Bringing Broadway's incredible musicians from the pit to the stage!
Cenovia Cummins, composer/pianist
Cenovia Cummins, violinist, is the concertmaster of The New York Pops, Riverside Symphony and the School of American Ballet Orchestra.
She has recorded for and/or appeared on VH1, Saturday Night Live, Good Morning America, and late-night talk shows hosted by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, with music industry greats such as Tony Bennett, Aerosmith, Cheap Trick, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, James Taylor, Britney Spears, Paul McCartney, Diana Krall, P. Diddy, Rod Stewart, and Michael Jackson, and many others.
Cenovia has also held many chairs on Broadway shows including American Idiot, Beauty and the Beast, Ragtime, Big River, Guys and Dolls, Cry Baby, City of Angels, Fiddler on the Roof, Bonnie and Clyde, Ghost and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Most recently she was the concertmaster for the revival of Carousel, featuring Joshua Henry, Jesse Mueller and Rene Fleming.
Cenovia's violin solos have been featured in the major motion pictures Lovely & Amazing and Julie and Julia. She can be heard every week on the Masterpiece Theater's "Mystery" series tango theme. She has also performed several times in New York City Ballet’s production of "Red Angels" for four dancers and solo electric 5 string violin. Also a composer and improviser , Cenovia has an often performed duo for cello and violin called Small Suite and duos for oboe and violin. Cenovia enjoys playing violin, mandolin and keyboards for the band, Ned Farr and the Good Red Road (thegoodredroad.band). Cenovia’s latest projects include a jazz quintet that performs live and a solo piano cd of original compositions available widely on line.
Her website is: www.cenoviacummins.com
Stephanie Cummins, cello
Stephanie Cummins cellist is a longtime Broadway veteran having held chairs for an Inspector Calls, Throughly Modern Millie, Footloose, Rocky, Mary Poppins, An American in Paris, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and many more. Stephanie has toured and recorded with the industry greats such as, Barbara Streisand, Luciano Pavarotti, Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts (at the Blue Note Club NYC), Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Diana Krall, Tony Bennet, Hall and Oates, the Smashing Pumpkins, and a host of other headline performers. She was a member of the breakthrough group CELLO, a group of four women cellist that toured and recorded for the ProARTE record label. She was personally selected by Jerome Robbins to perform the Bach Suites for solo cello and dancer and received high acclaim for multiple performances at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and the San Francisco Opera House.
Stephanie plays on a rare Giacomo Rivolta cello made in Milan circa 1820.
Rachel Handman, violin
Originally from Hyde Park, NY, violinist Rachel Handman's virtuosity and improvisational ability appears in many musical forms,including classical, bluegrass, Irish, pop and folk.
Broadway show credits include Dr. Zhivago, Something Rotten!, Miss Saigon, and Carousel. Rachel is a a long standing member of the Hudson Valley Philharmonic and is Associate Concert Master of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra. With recent and upcoming performances at Carnegie Hall, she also plays in the New York Oratorio Society Orchestra under the direction of Kent Tritle. She has toured Mexico with Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, and Germany, both on stage and in the orchestra with the shows “My Fair Lady” and “On The Town."
Loving travel and exposure to other cultures, Rachel lived in La Paz, Bolivia where she was in the National Symphony of Bolivia, concertized with a string quartet, and eventually joined a Salsa band named Guapacha! After returning to the states, Rachel began fiddling and immersing herself in different folk and fiddle styles. With her band, Uncommon Ground, she has performed at many festivals including the Doc Watson Festival, Carolina in the Fall, and Winter-Hawk festival.
Rachel has also performed with Natalie Merchant, Norm Lewis, Jennifer Hudson, Roberta Flack, Bette Midler, and the legendary Ray Charles. She teaches fiddle workshops at Summer Strings, a music camp run by her family in Poughkeepsie, NY, and is a resident visiting artist at Music at Port Milford chamber music festival in Milford, Ontario.
Eric Weidman, soprano saxophone & clarinet
Multi-woodwind artist Eric Weidman has maintained a busy freelance career in NYC for over 30 years. Performances with American Ballet Theatre, New York Philharmonic, NJ Symphony, and Bard Music Festival; with Elaine Stritch, Patti Lupone, Bernadette Peters, Barry Manilow, Stephen Colbert, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Marin Mazzie. Television appearances on Letterman, Good Morning, America, Today, and Live at Lincoln Center.
Countless Broadway and Off-Broadway shows since 1986 including Nunsense, 1776, 110 in the Shade, Pal Joey, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, and She Loves Me, to name a few. Eric is looking forward to playing in the revival of Kiss Me Kate in early 2019 at Studio 54.
Ray Jacob, percussion
Ray got his degree in percussion at the Mannes College of Music. After a brief stint freelancing, which included subbing at NY City Opera and gigging on the downtown rock band scene Ray decided to pursue his passion for computers. That led to a 25 plus year career developing and maintaining the the computer infrastructure for the Housing and Preservation Dept of NYC.
Ray is also an accomplished composer, pianist and guitarist. Ray is also an expert ham radio operator. His articles have appeared in ham radio magazines and he has been a guest lecturer at the Shanghai China ham radio symposium.
Ray Kilday, bass
Ray Kilday was most recently the bassist for the Broadway production of Carousel. His numerous Broadway credits include Bandstand, Holiday Inn, Newsies, Follies, Dr. Zhivago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Marie Christine, Blood Brothers, and Grand Hotel.
Ray has had a the pleasure of performing and recording with many fine singers including a twenty year run with Blossom Dearie which included performing at The White House for the program In Performance at The White House for PBS. He has also performed with Leslie Uggams, Bernadette Peters, Donna McKechnie, Tommy Tune, and Audra McDonald. Other Television credits include The Today Show, Smash, and Mozart In the Jungle. Ray's recording credits also include numerous cast albums, film scores, and jingles.