French horn player Jenni Lee Kearns: From behind the music stand and into the spotlight
Editor’s Note: Our sincere thanks to the guest columnists who stood in for Robin Leach during his two months of annual travels. As he prepares for his return, Robin has interviews with Paralympics host Amy Purdy in Rio de Janeiro and Las Vegas magician Franz Harary in Macau in Friday Neon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Then in the RJ’s Sunday Life, we’ll have his story of the 100 new restaurants and vineyards that have sprung up north of Ensenada in Mexico. We’ll continue with our guest columnists until Robin’s return. Today, we meet STEVE WYNN’S SHOWSTOPPERS at Wynn Las Vegas French horn player Jenni Lee Kearns, who tells us about her determination to start her own group with the spotlight on the French horn.
Our other guest columnist is Fawnia Mondey, who with 22 years of teaching experience, is one of the world’s first pole dancing instructors. Jenni Lee is up first:
By Jenni Lee Kearns
There has always been a special something in how the French horn spoke to me. It’s uncanny how my 11-year-old soul recognized it upon hearing that first note. I knew then that I was going to be a professional French horn performer, and I’ve spent the last 20-plus years honing that gift studying, practicing, exploring and developing it to my current level of expertise.
Even with a village, starting a group such as Electra Brass isn’t easy, but it’s doubly hard alone. It’s a fire inside you demanding to be fed from all performing culinary levels of sound, lights, makeup, instruments, travel, dance, body movements, presentation, implementation and more.
Little did I realize on this 20-year journey how predominantly my friendships would play such an integral part in realizing my dream of bringing out the brass from behind the shadows of music stands.
I now have a village of accomplished musicians who love the aspects of lights, sound, presentation, etc., to move this vision forward to lift the veil to reveal beautiful, energetic women playing brass instruments rocking out to legendary music with an electric flair, heretofore only heard with strings, producing a brass/electronic dynamism.
Performing in the Tony Award-winning Broadway show BLAST sparked another level of my multilayered dream: Getting back onstage dancing while playing directly to the audience, creating a new experience for other female brass players — not just for Electra Brass.
As one can see, multitasking is a must for such an undertaking, and it obviously is one of my specialties. In addition to all the Electra Brass dynamics, I’m a full-time K-5 music teacher and perform nightly in STEVE WYNN’S SHOWSTOPPERS at Wynn Las Vegas. Oh, don’t forget that I, too, must bring my A game to the stage — and in every stage.
As I write, it’s clear how the Electra Brass team has been collecting in the recesses of my mind all these years. For example, fellow BLAST trumpeter Andrew Smith and I worked for weeks inputting electronic sounds with our effects boards, transforming our brass into Electra Brass.
Without the artistry of Kali Jones and Lisa Strawther from MAKING UP LAS VEGAS, we wouldn’t have the dynamic looks we need for our multilayered performances, from rock to pop. Shane O’Neal and Michael Su are the brilliant eyes and ears who make the Electra Brass women be all we can be in our videos and stills.
Murray Sawchuck, my boyfriend, has unselfishly shared his years of performance and business expertise. From a distance, influences like Lindsey Stirling’s rise to become a household name through her YouTube videos after her appearance on AMERICA’S GOT TALENT have proven to me that the public is ready for more classical instrumentalists from behind the stands.
I’m excited about taking Electra Brass online to introduce our exciting sounds and visuals not only to live audiences but also to global ones. Here we are. We have the look, energy, steps and sounds of two French horns, trumpet and euphonium. Electra Brass is stage ready as a one-of-a-kind electronic brass female quartet of dynamic, professional musicians who are the stars.
Be sure to check out our other guest column from Fawnia Mondey of Pole Fitness Studio here in Las Vegas. Robin has wrapped up his interviews in Macau with Franz Harary and Rio de Janeiro with Amy Purdy for stories from the Asian gaming capital and Summer Paralympics, respectively, that we’ll have in Friday Neon of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.