Welcome to the Orange County Arts Council Annual Arts Gala

Singleton – a multi-instrumentalist from Awendaw SC received a Bachelor of Arts from South Carolina State University. He is Director of the Charleston Jazz Orchestra, and a member of Ranky Tanky which performs Gullah music. Singleton said “Growing up in the church (my father is a retired African Methodist Episcopal Church pastor) I was surrounded by incredible harmony and rhythm. Testimony is written from my prayer Band experience, and rhythms in African American churches.”

Grammy nominated Clyne, the most performed living female British composer in 2022 - has worked with orchestras, choreographers, and visual artists around the world. Originally from England, Ms. Clyne now lives here in the Hudson Valley. “Woman Holding a Balance”, was written in response to a sculpture called Dutch/Light (After Vermeer) by artist and filmmaker Jyll Bradley. The music follows shifting harmonic colors that reaches a melodic section, before returning to the stillness of the opening

Haydn - an Austrian composer, credited with creating the modern form of chamber music, brought a conversational style where each instrument participates in playing the melodic line. The fiery finale has Gypsy undertones and features sudden stops – it also has a twittering motif, first heard in the first violin part, and has the last word in the cello’s lowest register.