Parillo, a pianist and composer, holds a master’s degree in composition from the New England Conservatory of Music. He has written and arranged music for theater and film. His most recent work, Rhode Island Remembers, has aired on WSBE-TV.
The North Kingstown resident has also been commissioned to write three jazz ballets and has arranged and recorded more than 25 full-length children’s productions, including the music, lyrics and book for his musical, With A Twist. He has also produced SongBook, Clouds and most recently, the CDs, Almost Carefree, Block Island Summer, for his ensemble, and co-wrote and produced the gospel CD, Meditations of the Heart.
Additionally, he has recorded two CDs with the Sonic Explorers, a Worcester-based group. His Christmas CD, Angels Gather, with saxophonist David Key, and his latest trio CD Morning in the Garden, are all available through his own Neoga Records label.
Parillo has recently completed a MasterClass CD for JazzPlayer Magazine and writes a jazz column, Spontaneous Inventions for the quarterly Rhode Island Music Educators Review. He has toured with the Glen Miller Orchestra and is an active member of the BMI Lehman-Engel Musical Theater Workshops in New York. As of 1998, Parillo joined the Steinway Artists’ roster.
Christine Harrington studied cello with Seymour Benstock, Alexander Kougell, David Wells, Julie Charland-Ribchinsky and is studying jazz cello with David Zinno. For the past 20 years she has performed with professional orchestras in New England, with the Eastern Connecticut Symphony for 21 years and is currently a member of the Ocean State Trio and the Joe Parillo Duo.
In addition to Sandbox, Harrington recorded the CD Celtic Fiddle Fest with Johnny Cunningham and Kevin Burke. She is a founding member of the International Association of Jazz Educators String Caucus and performed with the string caucus ensemble at the 2001 IAJE Conference in New York City.
Harrington has been an active guest conductor of youth festival orchestras throughout Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York. In addition she has been a conductor for the Rhode Island Youth Orchestra and the Ocean State Youth Orchestra for the past nine years. Harrington has been orchestra director at Providence College and since 1998 she has conducted the University of Rhode Island Summer Camp Orchestra.
She has taught strings in East Lyme, Conn., East Greenwich, and Somerset, Mass. She has also taught string techniques at the University of Connecticut.
Harrington served as president of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association from 1996 to 1998. She is a member of the National Benchmarks Committee under the auspices of the Music Educator’s National Conference, which is currently compiling assessment tools to be distributed to music teachers nationwide. She is also a member of the String Teachers Association.
For Information: Jan Wenzel, 874-2116