FREE!
Creative Arts Ensemble is a multidisciplinary experience that provides adults with special needs the opportunity to be understood and heard, execute self-expression, build confidence, and promote self-advocacy through a variety of performing and visual arts.
Join Iris Collective for another fun evening exploring the language of music featuring violinist and music professor, Marcin Arendt, and singer and music professor, Rebecca Arendt. Building off our previous sessions, we'll create our own music and learn how to "talk to each other" with drums, singing, and other sounds. Pizza and drinks will be provided.
Questions? Contact Jenn King at jenn@gpacweb.com.
BIOS
Dr. Marcin Arendt is a violinist, chamber musician, soloist, and educator, serving as Professor of Violin at the University of Memphis’s Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. He maintains a vibrant studio of undergraduate and graduate students while performing with his string-faculty colleagues in the Ceruti String Quartet. An active performer, Dr. Arendt is a core member of the Iris Collective, collaborating closely with colleagues in both concert performances and innovative community engagement projects. He also performs regularly with the Arizona Music Festival in Scottsdale, AZ, and the ProMusica Chamber Orchestra in Columbus, OH. Through his work with Iris Collective, Dr. Arendt engages in initiatives that bring music into spaces where it can foster connection, healing, and inspiration. These projects often incorporate storytelling, using music to share and honor people’s experiences and to create moments of genuine human connection. They frequently reach audiences outside traditional concert settings, ensuring that music remains accessible and meaningful to people from a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences
Rebecca Arendt, soprano, is an international singer specializing in both classical and commercial music. She is a voice professor at the University of Memphis' Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music and is the Executive Director of Iris Collective. Along with her husband, she is a lead organizer of Memphis in Poland, a biannual music festival in Poland celebrating Memphis' musical heritage through concerts, lectures, and educational outreach.
Rebecca Arendt holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Colorado-Boulder and is a member of the national music honor society, Pi Kappa Lambda. Breaking down barriers between musical genres and increasing accessibility to the arts while instilling an appreciation for and comprehensive understanding of music in people of all ages, especially children, is a predominant passion in much of her musical career.