Coffee House Live returns on Friday, May 3 at the Ashe Arts Center at 7 PM
We’re thrilled to announce the return of Coffee House Live, an audience favorite that features a lineup of local and regional artists. Coffee House Live showcases the talent that thrives in our community. Join us for an unforgettable night of music at the Ashe Arts Center which features a cozy and intimate audience experience.
I Love a Piano will feature pianist Mark Diorio, vocalist Sue Revels and her accompanist Lee Bartley and pianist Michael Bell.
Tickets: $15 Adult, $7.50 Student
General Admission Seating
Includes sales tax and fees
Tickets can be purchased in advance online or at the door:
About the Performers:
Michael Bell majored in harpsichord at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. He performs as soloist on piano, organ, harpsichord, and more recently, hammered dulcimer. He performs regularly with the early music ensemble Harmonia Baroque and conducts chamber groups and Little Theatre orchestras. Michael is organist for the Jefferson United Methodist Church and accompanies the Ashe County Choral Society. Michael and his wife, Joanie, own Greenhouse Crafts in Glendale Springs and Originals Only Gallery in West Jefferson.
Mark Diorio began formal music lessons on the guitar at age 7 and grew up performing in local venues and teaching in Staten Island, NY. He taught himself piano and began composing music at age 12. During high school, he immersed himself in performing Rock and Roll, but his mother’s love of show tunes eventually brought him to the world of jazz.
After majoring in Music Composition at Brooklyn College, Mark went on to study with jazz greats Warne Marsh (5 years) and Sal Mosca (15 years). He has performed and recorded with local NYC Jazz Musicians, as well as in England and France, and conducted a jazz master class at the Barbican School of Music in London, while working there as an IT professional for a New York-based financial services firm.
His influences cover a broad spectrum of great jazz musicians including Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Erroll Garner, Lennie Tristano, Sal Mosca, and classical composers from Bach to Bartok. His playing has been likened to Erroll Garner, but there is an unmistakable influence of his teacher, Sal Mosca, as well as the great Lennie Tristano, Sal’s teacher and a musical trail blazer who helped shape the course of modern jazz in the 50s and 60s.
Mark retired from a successful 35-year IT Career in NYC in 2020 and moved to West Jefferson, NC, where he continues to work on his jazz piano playing. He has also resumed composing and recently began classical piano studies with the internationally acclaimed Russian concert pianist, Irina Lankova.
Wild Mountain Magic – Lee Bartley, Pianist & Sue Revels, Vocalist
Wild Mountain Magic is a collaboration which brings a distinct perspective to an evening of music. We share with our audiences a uniquely wide variety of music ranging from the 30’s and 40’s genre, soft rock and pop, light jazz, and a little Broadway, from artists such as Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Carley Simon, Irving Berlin, Stephen Sondheim, Diana Krall, John Legend, Nora Jones, and several of Lee’s compositions with lyrics by his wife, Nancy McInerney.
Lee Bartley (as the principal composer) has released 6 CDs nationally with the classical jazz group, “Images”, including CDs for both MCA and Capitol Records. He has also released three solo piano CDs (Adrift in Time/2000, A View From Above/2010, and Carried Away/2014).
A View From Above was awarded “CD of the Year” on Whisperings Solo Piano Radio for 2010. He has performed solo piano concerts with David Nevue, Liz Story, Lisa Downing, Joseph Akins, and Kathleen Ryan. He consistently receives international airplay of his classical solo piano art songs in Canada, Germany, Japan, England, and several other countries throughout the world.
Sue Revels is a 10-year resident of Whitetop, VA. During this time, she has had an active solo singing career in many churches in the two-state region. Sue has also been active in musical theater in both Galax, VA (Nellie in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical, Some Enchanted Evening/2015; Chelsea in On Golden Pond/2017; and Elvira in Blithe Spirit/2018), all of which were produced by the Arts Council of the Twin Counties) and at Ashe County Little Theatre (Mama Rose in “Gypsy”/2019). Sue has always loved singing for the public and was blessed to meet Lee Bartley at several local restaurants where he was the featured pianist. They joined forces, thereby creating “Wild Mountain Magic.”
