If you don’t know Linda Twine, now is your chance! Meet this trailblazing Black artist who has built and shaped the musical theater landscape through her music direction of shows like Caroline or Change, Jelly’s Last Jam, and The Color Purple. Spend time with Ms. Twine in this candid interview that will be moderated by Founding Member Joseph Joubert.

LINDA TWINE -The love for music and performing were always part of the Twine home. Linda Twine’s mother was an elementary school reading specialist who loved to organize classroom operettas complete with costumes, choreography, and rhythm bands. Her father was an attorney who loved to sing and played the family piano daily. Twine’s extraordinary musical talent was evident from a very young age, and her parents began the training of that talent when she was a young girl.

While teaching in New York City by day and accompanying classical and jazz artists at night, Linda Twine got her break when she was asked to substitute on the keyboard for the Tony Award-winning hit, “The Wiz” on Broadway. Today, Twine is a renowned conductor and composer. In 2007 she was the music director of the hit Broadway musical “The Color Purple.” Her other Broadway credits include “Caroline or Change: A Year with Frog and Toad,” “Jelly’s Last Jam,” “Big River,” “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” “Ain’t Misbehavin,'” and “The Wiz.” Linda has composed and arranged theatrical works produced off-Broadway, regionally and internationally. Her choral works have been released by major American music publishers.

Twine has always been a dedicated educator and pursued her passion for education through her volunteer and extracurricular activities.

JOSEPH JOUBERT – Joseph Joubert is a hugely versatile musician whose wide-ranging accomplishments and talent as a pianist, arranger, orchestrator, Broadway conductor, and music director have taken him around the world. Most recently Mr. Joubert was musical director and orchestrator for “Harriet Tubman” star Cynthia Erivo in three sold out Tokyo performances. Next season Mr. Joubert will be musical supervisor for “Blue” at the Apollo directed by Phylicia Rashad starring Lynn Whitfield and Leslie Ugams. Also next year Roundabout Theatre Company is presenting “Caroline, or Change” using orchestrations by Mr. Joubert. Last summer Mr. Joubert was orchestrator with Danny Troob for Alan Menken’s “Hercules” presented by PublicWorks for Disney. Mr. Joubert was music supervisor and orchestrator for Classic Stage Company’s “Carmen Jones” starring Anika Noni Rose to rave reviews. His Broadway orchestration credits include: “The Color Purple”(Drama Desk Nomination), “Disaster”, “Violet”(Drama Desk Nomination), “Leap of Faith”, and “Caroline or Change”. He was Musical Director for Berry Gordy’s “Motown The Musical “and was assistant conductor for Nice Work If You Can Get It and Billy Elliot. Mr. Joubert was guest conductor of the New Jersey Symphony Christmas Concert featuring Take 6.

Mr. Joubert was Musical Director, Arranger, and Pianist for Norm Lewis’s American Songbook, the PBS Live from Lincoln Center special. Mr. Joubert was orchestrator/musical supervisor and conductor for the PBS special “Three Mo’Tenors” and production of “Three Mo Divas”. Mr. Joubert was an orchestrator for the TV show “Smash” and the film “Night’s In Rodanthe”. He received a grammy nomination for Best Arrangement Acompanying A Vocal for the Broadway Inspirational Voices “Great Joy”.

As a record producer and arranger/orchestrator he has worked with Ashford and Simpson, Diana Ross, George Benson, Patti LaBelle, Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston, Jennifer Holliday, Dionne Warwick, Luther Vandross, Norm Lewis and Diane Reeves. His orchestrations are used by symphonies across the USA including The New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia orchestras.

He appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Porgy and Bess as the piano-player Jasbo Brown. Critics have hailed Mr. Joubert’s “sensitive and supportive” performances as an accompanist and the “uncommon tonal beauty” of his playing. He has collaborated with such classical singers as Denyce Graves, Esther Hinds, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Simon Estes, and Hilda Harris, and performed with Kathleen Battle at the White House for President Bill Clinton as well as Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Joubert is at home arranging and performing in any style from classical to pop, gospel to Broadway, spiritual to R & B. He has reinterpreted classic hymns on his solo piano CD Total Praise and most recent solo piano CD A Mighty Fortress Is Our God: The Joubert Experience released by GIA Publications. His published arrangements are performed all over the world. As Musical Director for Judy Collins for five years he performed with the London Symphony and many of the major American orchestras.

Born in New York City, the son of a Baptist minister, he began playing the piano at the age of eight and by age sixteen had made his Town Hall debut with full orchestra. He received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Dora Zaslavsky, and won the nationwide piano competition of the National Association of Negro Musicians in 1980.