2011 SPAE Artists Biographies
Brian
McNeill is a virtuoso on fiddle, viola, mandolin, cittern,
bouzouki, guitar, bass, concertina and hurdy-gurdy.
Brian was the founder of the Battlefield Band in 1969, one of
Scotland’s best known folk ensembles.
He is a leading writer of Scottish song, has numerous
recordings – solo and with other leading Scottish traditional
musicians. In 2010, he
released his twelfth solo album of original material.
He has produced recordings for many new and well-known folk
artists, and has published 2 original mystery novels.
He was Head of Scottish Music at the Royal Scottish Academy
of Music and Drama (RSAMD) in Glasgow, Scotland from 2001-2008.
Brian is a Master Teacher, able to motivate audiences and
students of all ages.
www.brianmcneill.co.uk
Caroline Pugh is a singer from Edinburgh, Scotland, and
currently lives in Belfast, Ireland. She performs traditional folk
music and her own original material around Northern Europe and the
USA, and will be doing a house concert tour of California in 2012.
She currently teaches voice at Queen's University Belfast, and has
led vocal workshops at Northumbria University, The Lyric Theatre
Belfast and the RSAMD. She was awarded a Distinction for her Master
of Music degree from Newcastle University in 2010, and she also got
a Scottish Music honours degree from the RSAMD in 2007.
www.carolinepugh.co.uk
Sara Ann Dawodu
from Auchmithie, Scotland, graduated from the RSAMD with Honors in
June 2008. She has
taught in St. Louis, the UK,
Denmark, Germany and Canada.
She is a free-lance fiddler in Scotland and plays regularly
in several Scottish bands and at festivals with Brian McNeill and
Dominique Dodge. She
spent a semester at East Tennessee University studying bluegrass and
old time styles. She
plays fiddle, piano and banjo and sings and composes.
Dominique Dodge
is a harpist and singer from northern New Hampshire.
She specializes in songs from the Scots, Gaelic, and
Appalachian traditions and sings with depth and clarity.
In 2005, Dominique earned a BA First Class Honors Degree in
Scottish Music from the RSAMD.
She has performed in the USA, UK, and Denmark as well as for
HRH the Prince of Wales and at the opening of the Scottish
Parliament Building.
Her 2006 solo CD features Gaelic and Scots songs from Scotland and
Cape Breton and original compositions.
She has taught for the Ohio Scottish Arts School, the NH
School of Scottish Arts, and the Gaelic College in Nova Scotia.
Yvette
Woods
is a native of Saint Louis, who studied at Forest Park Community
College and completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at the Kansas
City Art Institute. She
studied art and music at Dartington in Devon, England through North
East Missouri State University. She taught drawing, design and
figure drawing for 30 years at Meramec Community College. In 2007
she opened Studio W in St. Louis’ Central West End where she teaches
students of all ages.
She has had numerous exhibits and received many awards.
The most recent is the 2011 Grand Center Visionary Award for
Outstanding Arts Educator.
Courtney Henson
holds a BFA in painting from the University of Oklahoma (2003) and a
MFA in textiles from the University of Illinois at Edwardsville.
She is an experimental artist and is the Visitor Services
Manager at The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in St. Louis.
