The Ohio State Symphonic Band will perform in Weigel Hall Monday, with a special feature from ShoutHouse, a group of freelance musicians from New York. Credit: Courtesy of the Ohio State School of Music
Scott Jones sees music not only as an art form, but as a conversation.
“You have two conversations,” Jones, an Ohio State professor of music and associate director of university bands, said. “You have it between the audience and the performer, then just the audience to each other.”
To help keep these conversations going, the School of Music is hosting an event conveniently titled “Artful Conversation.” The performance, backed by the Ohio State Symphonic Band, features music that explores the “role of conversation in musical composition, performance, and in community,” according to the school’s website.
The performance, which will take place in Weigel Auditorium Monday at 7:30 pm, will feature three musicians from ShoutHouse, an ensemble of professional freelance musicians based in New York. According to the school’s website, Will Healy, composer, artistic director and founder of ShoutHouse, will premiere his latest piece, entitled “Noctuary for Adé.”
Healy will play piano for three of the performance’s pieces. He will be joined by Dizzy Senze, a freestyle rapper and emcee, and Hannah Zazzaro, a vocalist, according to the school’s website.
Healy said the performance is an opportunity to show what he and other ensemble members can do. ShoutHouse is, as stated on their website, “a collective of musicians that brings together poetic hip-hop, complex grooves, high-octane vocals, and instrumental solos.”
“When I moved to New York in my 20s, I formed the ensemble, and that project has grown over the years,” Healy said.
Healy said he worked alongside Jones to bring the likes of ShoutHouse to campus.
“[Jones] was really interested in the piece,” Healy said. “He thought it would be a good fit for Ohio State.”
Healy is a composer with a wide range of awards, achievements and accolades, according to a press release. As a performer, Healy has taken the stage many times, including famous venues that include Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Senze has a similar list of accomplishments under her belt, such as winning the Snipes’ 2023 Battle Champs freestyle competition, which took place live in Times Square for the 50th anniversary of the hip-hop genre, according to the press release, performing for a crowd of 90,000 people. Senze has also taken the stage with prominent artists such as Kendrick Lamar, the release states.
Zazzaro has appeared in many ensembles and stage productions, and once appeared on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in 2016 as part of the “Broadway chorus,” according to the press release.
Together, Healy said the three of them plan to create moving pieces of music intended to invoke feelings in listeners, most significantly on the piece, “Noctuary for Adé.” He said he composed the piece to honor a friend and colleague who died in 2022.
“‘Noctuary for Adé’ is a meditation on the writings of my close friend and collaborator, Adé Ra. Adé was the first emcee in ShoutHouse, and someone whose work encouraged me to begin experimenting with cross-genre collaboration in concert music,” Healy said in the event’s digital program. “She taught me the value of letting go of creative control, discovering a shared narrative with other artists, and watching how a project can grow beyond your original vision.”
Jones also said “Noctuary for Adé” is a significantly important piece, especially in reference to the performance’s main theme.
“There’s this conversation with this person who is no longer living, and this person who is in the moment honoring this art medium,” Jones said.
Healy said the process of bringing “Artful Conversation” to life was a positive experience, in part because of the people involved in the production and the performance itself.
“There are a lot of really talented people,” Healy said. “One thing that’s been really fun about this has been being able to bring people to these different performances.”
Healy and Jones said in their perspective, the concert is a conversation — hence the name. They said it is a collective group coming together and not only discussing the music, but admiring the discourse within the songs themselves.
“A conversation is central to who we are as human beings,” Jones said.
The concert will be free to the public with no tickets required. A reception will follow the performance in Timashev Rehearsal Room N160, hosted by Ohio State’s chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity, that is open to everyone and is intended to keep the conversation going, according to the event’s digital program.
