Unionville musician, teacher to be honored

Posted by Press Release on April 11, 2015

The Darlington Arts Center invites the community to attend Arts Salute to Spring, a live and silent auction with cocktail reception and special performances, on Sunday, April 26.

Teacher and musician Geri Smith and her students from the Chester Theater Arts Program celebrate a performance.

This year’s event will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. at Penn Oaks Golf Club in West Chester and will celebrate the achievements of Unionville singer-songwriter and teacher Geri Smith. Attending this community event helps raise important funds for the nonprofit arts center and its outreach programs, an arts center press release said.

Ira G. Megdal, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Energy, Environmental & Public Utilities Practice Group, will present the Teaching Excellence Award to Smith, an accomplished songwriter and musician who has reached hundreds of students in more than 10 years of teaching piano lessons, voice lessons, and songwriting classes.

Smith not only teaches on-site at Darlington, but she is also involved with the center’s outreach programs, including the Chester Theater Arts Program and a new arts-integrated “Literacy through Songwriting” program at Chester County Family Academy in West Chester, the release said.

As a teacher, Smith is beloved by her students for her engaging personality and her ability to tailor the repertoire to students’ interests, whether it is classical, contemporary pop, rock, jazz, improvisation, or all of the above. She studied at the Juilliard School of Music after earning her bachelor’s in music education from West Chester University, the release said.

Smith has produced two albums of original music and an award-winning children’s album with artist John Hadfield. Her songs have been used in films and in stereo demonstrations by the Bose Corporation.

She performs regularly at the Chadds Ford Tavern and throughout the Philadelphia area with her band, Brandywine Jazz R&B. She leads on vocals and is accompanied by Peter McCarthy (bass), Tim Kisielewski (drums), and Skip Barthold (guitar).

Performers at Arts Salute to Spring will include Brandywine Jazz R&B and student performers Tina Douglass of Garnet Valley and Alessandra Filippone, Sophia Filippone, and Camille Sponaugle, all from Glen Mills. Darlington Dance Company will also be performing at the event, featuring Samantha Cooper, Abbey Di Gravio, Amelia Narducci, Annie Tunstall, and Abby Vandenbrul, all from Glen Mills, and Alexandra Williams of Thornton.

Tickets for Arts Salute to Spring are $40 per person, $75 per pair, or $100 each for sponsorship tickets. For information on the event, performers, and auction items, and to purchase tickets, visit www.darlingtonarts.org/asts or call 610-358-3632.