Newton, NC – Please join the Catawba County arts community on Saturday, April 22nd at Old Post Office Playhouse for the second in this season’s series of “Friends of John Coffey” concerts featuring triple threat Laurice Lanier. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at Old Post Office Playhouse and online at www.thegreenroomtheatre.org. The performance begins at 7:30 pm.

Laurice Lanier is a professional vocalist and entertainer, vocal coach, worship leader and tap dancer. Ms. Lanier, named by Maryland Public Television as “One of the Most Versatile Voices on the Planet,” is originally from Jackson, TN.
Lanier is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she majored in Vocal Performance and Foreign Language. Ms. Lanier has performed various roles in opera houses, theatres, concerts halls, private functions and churches throughout the United States and abroad including Carnegie Hall as a Leontyne Price Showcase Winner, New York, NY, Holiday Pops Concert with the Illinois Symphony Orchestra in Springfield, IL and the Black History Opera View with Opera Memphis, Memphis, TN and the Nashville Symphony Orchestra for their Martin Luther King Celebration at the Nashville Performing Arts Center in Nashville, TN.

Ms. Lanier’s theatre credits include Director Baz Luhrmann’s La Boheme on Broadway and Marion J. Caffey’s 3 Mo’ Divas.

Menno Feenstra, Artistic Director of the Royal Opera House said, “When Laurice sings you forget the bad in your life.” Eric Reszynak, writer and critic for the Rochester City Newspaper said, “If you look inside Lanier, you will find a small hole that would somehow be connected to God’s walkie-talkie.”

John Coffey has worked in numerous regional theatres throughout the U.S. including Mount Gretna, PA, Seven Angels, CT and Cape Fear, NC.

International Touring includes 42nd Street (Moscow, Russia), North American Tours of Evita (2009) and 3 Mo’ Divas (2006–2010), both as Assistant Conductor. Nationally, he served The Full Monty as Music Director for NETworks. Off-Broadway experience includes Naked Boys Singing as well as Danny & Sylvia and The Danny Kaye Musical. John was the assistant conductor for Into The Woods in Portland, Maine (2010) and Nine in Brugge, Belgium (2009), both with the Intermezzo Music Festival.

With a Master’s degree in Piano Performance from the Juilliard School, John has performed as a concert pianist with various orchestras and his skills have given him the opportunity to play for a number of legendary artists, including Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein. John later ventured into musical theatre and created four musicals of his own, including We Are The People Too.

John returned to Hickory in 2011 and is available for Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Piano lessons as well as Theory and Vocal Coaching at Hickory Arts.

John Coffey is a grant recipient. The Friends of John Coffey 2016-2017 Tour is supported in part by a grant from the United Arts Council of Catawba County. Additional sponsors include Robert Abbey and Hickory Arts.

Hickory Arts is the “un-studio”—a simple, custom, specialized, non-event-driven teaching & production studio dedicated to coaching performance artists from point A to point B. The studio is located at 720 Second Avenue SW, Hickory, 28602, behind ITP and across from Hickory Optimist Park (where you’ll also find additional parking). For more information about tickets and Hickory Arts, please explore the website or call 828-270-9801.

Laurice Lanier