Faculty singer-songwriters bring their music to the CMC stage in an insightful show-and-tell of creativity. Guitar faculty Larry Dunn brings together a diverse group of singing musical raconteurs and purveyors of original music to exchange songs in a free concert. Get a more personal peek behind the curtain with banter, and back stories from musicians with a wide range of styles and perspectives—it’s sure to be an evening of inspiration and artistry!
Featured Musicians:
Larry Dunn (guitar faculty)
Allison Lovejoy (piano faculty)
Erik Pearson (guitar/fretted instruments faculty)
Evelyn Davis (piano faculty)
Thursday, July 10 at 7pm
CMC Concert Hall
FREE (RSVP here)
About the Shenson Faculty Concert Series
The Shenson Faculty Concert Series returns this summer with free concerts spotlighting CMC’s talented faculty members. Each year, the Shenson Foundation sponsors free community concerts for musical projects to support CMC faculty as performing artists and ensure their work on stage is shared and celebrated in our community.
This year’s presenters will highlight a wide variety of musical styles, techniques, and creative inspirations, including original compositions, new arrangements of beloved classics, and traditions from around the globe—using music as a tool for cultural reflection, personal connection, and artistic experimentation.
Meet this summer’s talented faculty performers:
- July 10 – Larry Dunn, guitar
- July 24 – Ben Snellings, cello
- August 7 – Tregar Otton, violin
- August 14 – Juan Carlos Entrembasaguas, saxophone
About the Performers:
Larry Dunn (Guitar Faculty) studied with Dale Brunner (Johnny Smith) and Jackie King (Willie Nelson). He signed with/recorded for Warner Bros., Rounder, and Rhino record companies. Larry has written, recorded, and produced 7 indie CDs. As a published songwriter he has had music placed in film and television, MUZAK, Pandora, and been recorded by other artists and included on compilation CDs. Larry has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and opened for Stevie Ray Vaughn, Four Tops, Bonnie Raitt, Tower of Power, Dr. John, Stylistics, Robben Ford and John Lee Hooker, among many others. He has worked with Big Joe Turner, Bo Diddley, Steve Cropper, John Oates and Eddie Money.
He teaches flat pick and finger picking in many styles including; blues, rock, jazz, r&b, folk, bluegrass, and country. Teaching privately for over 20 years he has worked with beginning to advanced students of all ages. Lessons are tailored to each student’s needs and can include notated studies of: scales, licks, arpeggios, chord inversions, theory, solo transcriptions, and songs. Also, he teaches/coaches songwriting. Has recently written and taught two comprehensive songwriting courses, ‘Songwriting Fundamentals’ and ‘Lyric Writing: the Language of Lyric’.
Allison Lovejoy (Piano Faculty) resides in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she is active as soloist, chamber musician, composer and teaching artist. Her repertoire spans from the Classical to Contemporary composers, and she is known for her versatility, interpretative powers and tonal range. Miss Lovejoy has studied with many great pianists, including Gyorgy Sandor, Robert Helps, Daniell Revenaugh, Mack McCray and Christopher Elton. She received her Masters Degree from the SF Conservatory of Music, and completed her undergraduate work at the University of the Pacific and the Royal Academy of Music in London.
She was recipient of the San Jose Young Artist Award and the Shenson Concert Series Award, and has performed as soloist with the International Festival of Music Orchestra in Nicaragua, the SF Concerto Orchestra and the San Francisco Sinfonietta.
Lovejoy’s debut recording, Allison Lovejoy, Piano features music of Chopin, Ravel, Debussy and Rachmaninov. The 2006 recording of Nocturnes for Piano explores a range of works by traditional composers of this genre from the 1800s–1950s. New Nocturnes (2014) includes contemporary compositions by George Rubissow and San Francisco Bay Area composers Kirke Mechem, Chus Alonso, Colin Farish, Rob Reich, and Marcus Shelby.
Miss Lovejoy is also known as a composer of cabaret and art song. Her recording Cabaret Nouveau was released in 2010, and features songs from the cabaret rock opera The Seven Deadly Pleasures, which has been performed at American Conservatory Theater’s Costume Shop and the San Francisco International Art Festival. She was awarded 1st place in the SF Cabaret Competition in 2011. Her recordings can be heard in the films 12 Pianos and It’ll be better tomorrow. She has toured in the United States, Japan, Europe, Central America, Canada and Mexico, and was also a member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Miss Lovejoy also performs as orchestral pianist with the Santa Rosa and Marin Symphonies.
She currently teaches at the Academy of Art University, Foothill College, Community Music Center, and at her private teaching studio. Her recordings can be found on iTunes, CDBaby and Amazon and she has been a guest artist on recordings of Ringo Starr, Stu Hamm and others.
Erik Pearson (Guitar/Fretted Instruments Faculty) graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory of Music with degrees in Cultural Anthropology and Music Composition. He has played and recorded in bands since 1990, written chamber music for local choreographers, and performs with internationally known storyteller Diane Ferlatte. The styles he teaches range from old time folk music, singer-songwriters to free-improv jazz-rock. Most recent projects include: Sonya Hunter, Mushroom, Crooked Jades, Nearly Beloved, and Billy Talbot.
Evelyn Davis (Piano Faculty) is an inside/prepared/new music pianist, improvisor, pipe organist, composer, vocalist, synthesist, teacher, songstress, and maker of/participator in oddly shaped musics with an occasional side of performance art. Recent projects include the plate-juggly keyboard/drum duo CHIROMANCER, trio play with Fred Frith and Phillip Greenlief as a pipe organist, and forthcoming rerelease of solo material The Wit of the Stair, songs for acoustic piano and voice. Life tics along, with the constant hum of teaching, song-writing and recording, forever exploring classical music, and improvising with friends. Evelyn holds an AA in Jazz Performance from the School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College, a Bachelor’s in Composition from the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and a Master’s in Performance and Improvisation from Mills College.