Music Archives - Page 2 of 2 - The Wellbeing Project

Gerald Wirth

Professor and Choirmaster

Prof. Gerald Wirth received his first musical training as a member of the Vienna Boys Choir and at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, Austria, where he studied voice, oboe and piano. In 2001, he became artistic director of the Vienna Boys Choir, in 2013, its president.

Wirth was a choirmaster of the Vienna Boys Choir and chorus master at the state theater Salzburg. After 1991, he took over the direction of the Calgary Boys’ Choir, became musical director of the Calgary Civic Symphony in Canada. Gerald Wirth has conducted choirs and orchestras all over the world. His first love is the human voice. He holds workshops all over the world, and he can get practically anyone and anything to sing.

Most of his compositions are vocal works. He has written three children’s operas, several large oratorios, motets, and songs. “Carmina austriaca”, his most recent large-scale work, is a cycle of medival songs for large orchestra, mixed chorus, and boys’ choir. Gerald Wirth is often inspired by myths and philosophical texts.

Over the years he developed his own method of music pedagogy. In 2003 he founded the wirth music academy in order to educate music teachers and choir directors according to the wirth method which combines classical music theory, consciousness for sound, training in listening, rhythm training and singing within a holistic approach.

Gerald Wirth trains teachers in schools with little or no access to music, and supports a number of organisations offering workshops for refugees – children and adults – in Jordan, Greece and others. To him, music is the language of emotions understood by everyone; through music, other subjects become accessible. “Music is a gateway to learning, and this is particularly important for children who have never been to a school.”

He is convinced music has a positive influence on every aspect of a person’s being.

Hope Masike

Musician

Hailed as one of Zimbabwe’s Mbira music custodians, Hope Masike has been bringing her brand of Zimbabwean music to diverse global audiences since 2007.

Masike’s music is a fun-filled hybrid of music styles tied together by her signature sublime Mbira playing, sultry voice, and highly-charged performances. She mostly sings in little-known African languages like her mother tongue, Shona. Her live performances seamlessly move from classic Zimbabwean traditional music to her compositions of of the traditional mbira together-blended with different music styles.

Hope Masike draws her inspiration from all things Art and Africa, leaning very heavily on nearly a century of a strong Mbira music legacy but not ignoring the obvious influences from modernity. She has brilliant hopes for the future of Africa and basks in carrying her African culture with her all the time. Fans come to a Hope Masike concert to have fun, feed their spirituality and experience the beautiful Zimbabwean culture. She takes pride in her culture and heritage, often challenging colonial-induced stigma against it and championing it’s documentation and youthful re-packaging both through her music and brand.

Masike has three studio albums to her name, namely ‘HOPE’ (self-released in May 2009); ‘MBIRA, LOVE AND CHOCOLATE’ (self-released in May 2012) and ‘THE EXORCISM OF A SPINSTER’ released on London-based label Riverboat. She has also published two poetry anthologies; one in English titled ‘Ask Me Again’ and published through Amazon on February 7 2020 and an anthology of Shona Erotic Poems called ‘Dzevabvazera’ published on February 11 2022.

Hope Masike has collaborated with other musicians such as Salif Keita, the late Oliver Mtukudzi, Steve Dyer and Loius Mhlanga. She has several international tour credits including performing in Southern Africa, Asia, Europe and the west coast of America. Her versatile music approach has seen her venture into different music collaborations of note such as with the Afro-Nordic outfit, Monoswezi, the Southern African collaborative, Mahube and the Austrian-Zimbabwean collaboration named ‘Kunzwana’. She has also collaborated with Zimbabwean alternative Hip Hop outfit The Monkey Nuts and American horn band, The Huntertones among many others. In the early years of her career she was part of the Norwegian cultural exchange programme Umoja CFC which composed Zimbabwe, Mozambique, South Africa and Norway; and Onebeat music exchange programme which comprised numerous different countries including Zimbabwe and USA.

She has thrilled music lovers and critics globally. She has graced numerous cooperate and national events as well as festivals in Zimbabwe, playing at presidents’ inaugurations, product launches, weddings and many other kinds of events.

Besides performing, Masike is a music teacher, offering lessons in Mbira, voice and Music Theory. She also ventures into mentoring younger musicians through her TribeHope Trust program called ‘The Seven of Us’. Masike has featured in Zimbabwean local soap opera Muzita rababa’; acted in and done scoring for the short film on child marriages called ‘Ruvimbo’s Wedding’; as well as directed her NAMA-nominated 10 years of Hope autobiography documentary ‘One Woman and her Mbira’.

Hope Masike holds a Degree of Music from the Zimbabwe College of Music in affiliation with Africa University, a Diploma in Fine Art and National Certificates in Applied Art and Design and in Musicology. Currently she is studying for a Master of Philosophy in Art with Arrupe Jesuit University in Harare and also studying French with the Alliance Francaise de Harare.

Hope Masike’s work – collaborative and otherwise- has earned her several awards and nominations both locally and internationally, including Zimbabwean NAMA awards, KORA Awards, ZNCC Women in Enterprise Awards and The Zimbabwe Achievers Awards. She has been interviewed by CNN Newsroom, BBC, SABC’s Morning Live, ZTV’s Good Morning Zimbabwe and numerous other platforms in and around Zimbabwe.

Hope Masike is a board member of the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, and a member of the Zimbabwe Music Rights Association and Zimbabwe Writers’ Association.

Press

‘An accomplished mbira player and vocalist with a watertight backing band, she balances tradition and experimentation to carry ancient rhythms effortlessly into the 21st century.’ -Liam Brickhill – Mail and Guardian

‘Hope Masike is a mbira musician making a big name for herself.’ -Kumlar Dumor – BBC

‘In motion picture, Hope Masike’s video to Huyai Tinamate can only be likened to Madonna’s epic Frozen video …,’ -Tapiwa Zivira – News Day Zimbabwe..

Links to music

Click here to listen to Shuwa.

Click here to listen to Ndinewe.

Click here to listen to Tsubvubone.

Click here to listen to Huyai Tinamate (Winner Best Video of the Year, NAMA Awards and nominated for KORA Awards under Best Female).

Click here to listen to Povo m’povo.

Click here to listen to Idenga .

Bishop Dr. Chantel R. Wright

Choir director and Founder of Pneuma Ministries International

Bishop Dr. Chantel R. Wright is an internationally celebrated choir director and the founder of Pneuma Ministries International. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Chantel started her career as an award winning choral conductor and received her formal education at VanderCook College of Music where she earned her BA degree in Music Education. As part of her undergraduate studies, Chantel had the privilege of studying in London, England with Ian Pleeth and traveled throughout Europe as a soloist. She started her professional career in Atlanta, Georgia where she served on the music staff of Ebenezer Baptist Church — home of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and as an educator in Dekalb County Public Schools. After seven years of service, Chantel relocated to New York City and hit the ground running as the new Director of the Girls Choir of Harlem, as well as Minister of Music at the Macedonia Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, New York. An honor celebrated by few women, Chantel lent her talents to working with the youth of Queens, New York as the Artistic Director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra Youth Gospel Choir.

Chantel gained valuable experience as an orchestral conductor, which then inspired her to establish her own non-profit organization, Songs of Solomon: An Inspirational Ensemble, Inc. Almost immediately, Songs of Solomon flourished and was soon featured on major television networks and went on to win at competitions including the Pathmark Gospel Choir Competitions and McDonald’s Gospelfest where it took home the 1st place prize. The Songs of Solomon ensemble also had the privilege of sharing the stage with American Idol winners, Kelly Clarkson and Fantasia Barrino, and served for five years at the US Tennis Open. Under Chantel’s leadership, The Songs of Solomon ensemble also performed with award winning recording artist, Elton John at Radio City Music Hall, sang with opera great, Jessye Norman at the Greenbrier Country Club. Jessye Norman was also the curator of the Honor Choral Music Festival conducted by Dr. Craig Jessop at the world famous Carnegie Hall, where today, the Ensemble is a mainstay. The ensemble has worked tirelessly over the past twenty years under Chantel’s guidance and has garnered national and international acclaim. Songs of Solomon was the featured chorus for the musical “Violet” on the Tony Awards. Songs of Solomon was selected to be a part of the inaugural Lip Sync Battle with Jimmy Fallon on network television. Having recently completing their recording project, “Variations of the War Cry,” Songs of Solomon is actively engaged across the United States and abroad as ambassadors of love.

Being totally committed to the spiritual, intellectual and artistic growth of today’s youth, Chantel knows that the only way to shape a generation of spirited, world class musicians is to work in conjunction with the education system. She then went on to establish The Songs of Solomon Academy for the Arts – an organization that directly serves New York City students in instrumental and vocal music appreciation. Since its inception, the program has given an impressive number of students from the Tri-State area, performance opportunities that rival professional artists around the world. The Academy maintained an artistic partnership with Professional Performing Arts School and the Harlem School of the Arts. As part of Chantel’s love for young people, she has also been actively involved in secured detention centers in the New York area and has continued to work with Carnegie Hall’s Musical Connections project for youth in detention centers. Bishop Wright is a part of the Weil Institutes Music Educators Workshop, Founder of the Sight-singing Workshop at SAG/Aftra and is a part of the Metopolitan Opera’s education department. Chantel’s Songs of Solomon Academy for the Arts plans to implement The Sounds of Hope Chorale — a trial choral program aimed at fostering an appreciation for music and creating a safe haven for detained youth at Rikers Island and the Horizion detention center in Brooklyn, New York. After a successful trial run, Chantel hopes to roll out the program nationally.

Bishop Wright has been sought out as a choral clinician nationally and internationally. For two consecutive years as the choir master for the Harare International Festival of the Arts in Zimbabwe, South Africa, as well as the Roma Gospel Festival in Rome, Italy. Chantel is a mainstay at the Ithaca Gospel Music Festival. As an initiative for aspiring artist, the government of the island of Bermuda engaged Chantel to do a series of workshops and a culminating festival. Most recently, Bishop Wright served at the Fede Gospel Festival in Barcelona, Spain and the Coro Gospel Festival in Vigo Spain.

Dr. Chantel R. Wright holds a PhD in Theology and serves as a New York State Chaplain. Chantel is a recipient of the New York Times Teachers Who Matters Most Award, The Ebony Ecumenical Ensemble Community Service Award, and the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist Community Service Award and is a member of the Riverside Club for Education.

Chantel remains committed to building a literate music community, and also lends her time to the vocal music department of the Steinhardt School of Music at the New York University since 2008. Moreover, she serves young people nationally and internationally through the arts organization partnerships, her uncompromised passion to see humanity win.

The highest calling in her life is to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As a licensed and ordained Bishop, within the Christ Centered Ministries Assembly. Bishop Wright has established Pneuma Ministries, International where peoples’ lives are being changed. She was anointed by the late Kenneth H. Moales Sr. and opened the church and preached her first sermon simultaneously. In addition to her work in Harlem, she is a minister for the nations with the Wednesday night Pentecost Service where worshipers from all over the world converge for a blessing from God. She is a Choral Union president of the Thomas Dorsey National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses where she is on the national board of directors, and can also be found on WLIB as the host of “The Hour of Power.”

Bishop Chantel R. Wright resides in New York City.