BCP Musicians
April 14—Black & Blue
Todd Groves
Todd Groves is a Manhattan-based musician adept at performing on saxophones, flutes, clarinets, recorders, and ethnic flutes. Todd's Broadway credits include Aladdin, Motown, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular, Follies, Catch Me If You Can, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Ragtime, White Christmas, Sunday in the Park with George, and Grey Gardens. He has been heard on NBC's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards, and Late Show with David Letterman.
Mr. Groves can be heard on the releases of HEM, Boyz II Men, R. Kelly, and Josh Young. Recent performance engagements have found Todd sharing the stage with Audra McDonald, Michael Feinstein, Kristin Chenoweth, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin, in addition to freelance work with the New Jersey Symphony, American Symphony, and the New Jersey Saxophone Quartet.
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Todd graduated from the University of the Arts and performed extensively in theaters across Philadelphia and Atlantic City before moving to New York City. He teaches saxophone and jazz at the University of Delaware, where he has been a featured soloist with the UD Wind Ensemble, Delaware Steel, and UD Jazz Ensemble I, as well as the Wind Symphony of Southern New Jersey, the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey, and the University of the Arts big band. Todd is also an active composer and arranger whose Delaware Jazz Suite for saxophone quartet was premiered by the New Jersey Saxophone Quartet at the World Saxophone Congress before receiving its New York premiere by the same group at Carnegie Hall.
Steve Kenyon
Steve Kenyon has led ensembles performing his original music at New York City's Blue Note, Birdland, Carnegie Hall, and live on WNYC Radio. He has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia with the New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, American Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, New York Pops, Philip Glass, Maria Schneider, Garrison Keillor, Barbara Cook, Chuck Mangione, Aretha Franklin, and Beyoncé.
As an in-demand doubler on Broadway, Steve currently plays Reed 1 with Matilda the Musical, and has performed in the orchestras for over forty productions, including Annie, Porgy and Bess, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, La Cage aux Folles, Finian's Rainbow, The Little Mermaid, Oklahoma!, and Titanic. On television, Steve has provided music for Smash, Ed, The Today Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and NBC's The Sound of Music Live!
Steve is co-leader, composer, and lead saxophonist with the NewYorkestra big band and plays tenor with the New York Saxophone Quartet. Recognized as a National Merit Scholar, Steve holds bachelor's and master's degrees from The University of Miami, and currently serves on the faculty of Hofstra University.
Jonathan Levine
Jonathan Levine is a veteran woodwind player in the orchestral pits of Broadway. He has performed in dozens of productions, which have included Porgy and Bess, Ragtime, Les Misérables, The Music Man, and Fiddler on the Roof—where he shared the stage with Alfred Molina and Harvey Fierstein as the on-stage klezmer clarinet soloist. Jonathan is presently playing an assortment of clarinets for Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella and can also be heard on the recent cast recording of NBC's The Sound Of Music Live! starring Carrie Underwood.
Prior to his Broadway career, Jonathan toured the U.S. and Europe extensively with various national tours, and also served as the orchestra manager for Seaside Music Theater in Daytona Beach, Florida. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists including Ray Charles, Roberta Flack, Mel Tormé, Barry Gibb, Harry Connick Jr., They Might Be Giants, and the Florida Symphony Orchestra. On radio, Jonathan has been heard on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion, while his work on bass clarinet can be heard daily on Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Jonathan is also equally committed to music education and has been the director of music for Manhattan’s Rodeph Sholom School since 2000.
Chad Smith
Since moving to New York in 2001, Chad Smith's versatility with multiple woodwind instruments has made him a sought-after Broadway, film-recording, and concert performer. He has been a member of the Broadway orchestras of Wicked, Legally Blonde: The Musical, Follies, and A Christmas Story. In addition to extensive work on Broadway, Chad has performed with a roster of prestigious orchestras including the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Boston Pops, American Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, Harrisburg Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Albany Symphony, and L'Opera Francais.
An award-winning musician in various competitions, Chad has performed at music festivals and universities across the globe, and has made recent appearances at the North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference and the fifteenth World Saxophone Congress in Bangkok, where he premiered Sax-O-Philm—A Concert Version of the Music of Rudy Wiedoeft. Mr. Smith is currently an adjunct saxophone professor at Montclair State University, and holds a bachelor's degree from West Chester University, where he studied with Ted Hegvik.