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Benefit Concert and CD release

Come hear Amy Stephens - jazz composer and pianist - perform her new CD, "Becoming" on Sunday, February 11, at 4:00 p.m.  Amy is a friend of Bethany, and often fills in as accompanist for us on Sunday mornings.  She has graciously offered to play this benefit concert.  Admission is one (or more) item for the San Bruno Shelter. A list of items needed by the shelter can be found here, and cash donations will also be accepted.  

Becoming features pianist Amy Stephens performing new works for solo piano written by herself and others.  Becoming is a delightful musical journey through Third Stream style: infusing jazz style and sensibilities with classical form and bursts of improvisation, taking the listener through contemporary jazz, rags, blues, world music and more. “Becoming, my newest suite of seven compositions, chronicles in melody and harmony my walk with my Creator and the lifelong discovery of becoming the person He created me to be. I find that, while this world can certainly be filled with wonder and innocence, so too the provocation of hardship and suffering can quite abruptly interrupt life, often leading me to a sense of profound inquietude. Yet with each challenging step forward I know God hears my prayer and molds beauty out of distress and difficulty as I simply trust Him to do so. Then comes time for true celebration, serenity and indeed profound thanksgiving.”

Amy has performed and recorded extensively for the last 18 years.  She is particularly fond of Third Stream music. She has fronted her own jazz quartet, the Amy Stephens Groub, since 1998.  The three quartet's albums of Amy's original jazz compositions - My Many Moods (2005), Gold through Fire (2001), and Amy Stephens Group (1998) have earned acclaim and steady airplay on jazz radio around the U.S. and internet jazz radio around the world.

Amy has been privileged to study under renowned jazz educator and composer David N. Baker and pianists Lynne Arriale, Marius "Butch" Nordal, Luke Gillespie, and Evelyne Brancart.  A graduate of Indiana University's School of Music, Amy earned two Bachelor degrees and a Masters degree in classical and jazz piano, as well as the coveted Performer's Certificate.

She currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and three sons, writing music, performing, and teaching.

Her new solo album, Becoming, is being released at her concert at Bethany.

Sunday, February 11, at 4:00 p.m.