Concert Program

This year’s Brearley Benefit will feature performances by musicians from all corners of the Brearley community.

Robert McDuffie

Class XII parent Robert McDuffie returns to our Benefit stage with his masterful violin playing. A Grammy-nominated Telarc and EMI recording artist, he has appeared as a soloist with most of the major orchestras of the world. McDuffie plays a 1735 Guarneri del Gesù violin known as the Ladenburg. He is a Distinguished University Professor of Music at Mercer University in his hometown of Macon, Georgia, where the university’s Robert McDuffie Center for Strings opened at the beginning of the 2007–2008 academic year. Accompanying Robert McDuffie will be the distinguished pianist Elizabeth Pridgen.

Paul Foglino

Faculty member (Mathematics, Class X Advisor), Class I parent and singer/songwriter Paul Foglino plays folk guitar. Foglino’s music and lyrics won the jury prize at the 2005 New York Fringe Festival and received a nomination for a 2007 Innovative Theater Award. He has performed with several bands, releasing critically acclaimed albums and touring nationally and internationally.

Wendy Griffiths

Brearley alumna Wendy Griffiths ’80 brings us her band, Changing Modes. A classically trained composer whose influences range from Bartók and Stravinsky to Nirvana, King Crimson and Sparks, Griffiths is the principal songwriter for the band. Changing Modes creates a unique art rock with Sparks-esque complexity and punk rock energy. The band has released three full-length albums: Down and Out in Shangri-la (2008), A Perfect Day (2003) and Aeroplane (2005) — and two EPs (2000 and 2001).

Brearley Rock Band

The Brearley Rock Band, led by Music Department member Marty Burman since 2002, has performed in the Assembly Hall, the Common Room and the Cafeteria and for several years has participated in the Spring Music Fesitval. Members include Matt Aiken, Jennifer Collins, Wendy De Wolf, Wilhelmina Eaken, Wendy Evans, Paul Foglino, Annabel Gordon, Katherine Henderson, Karyn Joaquino, Grace Kim, Kemllen Lee, Karl Paranya, Karen Ready, David Rentz, Jeff Venho, Maria Zimmermann and Marty Burman. The band will be rocking on oldies but goodies from the 60’s.

Christopher Meloni, Host

Our festival host is Class II parent Christopher Meloni, an acclaimed film, television and theater actor best known for his starring role in the series Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Meloni’s work in film includes Gym Teacher: The Movie; the Harold and Kumar movies, Wet Hot American Summer, Runaway Bride, Nights in Rodanthe and the upcoming The Stepfather. He has performed at the Williamstown Theater Festival, MCC Theater, LAByrinth Theater Company and the Gate Theater, Dublin.

We thank all these accomplished artists for lending their talents and efforts to produce a memorable, fun-filled evening.