More shots from my studio session with classical guitarist Charles Mokotoff
Visit http://www.charlesmokotoff.com to hear his music!
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
More shots from my studio session with classical guitarist Charles Mokotoff
Visit http://www.charlesmokotoff.com to hear his music!
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
My friend Charles is a classical guitarist. I photographed him playing his guitar for his website and this was one of the head shots I did at the end of the session.
Visit http://www.charlesmokotoff.com to learn more!
I just completed this CD package design for AAMHL (Association of Adult Musicians with Hearing Loss). They are publishing the project through Amazon’s CreateSpace, so the CD will be available for purchase shortly.
My friend, Charles Mokotoff, plays two pieces on “Hear This!” I photographed Charles for the feature he wrote for the January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine. You can see that post here.
Design © Cindy Dyer/Dyer Design. All rights reserved.
Also on the CD:
Celloist PAUL SILVERMAN has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center Concert Hall and the Strathmore Music Center.
Pianist, soloist and chamber musician JENNIFER CASTELLANO was commissioned to write music for the North/South Chamber Orchestra and was named the 2012 Commissioned Composer for New Jersey Music Teachers Association.
Pianist KATHRYN BAKKE received her Masters degree in Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota. She is a speaker, writer and advocate for better hearing loss access.
Singer/songwriter and certified hearing aid dispenser ELISSA LALA has made a career singing vocals for TV documentaries; she was hired by Aaron Spelling to sing “All the Things You Are” for the ABC miniseries Crossings.
Prolific singer/songwriter BLUE O’CONNELL works as a music practitioner at the University of Virginia Medical Center, performs at Charlottesville, VA coffeehouses, and has published a CD called “Choose the Sky.”
Thanks to my friend, Charles Mokotoff, for alerting me that I’ve been published in Japan’s Gendai Guitar magazine. Charles is a classical guitarist and was featured in the January 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, published by the Hearing Loss Association of America (see cover at right). You can download and read that article here: hlmArticle12_09.
I did several photo sessions with Charles and we became fast friends. He graciously performed a live concert during our first-ever Tapas Party in November 2009. Check out photos from that soiree here.
Check out his website and listen to him play here. Charles produced his CD, Autumn Elegy, in 2008 and it is available for purchase on CDBaby here and on Apple iTunes here. Read a glowing review of his CD by Acoustic Guitar magazine here.
In the video below, he plays Sevilla by Isaac Albeniz in a live concert at St. Albans Church in Washington, DC this past spring.
The January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, published bimonthly by the Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA), is in the mail to members this week. Classical guitarist Charles Mokotoff is our cover feature.
The original cover I had done earlier just wasn’t doing it for me…so I went through all the photos I’ve shot of Charles since March to see if any of them really popped. This one was originally shot horizontally, so I tilted it in Photoshop and filled in the gaps with the background to form this vertical cover image. Now this is a cover! I love the movement blur on his hand at the neck of the guitar. Purely unintentional—downright serendipitous! Bonus: You can even see his hearing aid—always a plus for a magazine focused on hearing loss.
I shot this issue’s cover when he played for the HLAA staff this past spring. I first profiled Charles on my blog in November here. I did some outdoor shots for the interior pages in mid-November, then went to hear him play and photograph him at a recital for the Friday Morning Music Club in the Old Town Hall in Fairfax, Virginia on November 19. Read that posting here. And finally, Charles was our well-received live entertainment at our first-ever Tapas Party on November 14. You can read about that party and see photos of the soiree in my posting here.
To learn more about Charles, visit his website here. Listen to sound clips here. You can order his CD, Autumn Elegy, from CD Baby or itunes.com.
Charles will be performing at two venues in March:
Central United Methodist Church at 4201 Fairfax Drive in Arlington, Virginia on Friday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. He will perform a recital of solo guitar works by Scarlatti, Albeniz, Boccherini, Rak, Mozart and others, and will be accompanied by Barbara Cackler on piano. For more information, call 703.527.8844. (Free, goodwill offering accepted)
On Saturday, March 20, at 8:00 p.m., he will perform at the St. Albans Episcopal Church, 3001 Wisconsin Avenue, N.W., in Washington, D.C. He will perform a recital of solo guitar works by Scarlatti, Albeniz, Boccherini, Rak, Mozart and others, with accompaniment by Sonya Sutton on the harpsichord. For more information, call 202.363.8286 or e-mail ericg@st-albans-parish.org. (Free, goodwill offering accepted).
You can download and read the article by clicking here: Charles Mokotoff HLM Feature
I popped over to the Old Town Hall in Fairfax to photograph Charles at a recital this morning. He was part of the Friday Morning Music Club concert series. All FMMC concerts are free and performed as a public service. The Old Town Hall is a lovely place to photograph with its hardwood floors and original old windows with beautiful natural light. I got a few more images to use in the feature layout of the upcoming January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine.
This morning’s FMMC hour-long program consisted of:
Berbiguier: Trio For Flutes, Op. 51, No. 1 (Mvmts. i-iii); Albéniz (arr. Bill Holcombe): Tango from España (performed by Yvonne Kocur, Lauren Sileo, and Holly Vesilind—flute trio). You can listen to Yvonne Kocur’s graduate flute recital at George Mason University here. Listen to Lauren Sileo in a recording with pianist Bryan Wagorn here.
Albéniz: Selected solos, Charles Mokotoff, guitar. You can hear snippets of Charles’ music on his website here.
Haydn: On Mighty Pens, from The Creation; Bach: Wir eilen mit schwachen, doch emsigen Schritten, from Cantata No. 78 (Nancy MacArthur Smith, soprano; Carolee Gans Pastorius, mezzo soprano (guest); Patricia Parker, piano)
Sondheim: One More Kiss; Porter: So in Love; Weill: What Good Would the Moon Be?; and Rossini: Una voce poco fa (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Stacie Steinke, soprano. Steinke is the Artistic Director for Make-A-Scene Music and Entertainment.
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
This past Saturday Michael and I hosted our first Tapas Party ever—and our first party with live entertainment as well! Charles Mokotoff, an IT specialist by day and gifted classical guitarist by night, played for our guests after the buffet-style potluck dinner. It was a “playing for portraits” arrangement. Charles will be our cover feature for the January/February 2010 issue of Hearing Loss Magazine, published bimonthly by the Hearing Loss Association of America.
After the intimate concert, my friend Ken asked me, “how in the world are you going to top this event?” I must say, having live entertainment sure kicked things up a notch! We managed to squeeze 37 guests (including Michael and me) into our townhouse—and no one seemed too uncomfortable. I think that’s our maximum capacity, though.
Thanks to everyone for bringing delicious appetizers and desserts (and those wonderful wedding gifts, too—thank you notes to come shortly!) and for helping us to continue to celebrate our October 24 wedding! Special thanks to our out-of-town guests, too: Carmen from Greer, South Carolina; Martha from Roanoke, Texas; and Cammie from Sarasota, Florida—it was such a treat to have you three join us. I hope we didn’t disappoint!
Remember—the Annual Chocoholic Party is in February (this will be our 5th)! Hmmm…near Valentine’s Day…what kind of live entertainment will we have for that soiree? Maybe Rod Stewart singing love songs live? Or Harry Connick, Jr. (oops, need a piano for that one). My first choice would be James Taylor. Surely he needs new head shots?
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
Charles Mokotoff is our next cover feature for the Hearing Loss Magazine. An IT specialist with NIH by day, he’s also a classical guitarist. Michael and I met him at the Hearing Loss Association of America headquarters in March. He performed for the HLAA staff and I did some studio shots for his upcoming feature article. He came by my studio earlier this week so we could get some additional images for the upcoming January/February 2010 issue. In exchange for these additional photos, he’s going to perform at our Tapas Potluck Party this coming weekend and we’re excited that we’re going to have live music! I also shot the photos on his website here. You can hear sample soundbites here.
I told my sister Debbie that if this works out well, I’m going to barter musical services from other artists for future parties. I’m thinking that, in exchange for some wonderful new head shots by me, Josh Groban can come sing something Italian for our annual Pesto Fest. As accordian-playing (and bizarre) comedian Judy Tenuta sarcastically says, “yeah, that could happen!”
Insert useless information here: During our Vegas-to-Kodachrome Basin-Bryce-Moab vacation many years ago, my cousin Bill and I were at a casino in Las Vegas. While we were waiting in line at a hotel restaurant, Judy Tenuta walked down a ramp right past us. I had only caught her act just a few times on tv, but I knew who she was immediately—the result of a photographic memory, I guess.
Hey Josh—have your people call my people!
© Cindy Dyer. All rights reserved.
GIVE ‘EM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT