Three configurations for one evening
The arrival half-hour
Soft instrumental music — Bach, Granados, Vivaldi — for cocktail and pre-dinner reception, set at the volume of conversation.
The dinner program
A curated set built around the event's theme, honoree, or anniversary; voice/flute/guitar trio configuration with optional shorter solo features.
The headline performance
A full concert moment after the keynote, from a fifteen-minute set to a forty-five-minute featured program.
Trusted by Michigan's institutions
Preferred-vendor lists
Meadow Brook Hall · The Henry Ford · Grosse Pointe War Memorial
Concert collaborations
Livonia Symphony Orchestra (Concierto de Aranjuez, May 2012)
Operatic engagement
Michigan Opera Theater (Frida, 2015) — six sold-out shows
Educational institutions
University of Windsor School of Creative Arts (faculty 1995–2018) · Wayne State University (alma mater) · Oakland University (alma mater) · Macomb Community College (faculty)
Music ministry
Birmingham Unitarian Church (Steven 2011+, Abha 2001+)
International
Cheltenham International Music Festival 2002 · Organization of American States event hosted by The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy
The kind of evenings we are built for
Realistic examples of programs we have built for events of this type.
The hospital foundation gala
500 guests at a downtown art museum or country club ballroom. Cocktails 6:00 with light Bach and Iberian guitar; dinner 7:30 with three featured ensemble pieces between courses; dessert 9:00 with a Snapshots of South America set. Total: ninety minutes of music across the evening.
The university development dinner
75–125 prospects in a private library or alumni house. Continuous chamber-music underscore through the cocktail hour; one featured ten-minute concert moment after the dean's remarks (Rodrigo's Aranjuez slow movement is a frequent request); short reception set as guests depart.
The corporate anniversary evening
Mid-size corporate audience celebrating an anniversary, naming, or major milestone. Forty-five-minute concert program built around a theme — heritage, journey, or the company's founding region — with sung program notes from the soprano connecting the music to the occasion.
A sound you cannot get from a string quartet.
Soprano voice, classical flute, and classical guitar — a combination almost no other Michigan ensemble offers. Every direct local competitor is a string quartet. Where a string quartet plays an evening of harmony, a Dearing program weaves song, melody, and counterpoint, with a soloist, an instrumental voice, and an accompanist all at once.
The soprano can address the room directly with sung program notes, connecting each piece to the event's theme or honoree. The flute extends the upper range above what a quartet can do; the classical guitar ranges from intimate accompaniment to virtuosic Spanish and South American literature.
The ensemble scales from a forty-person fundraiser to a full ballroom without amplification setup. Six Detroit Music Awards — a credential no metro Detroit string quartet has matched.