bush, Brad Yoder, Etta Cox, Denise Sheffey Powell, Anna Vogelzang, Suzanne Polak, Peter Bianchi, The Renaissance City Men’s Choir and Hope Academy students (Musical Theater and Voices of Hope). Plus readings by special guests (we’ll reveal their names at a later date!)

Tickets: $10 per person. FREE for children and youth, 18 and und

Kelley Hunt, Thursday, March 8 at 7 pm
at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

An evening with indie blues/R&B pianist and singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt. You won't want to miss this!

The L.A. Daily News says about Kelley Hunt “Hunt's voice has both power and flexibility, so running the gamut from hard-core blues to religious raving to the most vocally sophisticated r&b is a natural enough strategy. She's also a pretty good songwriter; album opener ‘Waking Up Slow’ works both as a metaphor for reluctant growth and, well, not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. Hunt has good taste in other people's material as well, and knows how to make everything from the Beatles' ‘The Word’ to Jesse Winchester's ‘That's What Makes You Strong’ her earthy own.”

Find out more about Kelley Hunt and listen to her music at www.KelleyHunt.com

Tickets: $10 per person. FREE for children and youth, 18 and under.

Weekly Announcements for Jan 13, 2007

Read this week's announcements here (click the back arrow to return to this page). Printed announcements are available at the front desk.

Remember, open classes for Musical Theater Workshop and Shakespeare Workshop take place next Saturday, Jan 20. Invite your family and friends!

You're Invited! Open Classes for Little Ones

OPEN CLASSES are being held throughout January to give everyone a chance to visit, meet our teaching artists and see what our students are up to.

Our HALO (Hope Academy Little Ones) dance and music classes for 4 to 8 year olds will be open for viewing this Saturday, January 13.

SCHEDULE:

1:00 Demonstration by REMIX dance company

1:15 Songs and Stories I & II - taught by Julieta Ugartemendia and Holly Thuma in partnership with Guitar Society of Fine Art

2:00 Creative Movement and Pre-Ballet - taught by Samantha Hoe with accompanist Cyd Pennington in partnership with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

3:00 Photo Opportunity, Bowling, Registration for Winter Term Classes, Refreshments (bring a goodie or snack to share)

This is the final day of HALO classes for the Fall Term.
Winter Term HALO classes begin on Saturday, Jan 27 . You can register for the winter term following the open classes. Course brochures and registration forms are available online here.

To find out about our other open classes this month, see our yearly calendar here,

REMIX Dance Company Auditions

Dance Ensemble Audition
Saturday, January 13 at 12:30 pm

REMIX Dance Company (formerly Hope-Xpress Dance Company)
This audition-only class, under the direction of teacher and choreographer Staycee Walters-Pearl, is part of the Musical Theater Workshop program. It provides more intensive dance experiences for students interested in making a serious commitment to a performance group. Students are required to be responsible and committed as they are given considerable personal freedom in order to reach the goals of developing their own inventiveness and creativity as an ensemble.
Auditions will be held on Saturday, January 13 at 12:30 pm. To reserve your audition space, please call Norma Meyer at 412-441-3800 x11.

The dance company in action last May at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater.

To Jeremy's Songwriting Class (Young Creators)

Hello to all of my songwriting students. First, I will not be there on Saturday, Jan 13. So take a week off to write lyrics. You all know how fast it comes together when you actually do the writing.

Here's what we have. Jamal FREESTYLIN?!!! Yep and had the touch I might add. Him and Nels D layin down new tracks. We patched in a B section. What happens in the B section STAYS in the B section! To Nels: write a verse and then bring it next time. Oh and Asia, Jamal rapped on your tracks too. Sorry about that reverb, I took it off. But I love your song.

Here's the lineup for the Saturday after next: It's about half the class so we have room for others if you show up. Jamal is getting his bassline. Can we get a violin on Nels'? Guitar for Jamal? Michael Jackson... you had to see it to believe it. Excellent. Little prayer for your audition. If you are done with the big stuff let's get your song down. I think you should compose with notes. Your ideas tend to be beyond the limits of our hipphopp methods. But nevertheless... what happened to those lyrics? Protect your precious ideas like they were precious art.

As for the rest of you... where were you? Come back. I can be nice.

Jeremy

P.S. Good luck to both Jamal and Michael on your gov school auditions! To see Jamal's dance pieces, go here and here

Hope Academy Kids in Action

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Weekly Announcements for January 6, 2007

Weekly announcements will be available on this blog.
For the week of Saturday, January 6 click here (use the back arrow to return to this page when you are done).

Karen Baum: Supporting Actress of the Year!

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Announces Performers of the Year

Sunday, December 31, 2006 By Christopher Rawson


“Supporting actress of the year is the busy Karen Baum, mostly for her funny, not-quite-innocent young Irish maid, completing the strange triangle in PICT's Boston Marriage.”

Congratulations to Karen!

Karen, shown above on the left, is a Hope Academy Teaching Artist for Musical Theater and Shakespeare

Find out more about Hope Academy's Teaching Artists

We will be featuring the current and upcoming work of our accomplished teaching artists on this blog throughout the year; but if you'd like to find out more about what they've done in the past you can read the bios of Hope Academy Teaching Artists here (click back arrow to return to this page when you are done).

If you are interested in taking private instrument or vocal lessons, bios of our Music Teachers can be read here (click back arrow to return to this page when you are done).

Happy New Year!

We will be back after a long break on Saturday, January 6. Everyone will be getting ready for our end of term open classes, when you will be able to invite your family and friends to see what you have been working on since September.

Please check the yearly calendar (below) to see when your open class will be held.

Hope Academy 2006-2007 Calendar

15-Week Courses

Semester 1 - September 23, 2006 to January 20, 2007

Semester 2 - January 27, 2007 to May 12, 2007


10-Week Private Lessons

Session 1 - September 23, 2006 to December 8, 2006

Session 2 - January 6, 2007 to March 16, 2007

Session 3 - March 31, 2007 to June 15, 2007


No classes:

* Friday, Nov 10 (Veteran’s Day)
* Tuesday, Nov 21 to Monday, Nov 27 (Thanksgiving)
* Tuesday, Dec 19 to Friday, Jan 5 (Christmas)
* Thursday, Feb 15 (Rehearsal for Benefit)
* Tuesday, Apr 3 to Monday, Apr 9 (Easter)


AUDITIONS

REMIX Dance Company - Saturday, Jan 13 at 12:30 pm


OPEN CLASSES - First Semester

HALOs Dance & Music - Saturday, Jan 13 at 1 pm
Musical Theater Workshop - Saturday, Jan 20 at 9:30 am
Shakespeare Workshop - Saturday, Jan 20 at 1:30 pm
Young Creators’ Workshop - Saturday, Jan 20 at 3 pm
Voices of Hope - Wednesday, Jan 24 at 5:30 pm
Creative Dramatics - Thursday, Jan 25 at 4:30 pm
African Drumming - Thursday, Jan 25 at 5:30 pm


OPEN CLASSES - Second Semester

Creative Dramatics - Thursday, Apr 19 at 4:30 pm
Shakespeare Workshop - Saturday, Apr 21 at 1:30 pm
HALOs Dance & Music - Saturday, May 5 at 1 pm


RECITALS AND PERFORMANCES

Shakespeare Semi-Finals - Tuesday, Feb 6 at 3:45 pm
(Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Shakespeare Finals - Monday, Feb 12 at 7 pm
(Pittsburgh Public Theater)

Music Recitals - Sunday, May 6 at 2 pm

Hope Academy Showcase Performances:

* Saturday, May 12 at 7 pm
* Sunday, May 13 at 2 pm


OTHER

Love and All That Jazz
Friday, Feb 16, 7 pm at ELPC

A love-themed evening of jazz and Broadway standards in the spirit of Valentine's Day.

Tickets: $10 per person. FREE for children and youth, 18 and under!

Kelley Hunt Benefit Performance
Thursday, March 8, 7 pm at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

An evening with indie blues/R&B pianist and singer-songwriter Kelley Hunt to benefit Hope Academy's showcase performance. You won't want to miss this! Find out more about Kelley Hunt and listen to her music at www.KelleyHunt.com

Tickets: $10 per person. FREE for children and youth, 18 and under.