What's
New!
 Dr. James Thompson Scholarship Fund
Gracious Light Music is pleased to announce the establishment of the Dr. James Thompson Scholarship Fund. The purpose of this fund is to honor the work and values of Dr. Thompson by awarding one-time, matching financial support to our full-time practicing students.
Dr. Thompson is a highly respected dentist and well-loved member of the community in Spruce Pine, NC. He is also a long time member of the Linville Community Church Choir, a man who enjoys playing the piano and a lifetime supporter of the arts in his local area.
For more information, guidelines on how to apply, or to make a donation to this fund, please click here.
Salute to Students!
During this last year I have been blessed with wonderful, dedicated students . . . with whom it has been my pleasure to work in a truly meaningful way. I cheer each one of you - both as my students and my teachers, as we travel together on this journey of discovery.
A special welcome to goes out to Bill Schmink, beginning electric bass student from Spruce Pine, NC! Before becoming a musician, Bill was a banker living in Massachusetts. Obviously, he made this change for the mmoney???? (P.S.
He’s doing a GREAT JOB so far!) oney???? (P.S. He’s doing a GREAT JOB so far!)
   
Festival of Flowers 2005
Once again the year has spun around... Festival of Flowers approaches and this time it will include a Fashion Show featuring authentic attire and music from the late 19th and early 20th century. Presented on the stage in the Italian Garden at Noon and 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, this event promises to be a unique treat for guests.
Gracious Light Music is working with Deborah Austin and her Theater troupe to select, arrange and rehearse music for this project. April 3rd is the first of ten performances for the Gracious Light Trio - in period attire(!) - providing background and accompaniment music as ladies from days gone by take to the stage... and take the audience to the relaxed elegance of a simpler time.
MEANWHILE . . . WinterWood Consort and Solid Brass Belles will share the duties of accompanying the Maypole Dance on the lawn in front of the House and performing music of the era in the Italian Garden. (for respective performance dates and times for these groups, please go to the Appearances section of our web site)
One of the highlights of our day during last year’s festival was Deborah Austin’s fun-for-all-ages creation, the “Biltmore Bugs”. The audience is instantly involved in the show and charmed by the characters, costumes and story line as Queenie, “A”, Mosquito, and Kudzu take to the stage for another round of adventures. “Biltmore Bugs” will be presented directly before each of the Solid Brass Belles/WinterWood Consort sets every weekend of the festival.
NoMan's Band
 For the last year or so guitar/piano/vocal student Bonnie Schmink has joined King at Heather Glen Assisted Living Center bringing music and love to the residents. She is a natural performer with a whirlwind of endless energy and excitement. . .
While it could be argued who pushed who on this one, a new group has emerged! NoMan’s Band made it’s debut at Young’s Mountain Music in February - with Bonnie performing songs like “Suds in the Bucket” and “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and King taking the lead on “Lonesome Color” and “Jesus Met the Woman at the Well” and Johanna driving the beat with Bassia Grace the Amazing Bass.
This is a group that is truly about unpretentious fun for all. With nothing to prove and everything to enjoy, these good-ol’-gals will make you smile! For more information about NoMan’s Band, please click here.
Special rates available through June 1st!
Highlight of the Season
One of the ten greatest musical moments of my life occurred on December 8th, 2004.
To my amazement and delight, my choir at Weaverville United Methodist Church had been invited sing at Biltmore House in the Winter Garden as part of Candlelight Christmas! Since saying “no” to such an honor was not in my realm of thinking, I immediately began to figure out how to make it happen in the highest possible form.
Working as a team with my great accompanist, Gail Price, we assembled a 23 voice choir (up from the 8 regulars) and spent the next 3 weeks preparing for performance. Three of our anthems required hand bells so we added 5 ringers to our entourage. Four of the anthems required flute and I could hear the potential for string bass. Lenny and Johanna came on board and the ensemble was set.
Driving home from choir practice the first night everyone agreed they wanted to do this, I thought to myself: If I could have anyone in the world sing in this performance, who would it be? The answer came immediately: Lois Alt!
Lois Alt . . . my vocal coach in West Chester, Pennsylvania . . . the “mother of my voice” . . . the one who made me believe I could sing. My friend of 36 years who took me as a student when I was in college and convinced me that if I learned to sing German opera in German, folk music would be easy . . .
Knowing I wanted to add this experience to our rich list of shared memories, I called her. . . and she said “Yes! I’d love to!!”
She arrived on Saturday and provided hand percussion for the Gracious Light Trio performance at Biltmore House that evening. I sang and knew she was listening . . . knew that she remembered as I did.
Due to a car accident in October, Lois’ mobility was severely limited. We made do. Choir members helped. We did final rehearsing. Lois did private coaching with several choir members and one of my most dedicated private students. I saw her young and vital energy burst through in a way I remembered from days gone by. It was a joyous time. We took each other to dinner and enjoyed the fine wine of our long friendship.
At 4:30 on Wednesday afternoon, 32 of us gathered at the Visitor’s Center to caravan. After a short prayer we drove to the gate, showed our performer’s passes and headed for the House. Those of us with instruments to unload were permitted to drop them off in front of the House. Everyone else went to park. After meeting with the guard in the Winter Garden to receive our instructions, we made our way to the performer’s tent for more prayer and pep talk.
The moment arrived. Time to enter the House for our 1st set! After a brief and encouraging warm up, guests began to enter and we were given the signal to begin. It was an awesome moment!
And SING we did . . . as never before! As the evening progressed (30 minutes on/30 minutes off), everyone came to realize that we were in the midst of something more than could be described. As we soared to places in the music we had never been before, listeners faces confirmed that God’s incredible magic was dancing through the room in glorious sound . . . reverberating up the grand staircase and embracing the walls and windows.
In that moment, I remembered the prayers of the small 8 member choir, thanking God in advance for those members who would come and join us, praying for Sopranos, Altos, Tenors and Basses. If ye have faith as in a grain of mustard seed . . . or maybe the story about the loaves and the fishes . . .
In reverence, I remembered the road that led me here. Conducting this amazing choral performance in the Winter Garden at Biltmore House . . . was the little girl who wasn’t permitted to sing with the class in 4th grade because she couldn’t match pitches . . . the 9th grader who wasn’t asked to join the Senior Choir at church with her classmates (and everyone knew why) . . . the college freshman who was told by her first voice teacher that she sounded like a banshee . . . the sophomore who received a “D” in Choral Conducting. Most importantly, the one to whom Lois Alt said “Yes, Mary King, I will take you as a student.”
As I looked at Lois, now 75 years old and sitting, rather than standing, in the front row of my Alto section, I felt the gift come full circle. I knew it had been risky at best for her to travel alone with injuries still unhealed. Yet, she did. (All she asked me to do was sing German opera.) Because I had warned her, she knew I was in the busiest work season of my year and was lucky to even keep my cat fed, much less provide for a house guest with special needs. (We both trusted the value of this shared experience would outweigh any small inconveniences for either of us along the way.) Perhaps cold winter nights in Pennsylvania would be made warmer this year by North Carolina memories . . .
The Voices and Grand Piano and Hand Bells and Flute and String Bass continued to soar and bring heaven a little closer. For a moment, we had managed to stop time. Together we entered the eternal now . . . no past or future with which to be concerned . . . only God to be experienced and enjoyed.
Lois returned to Pennsylvania on Friday, leaving her mark on those with whom she worked in North Carolina. The Weaverville United Methodist Church Choir performed the program on December 12th and 19th (with slightly less singers) to a standing ovation each time. The aura of our shared experience in the Winter Garden continued to permeate each of these performances. Remembering how to touch those hidden places within the music and within our selves, we became, for a time, God’s Holy Instrument in ministry to a world starving for the Sacred.
I continued with my solo and ensemble holiday performances until December 27th, managin | 
