COMPASS Concerts Program May 4, 2024 - live, online music performances.

Dianne Davies explores the deeper meaning of music and human connection through a shared experience. For some 30 years, since earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Piano Performance and completing the Oregon music education certification for K-12 instruction, Dianne has offered high quality performances, cutting-edge education and engaging compositions and arrangements.

As a composer/arranger, in 2010, Dianne developed her own comedy show titled, Dianne Davies Has Fallen Off Her Bench, a two-hour concert of all her own arrangements from a plethora of Classical favorites and gems from the vernacular, echoing traces of Liberace, Victor Borge and more. In 2016, she created and performed a brand new show titled, Attachments & Detachments Tragedy to Triumph, integrating new compositions with dance, live art and theatre to tell a story. Her original compositions have been performed each year at Portland State University in the “In Good Hands” concert. This regular series is sponsored by Cascadia Composers, Oregon’s local chapter of the National Association of Composers USA which is the largest and most active local organization under the umbrella of NACUSA in the US today.

In 2019, Dianne produced a show titled SOLI DEO GLORIA that featured her original compositions and arrangements for the Christmas season. This concert offered premieres of vocal solos, choral pieces, original piano solos and arrangements. She featured her self-published work, A Romantic Christmas Suite, which adeptly combines six Chopin Nocturnes with well-known Christmas carols.

In addition to her passion for composing and arranging, she operates a professional piano studio spanning ages K-12 to recreational adults. Her curriculum includes hands-on instruction on arranging and composing. At the State level in Oregon, Dianne chairs the annual Composition Celebration Recital for honored student composers who are taught by Nationally Certified Teachers through the Oregon Music Teachers Association. In these trying times of the pandemic, she produced a virtual event for the recognition of these young composers.

Lastly, Dianne is committed to the creation and performance of new music and weaves that into her regular concert performances throughout the year. For upcoming projects, check out Dianne and her music at:
www.musiqPOWER.com

You can purchase her music here:
Romantic Christmas Suite Vol 1
Romantic Christmas Suite Vol 2
Impressionist Christmas Suite Vol. 3

Dan DiPaolo

Musician and educator Dan DiPaolo began formal study of the piano at age 8, French horn at 9, and guitar at age 13. His obsession with music was sealed once his guitar teacher introduced him to chords, scales, and approaches to creating and organizing improvisations, unlocking his ears and imagination.

This curiosity lead him to the academic world, where his graduate work focused on tonal theory, popular music (especially Steely Dan, Brad Mehldau, and Frank Zappa), and the history of theory.

From 2010-2018, Dan taught music theory, ear training, and fundamentals at NYU's Steinhardt School. He also taught Music Humanities at Columbia University, History of Rock and Rap at Montclair State University, and Aural Skills at the Eastman School of Music.

Dan holds advanced degrees in historical musicology and music theory from King's College London and Columbia University. He is a piano teacher and freelance pianist in Los Angeles, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and cat.

Nancy Good

Nancy has been playing clarinet for over 20 years and was also in a touring band (folk/classical/light rock) singing main vocals. Since 2012, her clarinet focus has been with tango orchestras and trios. She is a psychotherapist, working internationally in trauma healing and resilience, mother of 3 children and 2 grandchildren.

Nancy performs with Isabelle Haulin and other musicians who live close to Portland Oregon. They met through tango dancing, and have been playing tango music together for about 2 years. They particularly like playing for dancers, at local public events and small house parties.

Isabelle Haulin

Isabelle has been playing piano as a hobby since childhood, mostly classical music, until around 2016 when she decided to focus on tango music. She is a software engineer currently working for Nike, and mother of an 18 year old boy.

Isabelle performs with Nancy Good and other musicians who live close to Portland Oregon. They met through tango dancing, and have been playing tango music together since 2018. They have played for dancers and at house parties.

Shinichiro Inaji

Shin loves piano and has been learning on his own since he was a child, and finally started long-sought piano lessons under teacher and friend Louis Yungling since 2018. Piano and music are a big part of the joy of his life and he is very curious and appreciative to learn the connection of mind and body through piano playing. Currently he works as a freelance illustrator/animator and Licensed Massage Therapist in Portland Oregon where he lives with his husband Walter and Shiba-inu Yuki.

Shin is very happy to be a part of the COMPASS Concerts as a performer, an audience and co-founder with Mari and Louis through which he has been able to meet and interact with wonderful friends and musicians.

Corey Johnson

Corey Johnson had a musical childhood, playing in New England Conservatory youth orchestras and attending Tanglewood Institute. These days he lives in Portland, OR, staying active in as many community orchestras as humanly possible: the Oregon Sinfonietta, the Oregon Mandolin Orchestra, Sunnyside Symphony Orchestra, the Jewish Community Orchestra, and more. He is also on the board of Classical Revolution PDX, helping bring classical music out of the concert halls and into the community.

Christina Urner

Christina began her music journey at the age of 7 when her grandma gave her family a piano. From then on, she enrolled in lessons. At 14, Christina still has an amazing love for music and piano. Her teacher, Dan DiPaolo, who also participates in the COMPASS concerts, has been Christina's mentor and teacher for a few years. Christina is an aspiring composer and loves all things art. She especially enjoys playing Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, and many more. She mostly has experience in playing classical pieces but loves a variety of genres.

Paul Walker

Paul Walker is an amateur musician and composer who has been studying piano and other instruments most of his life. As well as playing piano, guitar, and more with family and friends, he composes a variety of music which you can find at SoundCloud. Paul is also active in the open source music software community, maintaining several large open source music software packages, He spends some of his musical time at the intersection of software, synthesis, and composition.

Louis Yungling

Hello, my name is Louis Yungling and I'm a co-founder of COMPASS Concerts. I'm also a pianist and piano teacher.

Meditation, mindfulness and awareness exercises are an integral part of my teaching and practice. Musicians benefit greatly from these practices by being able to fine tune their focus and get more out of their practice as well as increase their responsiveness to sound and be more present and confident in performance.

I created COMPASS concerts to extend these practices to audiences and give everyone a moment to pause and go inward. We do this by sharing a brief contemplation exercise before every concert. In this way we practice being aware of one another and give ourselves a chance to feel and appreciate our unique contribution.

Preparing our minds and bodies to receive and make music allows us to be more receptive to the beauty and generosity that goes into a musical performance. And practicing this type of mindful preparation regularly can help us open our hearts more to the experiences of our day to day lives.

I am thrilled to share this journey with you and the very talented, generous artists who perform here. Thank you to all my musician friends for sharing your gifts and creating beautiful programs of music for our COMPASS community. And thank you to all who come and partake in these heart-warming community concerts.

I currently live and teach piano in Valencia, Spain. My teaching website: Yungling Piano Studio.