{"id":272795,"date":"2023-06-01T13:49:17","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T19:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/?p=272795"},"modified":"2023-07-27T12:43:13","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T18:43:13","slug":"janae-burris-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/janae-burris-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"For Janae Burris, Narrating Peter and the Wolf is a Dream Come True"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4>Denver-based comedian, actor, and entertainer Janae Burris will narrate <em>Peter and the Wolf<\/em> at the Colorado Music Festival Family Concert on July 2, 2023. Learn why Janae is excited to bring narrate this musical storybook.<\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Janae Burris, Narrator for Family Concert: Peter and the Wolf (2023)\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pylDTxVRNys?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><b>Colorado Music Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hi, my name is Erica Reid, I&#8217;m with the <a href=\"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/\">Colorado Music Festival<\/a>, and I&#8217;m talking to Janae Burris today, who is a Denver-based comedian, entertainer, actor. Janae, can you tell us a little bit about some of the projects that you&#8217;re working on right now?<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_272798\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-272798\" class=\"wp-image-272798 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/Janae-Burris-5-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-272798\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Photos courtesy of Kate Rolston, Denver Life Magazine<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p><b>Janae Burris: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Right now? Summer, I&#8217;m always doing a &#8230; I work as a camp counselor for <a href=\"https:\/\/athenaprojectarts.org\/\">Athena Project<\/a>. I teach stand-up comedy to girls, to middle school and high school-age girls. I am getting ready to do my first headlining set at Comedy Works. Denver Comedy Works is my home club. I&#8217;ve been on the list for a few years and now finally going to get to headline my own night. And also, I am going to be hosting Film on the Rocks at Red Rocks this summer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So keeping busy then?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And then on top of that, do I hear you have a new baby?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh yeah. He&#8217;s a year now. Still new to me though. Man, wildest year of my <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">life<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But yeah, so trying to do all the things I love to do, plus raising a tiny human.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, I wanted to ask about that because you are taking part in our Family Concert. I know a lot of the comedy you do is for adults, although it sounds like you&#8217;re also working with youth as well, you&#8217;re running the whole gamut. And this Family Concert is some of our youngest audiences, so what will it be like performing for young kids and families like that?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You know what, narrating <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">was like a dream I&#8217;ve had since I first heard it in second grade.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Really!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m so excited for this. I can&#8217;t believe it. When the opportunity came up to even audition, I was just like, &#8220;Please let me get this. I want this so badly.&#8221; And I&#8217;m just super excited to do it, and I hope everybody brings their kids because it made such an impression on me when I was a child. I never forgot it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So let&#8217;s talk about <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">for a second. If you don&#8217;t know the story, this is the story of Peter and his grandfather and a wolf and a duck and a cat. And those characters are all played by musical instruments. And then there&#8217;s a narrator telling the story, and that&#8217;s the role that you&#8217;re going to play. So, how are you going to make that role fun? What are you going to bring to that role, Janae?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Well, I&#8217;ve been listening to different versions of it. Of course, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9vr4JRbz8Yg\">David Bowie<\/a>&#8216;s is one of the most famous ones. But when I listen to them, I&#8217;m like, I&#8217;m thinking about bringing in some of my acting abilities. I&#8217;m a theater gal, I went to school for theater and I really want to play the roles. I&#8217;m moving my body. I want to move my body, use my voice in every way. I don&#8217;t know. First, I&#8217;m going to have to calm down my excitement because that&#8217;s the number one.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please don&#8217;t! [laughs]<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">[laughs]<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m just super geeked for it. It&#8217;s strange. But I want to really tell the story with my whole body and communicate with the audience. It&#8217;s such a great piece of music and when you hear the narration, when you just hear it, you can see it so clearly. And so since we&#8217;ll be there in person, I&#8217;m just going to put it in my whole body and communicate with all of my energy and spirit to the audience.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Oh, that sounds perfect. It&#8217;s also sounds like you&#8217;re going to make it your own. This is going to be Janae Burris&#8217;s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope so. Yeah. I hope so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, has your son heard this story a number of times along with you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes! [laughs] As soon as I got the dates for this, I just made him listen to it over and over. He&#8217;s only one and he&#8217;s been listening to it. I don&#8217;t know if he gets it yet.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aw. He&#8217;s going to have memories like you do of hearing it as young child and it never quite leaving him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I hope so.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if he&#8217;s one, it&#8217;ll get in there, I think.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yeah. I hope. It can be a little scary though. Sometimes I feel, I&#8217;m like &#8230; It&#8217;s scary. The wolf is scary. The grandfather is. It&#8217;s intimidating. And so sometimes I&#8217;m like, &#8220;Okay, maybe this isn&#8217;t the best for bedtime. Maybe this is a daytime listen.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Is there another story that your son&#8217;s been listening to over and over that you think would make a good performance, or something that you bring your whole self to when you read it?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/baby-goes-to-market-atinuke\/11230008?ean=9781536205527\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-272797\" src=\"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/baby-266x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"168\" height=\"189\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/baby-266x300.jpeg 266w, https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/baby.jpeg 354w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 168px) 100vw, 168px\" \/><\/a>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of my favorite stories to read to him is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bookshop.org\/p\/books\/baby-goes-to-market-atinuke\/11230008?ean=9781536205527\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baby Goes to Market<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I think the author is Atinuke. I can&#8217;t pronounce it. But I do many voices when I read the story to him. And when he was very little, he couldn&#8217;t sit still. And now he sits still and listens to it and I try to just really perform it for him, make it worth his time. I&#8217;m a theater gal, so I make it a whole theatrical performance for him. I don&#8217;t know if it&#8217;s his favorite, but it&#8217;s my favorite thing to read to him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maybe we&#8217;ll have to see if we can get a composer to set it to music and have another family concert with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Baby Goes to Market.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes. Yes. It&#8217;d be awesome.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you play any musical instruments yourself or did you when you were in school?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I didn&#8217;t. I really want my son to, though. I know that musical parents end up with musical kids, but I&#8217;m pushing him in that direction. I&#8217;m buying all the toy versions of instruments and I&#8217;m setting up pots and pans to let him play. And I encourage him every time he pounds on the table. He&#8217;s an expressive one-year-old. He doesn&#8217;t have actual words yet, but he has whole conversations with his babbling and he pounds on the table. And I&#8217;m like, &#8220;Yes, let&#8217;s make music out of that.&#8221; I really desire to have a musical child.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I was a theater kid like you, that was sort of my artistic expression, and I wish I had studied an instrument. The other half of the Colorado Music Festival is the <a href=\"https:\/\/centerformusicalarts.org\/\">Center for Musical Arts<\/a>, which teaches music lessons to kids of all ages starting at 18 months. We have young toddler classes and stuff. So when you start getting a sense of, is he into percussion, or we&#8217;re going to try strings\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You got to get them started young.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ooh, yes. I&#8217;m into that. 18 months, absolutely. We&#8217;ll be ready.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, okay. Our Family Concert with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf,<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as well as Eric Whitacre&#8217;s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goodnight Moon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and a couple of other pieces, it takes place on Sunday, July 2nd at 10:30. It&#8217;s about a 45-minute concert for young attention spans. It should be a casual atmosphere. Is there anything else that you would like to say about <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and your experience with this Family Concert coming up in early July?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bring all of your friends and your friends&#8217; kids, and let&#8217;s make it a whole family party together. Let&#8217;s make it fun. And I&#8217;m going to say, don&#8217;t be afraid of letting your kids be vocal and really <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">feel<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the whole story. It&#8217;s going to be exciting for all of us.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I love that. Well, thank you so much. Thank you for being our narrator in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Peter and the Wolf<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. It sounds like it&#8217;s going to be a great time. And thanks for talking with me this morning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Janae: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you. Thanks, Erica.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Festival: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thanks so much.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Denver-based comedian, actor, and entertainer Janae Burris will narrate Peter and the Wolf at the Colorado Music Festival Family Concert on July 2, 2023. Learn why Janae is excited to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":272796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[382],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-272795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}