First Friday Music & Art Series Fall 2024
Julia Williams - October 4 at 12 p.m.
Accordionist Julia WIlliams performs as a soloist and with groups as a specialist in classical, swing musette, tango, and contemporary music. She studied piano accordion and chromatic button accordion as a youth with Dee Langley of Minneapolis. She has degrees in accordion performance from the University of Missouri, Kansas City and music literature/historical musicology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. In Kansas City she studied with Joan C. Sommers and was a featured soloist in master class with Friedrich Lips of Moscow’s Gnessin Institute of Music. Her performance competition prizes include the American Guild of Music’s North American Invitational Championship and the Accordionists and Teachers Guild United States classical solo championship.
B & the Boppers - November 1 at 12 p.m.
B & the Boppers perform jazzy tunes from the 1920s to today. Playing an array of classic jazz standards along with contemporary hits by artists such as Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder, the arrangements are sophisticated, swinging and soulful. The band features Bev Jester on vocals, Andy Hall on bass, and Jim Williamson on keyboards.
Bell-issimo - December 6 at 12 p.m.
Bell-issimo is a 16-member ensemble of bell ringers from eleven Lincoln churches. Performing since 2002 and under the leadership of Nancy Youngman, Bell-issimo inspires and promotes the distinctive beauty and uniqueness of hand bell ringing. The ensemble has performed with multiple musical groups in Lincoln, including Lincoln Choral Artists, the Lincoln Community Concert Band, Dulces Voces, the Lincoln Early Music Consort, along with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra. Additionally, Bell-issimo has presented several Pop & Rock Concerts at Vega and the Royal Grove. Regular concerts have been presented in Lincoln and other communities throughout Nebraska.
