Original chamber works inspired by Celtic melody, jazz rhythm and harmony, and classical foundations. Conant's evocative music and expressive flute playing paint a lush landscape of moods from contemplative to joyful.

13 MP3 Songs
CLASSICAL: Contemporary, NEW AGE: Celtic New Age



Details:
Composing is a bright new direction for Susan Conant, known locally for her chamber and folk music performances on flute, recorder and whistle. Composing provides a way to unite all of the bits and pieces of Susan's background into a unique repertoire. Her tunes borrow bits from each corner of her musical experience. Susan's grandmother, Lily Conant's, stewardship of Pinewoods Camp allowed her to spend summers playing early music on the recorder and learning traditional dance and music from the British Isles and North America. She later studied flute performance at the New England Conservatory with Claude Monteux. As a founding member of James Street Players, a classical chamber group, Susan performed in many local festivals and concert series. She was also instrumental in starting a Christmas Revels troupe in Chicago. She now directs and performs all sorts of music at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Geneva (UUSG), Illinois and enjoys playing traditional music with O're the Border, a Scottish Country Dance band, and Musaica, a Latin folk music band.

Jacqueline Schwab, featured on Celtic Suite, is well-known for her improvisational piano playing. She has recorded three solo CD's and perform on over forty other sincluding the soundtrack for Kevin Burns' Civil War documentary. Her playing has been described as "gorgeously spare" (The Boston Globe) yet "sounds as if she has an orchestra at her fingertips" (Sing Out). Jacqueline's style fits somewhere between folk traditional, classical and new age. Although improvisation is often connected with jazz, Jacqueline derives inspriation from traditional and classical music.

Lynn McCanne's expressive piano playing can be heard on Duet, Fantasy, the Tide and Lord Balgonie's Medley. Lynn performs locally in the Western suburbs of Chicago, provides piano music at UUSG and is a member of a number of acapella vocal ensembles. Cynthia Spiegel. featured on The Tide, has been making a name for herself as choir member and soloist in the Chicago area. As a member of St Charles singers, Cynthia performed as soloist in their 2006 tour of France. Conor Mackey is a very talented high school senior who hopes to major in composition next year. He is equally talented at classical bassoon and electric guitar. He moves easily between an eclectic array of musical styles from classical to jazz and funk.

Wendy Evans-Glazier, violinist, holds a Bachelor of Music degree in perfomance from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa, and a Master of Music degree and Performance Certificate from Northwestern University. She has held positions with the Omaha Symphony, Florida Symphony, Hong Kong Philharmonic and the Elgin Symphony. She also perfoms with the Chicago Philharmonic, Ravinia Festival Orchestra, Grant Park Symphony, Chicago Opera Theater, and the Rockford Symphony.
As a member of the Telos String Quartet, she performed numerous recitals in the midwestern states and in Italy. She has recorded with Mannheim Steamroller and John Denver, and performed with such popular artists as Josh Grobin, Patti LaBelle, Vince Gill and Ray Charles.