NCMC Benefit Concert

Proceeds will benefit NCMC's scholarship program. NCMC is the only nonprofit music school in Hampshire County that offers financial aid: no one is ever turned away for an inability to pay! Join us in celebrating and supporting this mission!

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Musical and life partners John Mason and Ellen Cogen have been performing together since 2010. They have played as a duo and in larger groups in a wide variety of styles, including classical, jazz, fusion, and many other popular styles.

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Ellen holds a BM in Theory from UMass/Amherst, and a MM in Vocal Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. She has been an educator at the middle and high school level, and is currently Professor of Music at Holyoke Community College, where she is the choral director and teacher of jazz voice. She is also the Director of Music at the Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence. As a singer, pianist, and cellist, she has performed classical/opera, jazz, and many other styles, and enjoys composing/arranging and improvisation.

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John holds a music degree from Middlebury College and performs as a classical guitarist (solo and with groups such as the Back Bay Guitar Trio) as well as in many popular styles. He currently plays throughout New England as a member of the Boston-based GB band One Step Ahead. In addition to teaching at NCMC, John is on the music faculty at Westfield State University, Western New England University, and Holyoke Community College. He is a national first-prize winner of the Guitarmageddon competition, and is also a composer and record producer.

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Ellen and John have played on several of their own recordings as well as on those of other musicians, and together they recorded an album called “Chord of Longing”.