Artists’ Profiles

Christopher Dragon

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Conductor

Christopher Dragon has a versatile portfolio, ranging from live-to-picture performances of Nightmare Before Christmas, Jurassic Park, and Mary Poppins, to conducting Danny Elfman’s Violin Concerto, and leading the Colorado Symphony’s “Classical Top 40” series. Dragon has worked with Ben Folds, Gregory Alan Isakov, Indigo Girls, Wynton Marsalis, Pink Martini, and the Flaming Lips.

Dragon works regularly in Australia and has guest conducted the Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, and West Australian symphony orchestras. His 2015 debut performance at the Sydney Opera House with Josh Pyke and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was released on album by ABC Music and won an ARIA the following year. Dragon’s international guest conducting includes the Orquestra Sinfônica de Porto Alegre, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.

Dragon began his conducting studies in 2011 and was a member of the prestigious Symphony Services International Conductor Development Program in Australia under the guidance of course director Christopher Seaman. He has also studied with numerous distinguished conductors including Leonid Grin, Paavo and Neeme Järvi at the Järvi Summer Festival, Fabio Luisi at the Pacific Music Festival, and conducting pedagogue Jorma Panula.

Nellie McKay

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Vocalist

Nellie McKay has won a Theatre World Award for her portrayal of Polly Peachum on Broadway in The Threepenny Opera; performed onscreen in the films PS I Love You and Downtown Express; and her music was used in Rumor Has It, Monster-in-Law, PS I Love You, GasLand, Last Holiday, and Private Life.

McKay co-created and starred in the award-winning off-Broadway hit Old Hats and has written three acclaimed musical biographies. McKay’s music has been heard on Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, Weeds, Grey’s Anatomy, NCIS, Nurse Jackie, and SMILF, and she has appeared on TV shows including The Late Show with David Letterman, Conan, The Late Show with Craig Ferguson, and The View. McKay has made numerous radio appearances on NPR’s Mountain Stage, A Prairie Home Companion, eTown, and Marion McPartland’s Piano Jazz. The Chase Brock Experience produced a ballet of her third album, Obligatory Villagers, and she contributed the forward to the 20th anniversary edition of The Sexual Politics of Meat. Her writing has also appeared in The Onion, Interview, and The New York Times Book Review.

A recipient of PETA’s Humanitarian Award and the Humane Society’s Doris Day Music Award in recognition of her dedication to animal rights, Nellie McKay is a vocal advocate for feminism, civil rights, and other deeply felt progressive ideals.

The Hot Sardines

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Guest Artists

have emerged from the Brooklyn neo-speakeasies where they got their start to make a global name for themselves playing hot jazz as it was in the era when live music was king, bridging generations and captivating 21st-century audiences. The group, led by frontwoman Elizabeth Bougerol and piano player Evan Palazzo, has been described as “potent and assured” (The New York Times) and “simply phenomenal” (The Times of London), notching more than a year on the Billboard Jazz chart and 25 million streams on Spotify (over 90 countries). They’ve guested on Later… With Jools Holland, NPR’s Weekend Edition, CBS Saturday Morning, NPR’s Soundcheck, Live at WFUV, and appeared at major jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, Toronto, London, and Blue Note in Japan in addition to sold-out shows at more than 400 venues worldwide. They’ve performed their Boston Pops-debuted symphony show with orchestras throughout North America. Their three major albums have landed on best-of lists in the jazz press (Downbeat, JazzTimes) but also crossed over to the mainstream, with Rolling Stone noting that “100-year-old jazz standards get reborn” in the hands of The Hot Sardines.