It's a Start

John T LaBarbera

Composer/Guitarist

John T. La Barbera, film score composer, producer, guitar and stringed instrument virtuoso and concert artist, has won several awards and commissions from The Jerome Foundation, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, The Martin Gruss Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, Meet the Composer, UMass-Dartmouth, and ASCAP.

His film scores include: Children of Fate (Academy Award Nomination 1992); The Old Guitarist starring Dominic Chianese; The Bounty Hunter; Sacco and Vanzetti ; Sister Italy; Pane Amaro; What's up Scarlet; Neapolitan Heart ; Finding The Mother Lode: Italian Immigrants in California; La Festa and Tarantella .

His silent film scores include Assunta Spina, (1915, Naples), ‘A Santa Notte (1922, Naples), Chaplin’s The Immigrant (1917) and The Adventurer (1917), The Black Hand (1906), The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) and The Adventures of Lieutenant Petrosino, (1912), Regeneration (1915)

In Theater, his expertise as composer, arranger and musical director was valuable in the off-Broadway productions of Souls of Naples, (Theater for a New Audience) starring John Turturro and the stage adaptation of Sicilian playwright Luigi Pirandello's short stories in Kaos, (New York Theater Workshop) directed by Marta Clarke. Folk Opera, Stabat Mater-Donna di Paradiso, was commissioned and performed at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

He has appeared on recording and performance projects with many great artists including folk singer Judy Collins, actor Dominic Chianese (Uncle Junior- Sopranos), Hollywood film soundtracks, Walt Disney Productions, TV and Radio jingles, Broadway actress and star of The Lion King, South African vocalist Tsiddi Le Loka and the famed Italian American - Neapolitan singer, Jimmy Roselli.

As a producer he has recently produced I’m a Typical New Yorker for actor Dominic Chianese and worked for several labels including: Shanachie records, Meadowlark, Rounder Records, Lyrichord Disks, Ellipsis Arts, and Bribie Records.

He appears in the film When in Rome (Touchstone Films) as the wedding scene mandolinist/band leader and in the Bounty Hunter (Sony-Columbia) as the cocktail guitarist performing his own composition Cavatina Blue.

He is the author of the first and foremost book published in the U.S. on the Italian mandolin called Traditional Southern Italian Mandolin and Fiddle Tunes and Italian Folk Music For Mandolin, with Mel Bay Publications.

Since 1973 he has performed in concert halls around the world with classical music, jazz and traditional world music (as composer, solo guitarist and chamber music), throughout Europe, South America, Canada and the US and is the co-founder of I Giullari di Piazza, Inc., traditional southern Italian folk music and theater company in New York City since 1979 and artist in residence at The Cathedral of St. John The Divine.
He is an adjunct faculty professor of music at Bergen Community College and conducts workshop in Italy. His music can be found on: Bandcamp, DistroKid, YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Soundcloud , CD Baby and his own website.
www.johntlabarbera.com

Ted Gray, Patricia Gray

Michael Rimmer

Actor (Lord Peter Cage)

Co-host of the Coolest Folk Show

Christopher McDougall (René, Piotr, Charlie, Hermes)

Christopher McDougall

Christopher graduated from East 15 Acting School in 2018 and has been working in various sectors of the industry since. He has much previous experience as an actor, as well as a singer, writer and musical director.

Recent acting credits include Aladdin in Aladdin, Dugdale Centre, Enfield; Davie McD/Sam/Tobias Grenfell in Tell Me A Story, produced by Kibo Productions for Zoom; Squire Bogey (and others) in Jack and the Beanstalk, with M&M Theatrical Productions; God in It’s Aboot Adam, at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe; Various characters in The Sherlock Holmes Experience, at Madame Tussaud’s, London; and Fairy G/Sugar Plum in Bad Cinderella, at the Cockpit Theatre, in December 2018.

In April 2021, alongside fellow producer Mark Hunter, he co-wrote, co-directed and was Musical Director on Robin Hood: A Virtual Pantomime, which took place on Zoom, and was very well received.

Christopher has also written a new musical – Star Streaker: The Musical – which he hopes to revive in the not so distant future.

Frances Broudie Oldridge (Rozzie, Josie Harkins, Marta Polensky)

Actress

Frances is a vocalist, actor, voice actor and audio producer. She has just published her production of 'The Chavman Chronicles' written by Db Morgan and available on Audible, in which she also plays Mullins and Tracy Hummer as well as providing much of the background music.

The movie ‘Blood Highway’ based on real events is now out on Amazon Prime. Frances plays Francesca Rose, wife and mother placed in a home suffering from dementia. She appears as an apparition in a frightening sequence to her trapped pregnant daughter as she fights for her life in an overturned car.

Also, look out for Frances as Shelly Bass in ‘MorrisMen’, an urban revenge feature film due for release in 2023.

Upcoming projects for 2023 include the film 'Something Snapped’, as well as the release of a new album entitled ‘Consequence of Love’ plus a pop video.

You can access her back catalogue of music with Tracing Arcs on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon.