Maggie Dave - Old You, the official music video animated by Cassie Shao, was awarded Honorable Mention at the 2022 Los Angeles Animation Festival. This honor is given "to work of an exceptionally high standard and worthy of festival praise." Shao is an alum of LAAF, earning a nomination for her film There Were Four of Us as Best Student Experimental Short at the 2019 festival.
On December 4th, director & animator Cassie Shao took home her second award for Maggie Dave - I'm Not Ready at the 2021 Austin Music Video Festival. Praised for the video's dreamlike atmosphere and harmony between the song and the visuals, Shao was awarded the top prize for animation from a program featuring videos from celebrated artists such as Missy Elliot, The Shins and Mac DeMarco. Lead singer Sean David Christensen joined remotely from Los Angeles for a brief Q&A with the festival after the "Saturday Morning Cartoons" program, where the video was shown shortly before the live-streamed awards presentation. That same afternoon, Maggie Dave - Old You (also animated by Shao) made its theatrical screening premiere at the London International Animation Festival, capping off a week of festival screenings for the artist & the band.
Alphonso is nominated for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals for “A Change Is Gonna Come,” performed by Tonality & Alexander Lloyd Blake from the album America Will Be. (Photo courtesy of Tehillah Alphonso)
This Tuesday, the nominations for the 64th GRAMMY® Awards were unveiled, featuring vocal arranger & vocalist Tehillah Alphonso alongside celebrated artists and past winners Jacob Collier, Vince Mendoza, Ólafur Arnalds & Cody Fry in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals" category. In a joyful conversation over the phone, I congratulated our friend and collaborator for her stirring arrangement of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come,” performed by the celebrated choral group Tonality & Alexander Lloyd Blake. Needless to say, our DVRs are already set for her big night on Monday, January 31st!
"A Change is Gonna Come" by Sam Cooke. Performed by Tonality & Alexander Lloyd Blake; Arranged by Tehillah Alphonso; Mixed & mastered by Jett Galindo; Video by Pietro Torrisi