Denielle Wilson
cellist
Denielle Wilson is a musician and educator from Lithonia, Georgia, and she recently completed her first season as an acting section cellist in the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra. Her undergraduate degree was done at Northwestern University in 2017, having majored in cello performance and music education. She performed as cello fellow and co-principal in the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and recently completed her master's degree as a diversity fellow with the Cincinnati Symphony and the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. Her musical mentors have included Hans Jørgen Jensen, Alan Rafferty, Wei Yu, Joel Dallow, Abraham Feder, Robert DeMaine and Nan Kimberling. She has spent summers at the Meadowmount School of Music, Bowdoin Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival and School and the Grant Park Music Festival.
Recent solo performances include appearances with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. She has taught privately in the metropolitan Atlanta and Chicago areas and has been a string orchestra teacher and sectionals coach at elementary, middle and high schools in Evanston and Skokie, Illinois, and Charlotte, North Carolina. She plays in a piano trio with her siblings, Dana and Cliff Jr., and they enjoy sharing classical and religious music with their local community.
Wilson is an alumna of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Talent Development Program, where she studied with ASO cellist Joel Dallow for five years.
David Troy Francis, piano
Two time Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ned Rorem says of Mr. Francis: He plays the right note with the right tone at the right time. (what more can you ask of any performer?) And with this, he adds that indefinable element of himself, which is the magic of all true interpreters.
Mr. Francis has enjoyed a 50+ year career of musical excellence and performs in recital throughout America and Europe. He has ten cds available including the world premiere recording of Mr. Rorem's Eight Etudes for Piano on the cd entitled The Americans. The Los Angeles Times raves of Mr. Francis’ playing: consistently absorbing whether in lyrical repose or propulsive fury. Two of his best selling CDs include his unique and compelling arrangements of American Hymns.
Mr. Francis is the recording pianist for such films as Pursuit of Happyness, Elegy and Fame. He has composed music for film and television.
Mr. Francis is the creator, composer, musical director and executive producer of the runaway smash hit musical BARK! - the 3rd longest running production in Los Angeles theatrical history. The wildly successful show has been mounted in theatres from Florida to Alaska and internationally in Brazil and Scotland. BARK! has been selected critics’ choice by the Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune.
David Troy Francis was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is best known for his steadfast championing and performance of contemporary American music. Now living in Roswell, Georgia, he is an esteemed concert pianist and recording artist as well as a respected composer, arranger and accompanist.