Denise Gentilini is an Emmy Award winning composer who, combining her producing and performing talents, has taken the entertainment industry to a whole new level. Denise is the creator of “We Are Voices”, a dynamic Denver music concert event whose mission is to promote increased genocide awareness to help people see the importance of getting involved to end genocide globally in all its forms once and for all. This event promises to be the concert highlight of the year. Two CD’s are due to be released prior to the event: “We Are Voices” featuring Denise’s original music and Denver’s top music talent, and “Remember Us” which will include Denise’s Emmy Award winning music, Voices of Souls, from her documentary, The Handjian Story.
Beth Avedis is one of Colorado’s own premier award winning powerhouse vocal entertainers and live music performers who has taken the entertainment world by storm. A few of Beth’s many professional credits include: A billboard songwriting award and a #5 hit single in Europe. In 2006, she received the industry’s coveted ProMax Award for vocal performance and has performed with such music legends as Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Foreigner, Leon Russell and Mitch Ryder.
Hazel Miller is not just a great singer; "she is a force of nature!" quotes the Rocky Mountain News. Her voice has been called "stunning, moving and powerful." Hazel has been one of the most highly sought after performers in Colorado for the past 24 years. She has opened for popular artists such as Mel Tormé, James Brown, The Temptations, Earl Klugh, Bob James and many others. The city of Denver singled out Hazel as one of 150 people who make Denver a better place to live. This award was bestowed by Mayor John Hickenlooper in 2008.
Sheryl Renee has been hailed as one of Colorado’s top career vocalists and premier entertainers. She performs her “Salute to the Legends Tribute Show” at Jazz at Jacks in Denver to consistently sold out crowds that rave about her performances. Sheryl sang the National Anthem for President Barack Obama at the signing of the 2009 Economic Stimulus Bill and was the National Anthem voice for Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper's State of the City Address.
For Emmy Award winning journalist, Tamara Banks, the statement, “One Person Can Make A Difference", is more than just words. Ms. Banks is currently combining 20 years of journalism and her work as a Mayoral Appointee to evoke positive social change in our community and globally through excellence in journalism and civic engagement.
In fact, she recently returned from her second trip to the Sudan/Darfur region where she filmed a documentary short on slavery. “The Long Journey Home” has been accepted into the Hollywood Film Festival, “HollyShorts". Ms. Banks is also producing a documentary in Iraq which will take a close look at the efforts to train, mentor and empower the Iraqi Security Forces as U.S. troops leave the war torn country.
Dr. Vicki Burrichter's conducting work has included: Mary Lou's Mass with the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble at the Denver Performing Arts Center; Sing for the Cure Colorado, conducting the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and 175 singers; Canto Spiritus chamber chorus (Founder and Artistic Director 1997-2007; winner of a Gold Medal at the New York Choral Festival); Brazil! The Choral Music of Marcos Leite (CD recorded by Canto Spiritus); Voices of Light, African Sanctus, Beethoven Mass in C, Bach Christmas Oratorio (Colorado College 2000-2003); and performances with The National Choir of Cuba and the Colorado College Myriad Women's Chamber Choir in Havana, Cuba. Currently, Dr. Burrichter is the Choir Director of the 130-voice Mile Hi Church Choir, in Lakewood, Colorado, which has performed with Kenny Loggins and other nationally-recognized artists. Vicki has been performing as a stage, nightclub and church singer, musical theater actor and recording studio artist for over 30 years. She also a large private voice and performance studio out of her home in Denver, and also works with vocal groups and choirs for live performances and recording studio work.
Dr. Sheila Porter worked as a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist for over 30 years before moving to Denver in 2002. In retirement she has taught classes at The Academy of Lifelong Learning including a course on "Genocide and The Psychology of Hatred." Her interest in the unimaginable horrors that individuals inflict on each other has taken her to Cambodia to study the Pol Pot era and to Tanzania to be an observer at the International Criminal Court for Rwanda. She continues to be involved with Cambodia where she has consulted with the Victims Unit of their War Crimes Tribunal and worked with a local mental health effort doing staff training. Dr. Porter also does monthly evaluations for Healthright International, a human rights organization that assists victims of torture who are applying for political asylum.
Pastor Heidi McGinnis is Outreach Director for Christian Solidarity International. CSI-USA, a human rights organization that has delivered humanitarian aid to South Sudan since 1995 and in Darfur since 2003. Six trips to war-torn Sudan with CSI have catapulted Pastor McGinness into becoming a modern-day abolitionist and passionate defender of the victims of slavery, genocide and persecution. She has been personally present to document the liberation of over 1,300 men, women and children from slavery, delivering tons of medicine and grain, thousands of survival kits, spiritual support and hope. The release of slaves taken during the 23 year civil war between the North and the South was not a part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Act. Tens of thousands of Sudanese—men, women and children—are still enslaved.
A glimpse of the abolitionist work can be viewed in the YouTube footage documented by fellow CCGAA Board Member, Tamara Banks, documentarian and independent journalist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnatPTB5u0Y
Fran Sterling joined the Facing History staff in July 2001. Previously a Senior Program Associate in the San Francisco Bay Area, Fran relocated to Denver to serve as the Director of the Denver and Rocky Mountain States Office beginning in July 2006. In addition to helping teachers design and implement Facing History curriculum, Fran was the primary author of two Facing History study guides, The Children of Willesdan Lane and I'm Still Here: Real Diaries of Young People During the Holocaust. Prior to joining Facing History, Fran taught Social Studies for 10 years in secondary and college settings. Fran received her BA in Politics from Mount Holyoke College, her MA in Education from the University of Colorado, Boulder, a diploma in Hebrew and Jewish Studies from Oxford University and completed her doctoral course work in History and Cultural Studies at Claremont Graduate University focusing on Holocaust and Genocide Studies.
The Colorado Chamber Orchestra (CCO) is the transformation of chamber groups serving Metro Denver since the 1990s. In the spring of 2007 the Colorado Chamber Orchestra was founded around a nucleus of the state’s finest professional musicians. The CCO fulfills a "unique artistic role" as Metro Denver’s only fully professional chamber orchestra. The orchestra comprises a core of 30 top players—half strings and varying numbers of winds, brass and percussion, as needed.
Denise Gentilini and Lynette Prisner partnered to form Well Orchestrated Madness, LLC a company whose name reflects their ability to gather the scattered details and bring them together into a cohesive product. Well Orchestrated Madness, LLC is the record label releasing two new CD’s by Denise Gentilini, We Are Voices and Remember Us – due out October 1, 2009. The partners began in 2007 to create what has now become the October 18, 2009 concert event, We Are Voices – For a Future Without Genocide, to bring awareness to genocide through the vehicle of Denise’s original music. Through the company, Denise provides original music for film and documentaries as well as producing CD’s for artists. The partners seek out projects that focus on social justice often contributing their time and expertise, managing the details necessary to see these projects to completion.
PO Box 828 ~ Littleton, CO 80160
818.517.7749 cell ~ 720.981.4104 office
Denise Gentilini and Lynette Prisner partnered to form Well Orchestrated Madness, LLC a company whose name reflects their ability to gather the scattered details and bring them together into a cohesive product. Well Orchestrated Madness, LLC is the record label releasing two new CD’s by Denise Gentilini, We Are Voices and Remember Us – due out October 1, 2009. The partners began in 2007 to create what has now become the October 18, 2009 concert event, We Are Voices – For a Future Without Genocide, to bring awareness to genocide through the vehicle of Denise’s original music. Through the company, Denise provides original music for film and documentaries as well as producing CD’s for artists. The partners seek out projects that focus on social justice often contributing their time and expertise, managing the details necessary to see these projects to completion.
