A.P.E.X. Events Presents Drew Forde
Published: October 13, 2020 | Author: Southern Utah University | Read Time: 3 minutes
A.P.E.X. Events is happy to welcome the acclaimed LA-based violist Drew Forde on October 22, 2020, at 11:30 a.m. at Southern Utah University. The event will be held in the Great Hall of the Hunter Conference Center and broadcast via Zoom. As a social media star and music collaborator, Forde seeks to demystify the perceptions of classical music, and will share his ideas and perform for the audience.
“The power of music is one of the greatest things in our world today, and who doesn't need a little more music in their life right now," said Dr. Lynn Vartan, director of A.P.E.X. Events. "I can’t wait to talk to Drew and hear him play for us - his powerful sense of performance and style is one of the things I love about his sound and I can’t wait for everyone to hear it!”
Forde is a fiery, passionate performer who leaves everything on the stage. After starting the viola at the late age of 12, he went on to solo with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra during his senior year of high school. Soon after acquiring his bachelor's degree in viola performance at the Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, Forde went on to finish his musical studies at The Juilliard School, obtaining a master's degree in music. At Julliard, he was one of ten students to receive a $20,000 Career Advancement Grant, given to those who show significant entrepreneurial promise.
An acclaimed expert in classical music’s social media and brand building, Forde believes in the power of documentation, building his Instagram following of over 120,000 in part by generating large scale online movements, including #PlayHomiePlay and #JourneytoJuilliard. For his efforts, he has been invited as a paid speaker to a wealth of educational institutions and conferences. Always one to seek the stage, Forde also maintains an active performing and recording career.
In classical settings, he is a seasoned chamber musician, including performing as a Lincoln Center Stage artist, for which he wrote an essay for Strings Magazine, as well as a national tour with the Sphinx Organization as a “Sphinx Virtuosi.” He has a wealth of work as an orchestral musician and soloist, performing as Principal with the Missouri Symphony and as soloist with the National Symphony of the Dominican Republic.
Also highly sought after in popular music, Forde has shared the stage with A-List stars like Alicia Keys, Camila Cabello, Lindsey Stirling, Evanescence, and Josh Groban, among others, and has recording credits with the late Mac Miller on The Divine Feminine. He has also performed on several big-budget video game soundtracks, including Final Fantasy XII Remastered: The Zodiac Age, as well as solo work on the Kingdom Hearts Tribute Album, Project Destati: Darkness , which reached #2 on the Billboard Classical Charts. His own releases include an original rap/viola hybrid single, Duality, and a collaborative cover of Adele’s “Hello” with Seattle Symphony cellist Nathan Chan, which has over 500,000 views on YouTube.
A.P.E.X. Events is SUU’s premier weekly lecture series, with speakers and presenters invited from all areas of the world. While on campus, guests are invited to interact with students and faculty in multiple ways, with opportunities to connect and network in vast areas of scholarship. All A.P.E.X. events are free and open to the public.
This semester, A.P.E.X. Event presentations will also be streamed live via Zoom. Join the event virtually at https://suu-edu.zoom.us/j/95861182001?pwd=U2NpZnhNR1NDMGtndWt0RVNSNEJLZz09.
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