VGCC presents Saxophonist and Organist in free concert

As part of its cultural outreach to the community, Vance-Granville Community College will present a concert of music featuring Saxophonist Michael Stephenson and Organist Mark Hopper. The pair will perform at the Creedmoor United Methodist Church on Friday, April 24 at 7 p.m. and at the Warrenton Baptist Church on Saturday, April 25 at 7 p.m.

Music by J.S. Bach, Gabriel Faure, Jacob ter Veldhuis, Thomas Massella and others will be performed. Massella, a Pennsylvania-based composer, is also expected to be in attendance. These concerts will be free to the public.

Michael Stephenson is an instructor of music at Vance-Granville Community College. He created and directs the Vance-Granville Community Band, which combines community college students and interested musicians from throughout the area. He teaches a variety of music courses at VGCC, including Music Appreciation, American Music, Music Fundamentals and Music Theory. As a North Carolina Visiting Artist, Stephenson performed over 400 concerts across North Carolina, as well as at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. As an orchestral saxophonist, he has appeared with the North Carolina, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Western Piedmont Symphonies. In addition to his duties at VGCC, Stephenson is the soprano saxophonist for the New Century Saxophone Quartet. NCSQ has recorded seven CD’s and has performed in some of the most prestigious venues all over the world, including Carnegie Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, Pick-Steiger Hall (Chicago), Concertgebouw (Amsterdam) and Boston Symphony Hall. Stephenson and his wife, Cheryl, founded the Music Academy of Eastern Carolina (MAEC), a non-profit community music school, in 1997 in Greenville.

Mark Hopper is Minister of Music and Organist at First Baptist Church of Henderson, a post he has held since 2004. He directs the Chancel Choir, the Youth Choir, Children’s Choir II, the Morning Adult Ringers and The Bell Ringers of The First Baptist Church. He also maintains a piano and organ studio for both children and adults and a voice studio. Hopper is also an active clinician. He has led several breakout sessions for the annual assembly of CBFNC and has served as organ clinician for the BSCNC Music Leaders’ Training Retreat. In February 2009, he was the clinician for the South Carolina CBF Handbell Festival. In July 2009, he will be the resident organist for the Fellowship of American Baptist Musicians’ National Conference in Green Lake, Wisconsin.

For more information, call Stephenson at (252) 738-3346.