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Harrison Sheckler | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Harrison James Sheckler |
| Born | April 23, 1996 (age 27) |
| Origin | Charles City, Iowa |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | Pianist |
| Instrument(s) | Piano |
| Labels | Halidon Music |
| Website | www.harrisonsheckler.com |
Harrison Sheckler (born April 23, 1996) is an American classical pianist, composer, actor, and virtual choir conductor.
Sheckler was born in Rochester, MN and grew up in Charles City, IA, and began playing piano at age of 6 and violin at age 8. In 2014, he won the Terrace Hill Endowment for the Musical Arts Competition, broadcast on Iowa public television. [1] He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and earned a Masters of Music degree in Piano Performance from the Conservatory of Music at Brooklyn College. [2] Sheckler is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance at the University of Arizona.
On Oct. 7th, 2021, Sheckler's orchestration of Jeffrey Biegel's piano piece Reflections of Justice: An Ode to Ruth Bader Ginsburg was premiered by the Dallas Symphony as part of their concert honoring the late supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The program also included the premiere of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich's Remembering Ruth Bader Ginsburg for voice, piano, and orchestra which featured American mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves and pianist Jeffrey Biegel. [3]
In March 2020, Sheckler launched the Virtual Choir Project Covid-19 by asking fellow musicians and amateur singers to send him vocal recordings of the show tune “You'll Never Walk Alone", [4] ” from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel . He thought the lyrics of the song fit the need to stay positive during the coronavirus crisis. He contacted every high school choir director in Iowa to recruit students to participate as well as friends and colleagues. He received 240 vocal submissions and 60 instrumental accompaniments from 15 countries, including Germany, Israel, South Africa, and Vietnam. [5] Sheckler spent 200 hours combining 300 videos into one piece while making it sound like an orchestral arrangement. [6] [2] The recording was released on YouTube on May 1, 2020, and went viral, eventually securing more than 1.5 million views, and is one of the top 20 virtual choir recordings on the site. [7] Online collaborations and virtual choir projects, including "You'll Never Walk Alone," have been described as part of the soundtrack of the Covid-19 pandemic. [8]
In July 2020, Sheckler contacted former major league baseball pitcher and musician Bronson Arroyo to participate in a virtual choir recording of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame.” Current and former players, including Cy Young winner Bret Saberhagen, as well as announcers and other baseball personalities, were among the final 200 participants in the choir. [9]
In January 2024, Sheckler collaborated with the legendary singer Gloria Gaynor to release a new gospel music video titled "Talkin' 'Bout Jesus." The song, featured on Gaynor's Grammy® award-winning album "Testimony (Gloria Gaynor album)," celebrates themes of hope and spiritual resilience. The collaboration was highlighted by the Sheckler Virtual Choir, an innovative approach by Sheckler that brings together vocalists from around the world through technology, creating a unified musical performance despite physical distances.
The project included contributions from featured vocalist Kymberli Joye, musicians Elise Trouw, Anna Sentina, Sophie Giuliani, Harrison Sheckler, Steven Alesso, Grace Kelly (musician), and The Brass Twins, along with 60 choir members from across the USA. This ensemble created a rich tapestry of sound that embodied the spirit of gospel music. The music video's release coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. Day, underscoring its message of hope and unity. [10]
Gloria Gaynor is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "Let Me Know " (1979), "I Am What I Am" (1983), and her version of "Never Can Say Goodbye" (1974).
Gerry and the Pacemakers, were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongside the Beatles were instrumental in popularizing the Merseybeat sound and launching the wider British beat boom of the mid-1960s.
A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo section rather than performing simultaneously. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is a "piano duet" or "piano four hands". A piece for two pianists performing together on separate pianos is a "piano duo".
Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by President Bill Clinton to replace retiring justice Byron White, and at the time was viewed as a moderate consensus-builder. Ginsburg was the first Jewish woman and the second woman to serve on the Court, after Sandra Day O'Connor. During her tenure, Ginsburg authored the majority opinions in cases such as United States v. Virginia (1996), Olmstead v. L.C. (1999), Friends of the Earth, Inc. v. Laidlaw Environmental Services, Inc. (2000), and City of Sherrill v. Oneida Indian Nation of New York (2005). Later in her tenure, Ginsburg received attention for passionate dissents that reflected liberal views of the law. She was popularly dubbed "the Notorious R.B.G.", a moniker she later embraced.
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife whilst trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. The song is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise is a member. The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and is able to silently motivate Louise and Julie to join in with the song.
"I Know Him So Well" is a duet from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. It was originally sung by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. In this duet, two women – Svetlana, the Russian chess champion's estranged wife, and Florence, his mistress – express their bittersweet feelings for him and at seeing their relationships fall apart.
Eric Edward Whitacre is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March 2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
Gerard Marsden MBE was an English singer-songwriter, musician and television personality, best known for being leader of the Merseybeat band Gerry and the Pacemakers. He was the younger brother of fellow band member Freddie Marsden.
"I Will Survive" is a song by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 as the second single from her sixth album, Love Tracks (1978). It was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The song's lyrics describe the narrator's discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup. The song is also frequently recalled as a symbol of female empowerment, as well as a disco staple.
"Never Can Say Goodbye" is a song written by Clifton Davis and originally recorded by the Jackson 5. The song was originally written and intended for the Supremes; however, Motown decided it would be better for the Jackson 5. It was the first single released from the group's 1971 album Maybe Tomorrow, and was one of the group's most successful records. It has been covered numerous times, most notably in 1974 by Gloria Gaynor and in 1987 by British pop group the Communards.
Dave Bainbridge is an English guitarist and keyboard player who has played with The Strawbs since 2015 and Lifesigns since 2016. With Dave Fitzgerald, Dave co-founded the Christian progressive and Celtic folk themed band Iona.
"Walk On By" is a song composed by Burt Bacharach, with lyrics by Hal David, for singer Dionne Warwick in 1963. The song peaked at number 6 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Cash Box Rhythm and Blues Chart In June 1964 and was nominated for a 1965 Grammy Award for the Best Rhythm and Blues Recording. Isaac Hayes recorded the song five years later, in 1969, and reached number 30 on the Hot 100 chart and number 13 in the R&B charts with his version. "Walk On By" has since charted numerous times in various countries, with wildly different arrangements.
Roy Hamilton was an American singer. By combining semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel feeling, he brought soul to Great American Songbook singing.
James Steven Ginsburg is an American music producer. He is founder and president of Cedille Records, a classical label he launched in 1989 while a student at the University of Chicago. He is the son of the late United States Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Jacob Collier (; is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and educator. His music incorporates a combination of jazz with elements from many other musical genres, and often features extensive use of reharmonisations and close harmony. He is known for his energetic live performances, in which he often conducts the audience to sing harmony or percussion parts. Collier demonstrates his harmonic expertise in lectures and master classes, particularly with his unique Super-Ultra-Hyper-Mega-Meta-Lydian scale and detailed analyses of songs like Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" and his own music.
RBG is a 2018 American documentary film focusing on the life and career of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States after Sandra Day O'Connor. After premiering at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the film was released in the United States on May 4, 2018. The film was directed and produced by Betsy West and Julie Cohen.
Raphael Elig is a French musician and composer of Georgian origin.
Scalia/Ginsburg is a 2015 comic opera by composer-librettist Derrick Wang about the relationship between United States Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Called "a dream come true" by Justice Ginsburg, the opera has been broadcast nationally on the radio in the United States, produced in the United States and internationally, and featured on Live with Carnegie Hall.
A virtual choir, online choir or home choir is a choir whose members do not meet physically but who work together online from separate places. Some choirs just sing for the joy of the shared experience, while others record their parts alone and send their digital recordings, sometimes including video, to be collated into a choral performance. There may be a series of rehearsals which singers can watch online, and their performance recordings may be made while watching a video of the conductor, and in some cases listening to a backing track, to ensure unanimity of timing. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 inspired a large growth in the number of virtual choirs, although the idea was not new.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, died from complications of metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020, at the age of 87. Her death received immediate and significant public attention; a vigil at the Supreme Court plaza in Washington, D.C., was held that same evening. Memorials and vigils were held in several U.S. cities, including Chicago, New York City, and San Francisco.
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