ICY SIMPSON

Icy has been hailed as a passionate singer whose love for music flows through everyone that hears her. Ms. Simpson’s grace and talent has been conveyed through many roles including Susannah in Susannah, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel and Catherine in The University of Texas-Austin’s world premiere of A View from the Bridge by William Bolcom (the chamber orchestra version). Icy attended the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria during the summer of 2006. She won the state and regional National Association of Teachers of Singing Competitions, as well as the District Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 2007/2008. Ms. Simpson is also the winner of the 2008 Classical Singer Competition-University Division, and the winner of the “Peoples’ Choice” Award in the Dallas Opera Guild Competition-2008. In January 2009, Icy was invited to participate in a Master class with Maestro James Levine via the Marilyn Horne Foundation. Her most recent accomplishments include achieving 2nd place in the National Association of Negro Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, Inc competition (July 2010) and appearing as Adina in the Butler Opera Center’s 2010 production of L’elisir D’amore. In April 2011, Ms. Simpson had the opportunity of playing Despina in Così fan tutte with the Butler Opera Center. As of May 2011, Icy Rene Simpson is now a graduate from the University of Texas-Austin with an Artist Diploma under the tutelage of Professor Darlene Wiley.

BRIAN OWENS

The music of Brian Owens is a synthesis of the musical purity and intimacy of Bill Wither’s urban folk, the vocal class and style of Sam Cooke and Donny Hathway’s soul stirring emotion and social consciousness. And oh yeah, a little Al Green and Marvin Gaye for taste. All of these elements combine to create a sound that is unique and a voice that is distinctively his own and not mere imitation. “I write and sing about what I know, like most of the singer songwriters that have influenced me,” Owens explains. “I’ve found that there is nothing new to write about – just new ways to write about the same traditional, but exciting ways of life.”

“I want this music to reach into every aspect of the listeners’ life,” says Owens. “ I want to encourage them to experience life with everything that makes them who they have come to be –while at the same time re-discovering who they really are meant to be.”

Most recently, Owens has achieved international acclaim as lead male vocalist for the Air National Guard Band Sidewinder. During the course of their tour they were featured on Fox and Friends, Entertainment Tonight and a host of other programs.

MICHAEL K. HOWELL

Born in Kansas City Mo., innovative and skillful guitarist, Michael Howell was inspired and taught by his father and noted K.C. guitarist Herley Dennis in his youth. He later studied classical guitar at the Music and Arts Institute of San Francisco. He also received degree in Music from Lehman College in New York. While living in California, Michael played and recorded with his own group as well as other musicians such as Bobby Hutchinson, Hampton Hawse, Art Blakey, George Duke, John Handy and Woody Shaw. He performed in the Monterey Jazz Festival Guitar Summit which also included guitarist Joe Pass, Model Lowe, Jim Hall and Lee Retinue. He also played with many notable musicians as a member of the house band at San Francisco's "Jazz Workshop".

Michael moved to New York and worked five years internationally with one of the great bebop inventors John "Dizzy" Gillespie. While working most of the major Jazz festivals and Jazz Clubs throughout the world, Michael was able to absorb many world experiences that enhanced his performance ability. The guest of the Gillespie group included the "Who's Who of Jazz".

LILA MORI

For over 37 years, twenty six of them in Colorado Springs, Lila has actively embraced a vocal career as both a jazz artist and a classical artist, and as a vocal educator . Her passion is continual vocal improvement in herself and in the hundreds of voice students she has instructed in the past twenty three years.

Lila has appeared at jazz festivals throughout the United States as both guest artist and clinician. She has been the featured vocalist with The Frank Fanelli Orchestra of Colorado Springs; The Seacoast Big Band of Portsmouth N.H.; the Birchcreek Music Center’s Academy Orchestra and Big Band in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin; the Winterfest Jazz Festival at The University of Wisconsin, and at numerous gala and holiday events, including The Governor’s Inaugural Ball In New Hampshire.

As a classical soloist, Lila has performed with The Opera Theater of the Rockies, Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble, The Colorado Opera Festival, The Colorado Springs Chorale and Mosaic, and the Taylor Memorial Choir.

ERIC DEAN WASSENAAR

Eric is a second year Vocal Performance Masters degree candidate at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He is under the tutelage of Dr. Joel Burcham. Eric obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Music from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota studying with Dr. Monty Barnard. While in South Dakota he won the Concerto/Aria Competition and performed with the Augustana College Orchestra under the direction of Dr. Christopher Stanichar in 2008 and 2009. He has also been involved in the South Dakota Symphony Opera productions of Puccini’s Turandot as Emperor Altuom in 2009 and in Tosca as the Jailer in 2008. In the summer of 2008 Eric performed the role of The Big Bad Wolf in Seymour Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood with Sounds of South Dakota.

He was awarded 1^st place in the Music Teachers National Association State Young Artist Competition, the South Dakota Music Teacher Association Division I Competition, and the Nordland Fest Edvard Grieg Competition. In the summer of 2009 he participated in the Opera Theater of the Rockies Vocal Arts Symposium under the artistic direction of Mrs. Martile Rowland and returned to the company in 2010 to cover and perform the role of Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute. Eric performed several roles in the 2010-2011 season with Colorado University Opera including; Mr. Snow in Carousel, Sam Polk in Susannah, and was a featured soloist in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass.