Please join us on Saturday, February 15 for the first in this year’s series of Hickory Arts house concerts featuring vocalist Wendy Jones! Tickets (“donations,” if you prefer) are $20 and can be purchased online or at Hickory Arts. Please call ahead. Only 40 seats are available. Doors open at 7:30 pm for an eat and greet with the artists. The performance begins at 8 pm. Hickory Arts House Concerts are very intimate. Volunteers to provide food (“potluck,” if you prefer) for the performer(s) and guests is strongly encouraged. All proceeds always go directly to the artist(s). No membership or personal invitation is required. Wendy received a B.M. and an M.M. in vocal performance from Appalachian State University and then joined the voice faculty there where she taught for 8 years before embarking on a full-time, professional singing/acting career. Having sung with Opera Carolina, Appalachian Opera Theatre, and the Brevard Music Center, her favorite opera roles include Adina in L’Elisir d’Amore, Laetitia in The Old Maid and the Thief, and Papagena in DieZauberflote. An accomplished Equity actress as well as singer, Wendy has appeared in leading roles on stages of many prominent professional theatres throughout the U.S. including Florida Repertory Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Little Theatre on the Square (IL), Temple Theatre, and Blowing Rock Stage Company. She received glowing reviews for her portrayals of Kate in Kiss Me Kate, Belle in Beauty and the Beast, Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Miss Sandra in All Shook Up, and Brenda in Smokey Joe’s Cafe…to name just a few. She was also one of nine singers chosen after extensive auditions in North America, Europe, and Australia, to appear at Tokyo Disney in the Broadway review ENCORE! From 1991 – 2008 she was a frequent headliner and lead production singer on cruise ships and it was during this time that she wrote Everything is Rosie (a one-woman show celebrating the life of Rosemary Clooney) and Ladies and Gentlemen (a cabaret show celebrating the pioneers of traditional pop music such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, and Ella Fitzgerald). Each of the shows premiered in south Florida at the Winter Park Playhouse in 2009 and 2010, respectively. When asked if these singers are relevant today, Jones responds, “I believe they’re all relevant today, as the ability to interpret a lyric never goes out of style. We are talking about the masters here.” She received additional pedagogical training with the late Richard Miller at the Institute of Vocal Performance/Pedagogy at Oberlin College and has worked with The New York Voices, nationally/internationally known jazz educators Michele Weir (UCLA), Greg Jasperse (Western Michigan), Jennifer Barnes, (University of North Texas), Rosana Eckert (University of North Texas), Larry Lapin (University of Miami), and Jay Clayton (Peabody Institute) Wendy is currently on the faculty at the University of North Carolina – Asheville where she teaches voice and directs the university vocal jazz ensemble – Studio 18. She is also on staff at The Music Academy – Asheville (where she teaches classical, musical theatre, and jazz vocal techniques and conducts the newly formed high school Vocal Jazz Ensemble – Soul Sassination) and on the faculty of NYS3 of Asheville. In her spare time, she enjoys assisting the choral students at Brevard High School under the direction of Mary Beth Shumate. Hickory Arts is a teaching and production studio dedicated to taking performance artists from point A to point B, whatever that may be. The studio is located at 720 Second Avenue SW, Hickory 28602 behind ITP and across from Hickory Optimist Park (where you’ll also find additional parking). For more information about tickets and Hickory Arts, please explore the website or call 828-270-9801.