Music Program
Mireya Velazquez
Mireya Velazquez is Center of Awakening's Music Director. Her religious background runs deep, having been raised a minister's daughter in the Church of the Nazarene. She has been a student of metaphysics since 1978 and discovered Religious Science after finding a used copy of The Science of the Mind in 1985. She has been practicing it ever since.
Mireya started singing as a young child in her father's church and was trained in three-part harmonic singing early on. Her music background has been quite extensive, performing in many varied productions in as many different venues. She is fluent in several dialects of Spanish and translates, teaches, and sings with pure soul in her native tongue.
Mireya selects all the music used at Center of Awakening and has shown amazing talent at creating unique arrangements of all the music used for our programs. She also brings incredible guest artists, which she arranges through her many music connections. And she is a song writer, specializing in "New Thought Gospel" style.
If you are interested in being a guest artist at Center of Awakening or for more information on our musical program, send an email to Mireya at MusicDirector@CenterOfAwakening.org.
Dale Backus
Dale Backus is a Mechanical Engineer by trade but his passion is music. He is a freelance pianist/keyboardist who competes internationally as an amateur pianist and has received many awards, including 4th place Jury Award and 2nd place Audience Award at the International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Paris, France.
Dale started attending the Center of Awakening in April 2004, where they found out about his musical talent. Mireya approached him about joining the Center of Awakening band and the rest is history. He is behind the keyboard almost every Sunday and even does a bit of backup vocals. Outside of church, he also performs with our own 2004 Colorado Songwriter of the Year, Marcy Baruch. Dale has several degrees including a BA in Music from Wake Forest, a Masters in Music from University of Michigan and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rose-Hulman.
Paul Noveshansky
Paul Noveshansky lived and assimilated into the Thai culture back in the late 1960s. After incorporating the Eastern philosophy into his own belief system, he termed his newfound spirituality as "Noveshanskyism." In 1992 he was introduced to Religious Science and realized a definition to his own beliefs.
His musical background is quite diverse. As a vocalist he has performed in dinner theater and amateur theater, such as the Festival Playhouse. He also was a front man and lead vocalist in a 60s/70s rock and roll band, performing in some of the most questionable cabarets scattered around Colorado. Trained in piano and clarinet, he never really found the passion needed to continue with those instruments.
About three years ago Paul discovered his real passion for hand percussion. After taking an introduction to drumming class, he continued growth by being coached by some of the best in the local music scene. Paul took training to be certified as a drum circle facilitator and now conducts community drum circles for Center of Awakening and others.
Scott Surine
Since the early 1970s Scott has played many musical styles, ranging from Country to Rock to Top4 to Blues, R&B and Reggae. Scott financed his ASU education through weekend gigs playing corporate parties and weddings.
In 1992 Scott launched his own brand of basses: Surine Basses. Surine Basses has steadily accrued an international clientele. Some of his customers include Reginald Veal (Branford marsalis), Tiran Porter (Doobie Brothers), Brent Pearen (Canadian tour with Christina Aguilera). Scott plays bass with several bands, and recently played at the Monterrey Blues festival. In December 2006 he joined the COA Band and now looks forward to participating every Sunday at Center of Awakening.
Scott is a graphic designer by profession, designing brand identities for Fortune 500 companies as well as local corporations, large and small. In 2004 Scott founded Sonova Corporation and provides premiere-level consulting services to clients.
Allen Ward
Allen Ward is guitarist and vocalist at Center of Awakening. His vision is to create a great movement of sound that moves the soul. He has been playing and singing passionately for the past six years. For Allen, performing music is "both a cherished joy and a surrender to Spirit. Music truly is a way of manifesting. Every time I play or sing, I become better at it. Spirit has decided it, and, thus, it is so."
He is a veteran flight attendant with United Airlines and a spokesman for The Association of Flight Attendants AFL-CIO. Allen is also an Associate with Primerica Financial Services (a division of CitiGroup) and a local voice-over artist.