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Ragas Live Festival 2018
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Concerts/Music
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PAST EVENT
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Pioneer WorksNew York, NY, USA
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Oct 06, 2018 -Oct 07, 2018Sat - Sun , 05:00 PM GMT (-05:00)
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- Event Performers
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Arun Ramamurthy
- Music
- Arun Ramamurthy is a versatile violinist, composer and educator based in NYC. A disciple of the celebrated Carnatic violinist brothers, Dr. Mysore Manjunath & Sri Mysore Nagaraj, Arun has become one of the countrys leading Indian Classical and crossover musicians. Growing up in New Jersey, he trained in both Indian and Western classical styles. He has carved a niche for himself as a multifaceted artist, performing internationally in both traditional Carnatic and Hindustani settings as well as bridging genres with his own innovative projects. Arun has been fortunate to perform with esteemed artists such as Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Sudha Ragunathan, Anindo Chatterjee, T.N. Seshagopoloan, Mashkoor Ali Khan, Marc Cary, Awa Sangho among others. He leads the Arun Ramamurthy Trio, an ensemble that brings a fresh approach to age-old South Indian classical repertoire and raga inspired originals. Praised by All About Jazz as a beautiful, exotic, ear-opening listening experience the Trios debut album Jazz Carnatica was picked by NPRs New Sounds as a Top New Release. As a composer, Arun has created new works for his Trio, for various Indian classical dance performances, and for the pioneering musician's collective Brooklyn Raga Massive. Recently, Arun was commissioned through New Music USA to compose original music for Malini Srinivasan's 'Appeasing Radhika', an ambitious project investigating Devadasi lives in Indian Classical performing arts. Arun is a co-founder and Artistic Director of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a collective of forward thinking musicians rooted-in and inspired-by the classical music of India. He created the concert series Carnatic Sundays at Cornelia Street Caf, an iconic jazz venue in New Yorks West Village. As an educator, Arun teaches students ranging from beginners to professional musicians in Indian music performance, technique and theory. He has taught workshops on Indian classical music at music schools, universities, conservatories and summer music programs.
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Sameer Gupta
- Music
- Circle Has No Beginning" by Tabla and Drumset virtuoso Sameer Gupta, features a stellar lineup of musicians who specialize in the worlds of Raga-inspired and Modern Jazz music. This ensemble together creates a truly remarkable modern musical journey. With repertoire drawing firmly from Indian Classical influence, as well as strong Modern Jazz improvisational roots - their creative energy and original sound elevates the audience through crossing the traditions and borders of music from India and America. Sameer Gupta played through his arrangements ofsongs with sitar, cello and viola appended to a jazz trio.
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Jay Gandhi
- Music
- A truly outstanding disciple of the world renowned bansuri maestro, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jay initially trained in vocal music under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal and later bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar, Pt. Vijay Raghav Rao and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Inspired to gain deeper knowledge of both the gayaki ang (vocal style) as well as the tantrakari ang (stringed instrument style), Jay has also taken guidance from Pt Vidyadhar Vyas (vocal) and Pt. Nayan Ghosh (sitar, tabla). He is truly blessed to have been studying under the living legend of the bansuri, Padma Vibhushan Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, at Brindavan Gurukul in Mumbai since 2006. His musical pursuits are not limited to that of the Indian sub-continent; he has great love for the music of the African diaspora and America's classical music Jazz, as well. In 2004, he completed an Individual Major in Jazz Performance at Oberlin College/Conservatory of Music (Ohio), studying privately under such Jazz luminaries as the saxophonist Gary Bartz and trumpetist Marcus Belgrave. He has since collaborated extensively with many noted Jazz musicians including composer/Jazz pianist Courtney Bryan and trumpetist Lech Wierzynski. A recipient of the prestigious American Institute of Indian Studies Senior Performing Arts Fellowship, Jay has already been invited to perform across the globe, enthralling audiences in India, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America. He is currently based out of New York City and is very active as both a teacher and performer and also as a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, an increasingly prominent Indian Classical artists collective.
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PAWAN BENJAMIN
- Music
- Saxophonist, Flutist, and Composer Pawan Benjamin, started his musical training at a young age in Madison, Wisconsin, receiving guidance and mentorship from jazz luminaries such as bassist, Richard Davis, AACM founder Roscoe Mitchell, and many others in the Madison area. In 2006 he left to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he plunged headfirst into the diverse music scene of New York City, performing and recording with musicians from around the globe, across genres from Jazz, Hip Hop, Nepali Folk, Indian Classical Music and beyond. Pawan has collaborated with artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Ranjit Barot, Taufiq Qureshi, Rez Abbasi, Mike Stern, Candido Camero, Bill T. Jones and many others. Performance credits stretch across the globe at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), the Rose Theater and Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, the National Center of Performing Arts in Mumbai India, Goa International Jazz Festival, the Bimhuis and Blue Note in Amsterdam, and countless other venues in between. Pawan is an active member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a music collective which seeks to bridge the worlds of American and South Asian art of all kinds.
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Trina Basu Ramamurthy
- Music
- Karavika is a New York City based ensemble led by violinist Trina Basu and cellist Amali Premawardhana. As two artists with roots in India, Sri Lanka and North America, Trina and Amali aspire to discover and bring to light the music of their own cultural backgrounds as well as music from other parts of the world that has deeply inspired them. Drawing upon influences of nature, beauty, simple folk melodies and complex classical compositions, Karavika seeks to blend creative improvisations and arrangements with authentic traditions. They are joined by Perry Wortman on bass and collaborate with multiple Indian classical percussionists and other instrumentalists.
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Brandee Younger
- Music
- A fearless and versatile talent, harpist Brandee Younger defies genres and labels as a classically-trained musician playing in the avant-garde tradition of her sonically forward predecessors Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane. Ms. Younger delivers a consistently fresh take on the ancient instrument as an educator, concert curator, performer and leader of the Brandee Younger Quartet. Ms. Younger has produced an impressive body of work since the 2011 debut of her seminal Prelude EP, including Brandee Younger Live @ The Breeding Ground, a breakthrough performance on Bluenote Records and Revive Musics 2015 Supreme Sonacy Vol. 1 LP, and the more recent release of her critically-acclaimed 2016 Wax & Wane LP. Known for expressive interpretations of traditional harp repertoire as well as her continued work with a diverse cross-section of musical talents, Ms. Younger is widely recognized as a creative linchpin whose nuanced presence and willingness to push boundaries have made her irreplaceable on record and in performance. She has worked with jazz leaders and popular hip-hop and r&b titans including Ravi Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Jack Dejohnette, Reggie Workman, Common, John Legend and Lauryn Hill. As well versed in performance art as she is the art of creative risk-taking, Brandee Younger challenges commonly-held notions in her quest to make the harp a more relevant force in todays music. Ms. Youngers ability to seamlessly inject the harp into arrangements and venues where it has historically been overlooked is a testament to her deep love for and exemplary command of the instrument. __ Somewhere beyond the fairy forests and angel wings that harp music traditionally evokes lies Brandee Youngers rebellion. Shes classically trained, but a typical week for her is more likely to include a jazz jam session one night and a hip-hop studio recording the next afternoon. Theres no room for coyness in her music, although her eyes betray a glimmer of mischief when she plays The Village Voice A native of Long Island, New York, Ms. Younger spent her formative years in Hempstead and Uniondale where she began harp studies as a teen under the tutelage of Karen Strauss. She received further instruction from harpists Rebecca Flannery, Susan Jolles, Emily Mitchell and bassist Nat Reeves. Ms. Younger went on to earn undergraduate degrees in Harp Performance and Music Business from The Hartt School of the University of Hartford. While there, she was mentored by the faculty of the Jackie McLean Institute of Jazz and African American Studies. An immersive experience detailed in an article by Nate Chinen of The New York Times.
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Marc Cary
- Music
- Marc Cary (born January 29, 1967) is a post bop jazz pianist based out of New York City.[2] Cary has played and recorded with several well-known musicians, including Dizzy Gillespie, Betty Carter, Roy Hargrove, Arthur Taylor, Abbey Lincoln, Carlos Garnett, Erykah Badu, Meshell Ndegeocello, Stefon Harris, Lauryn Hill, Ani DiFranco, Jackie McLean, Q-Tip and Carmen McRae. Cary grew up playing on the go-go music scene in Washington, D.C. He eventually moved to New York City, and it was through his work with Abbey Lincoln that broad audiences were first introduced to his rhythmic style, which draws on the influence of Randy Weston and McCoy Tyner.
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Rashaan Carter
- Music
- Rashaan Carter is a bassist and tours with many great musicians including Gary Thomas, Marc Cary, Antoine Roney, and many more. Rashaan's talents have taken him to Africa, Europe, Asia, and many more places all around the world! Keep an eye out for Rashaan and his versatility on the music scene on both acoustic and electric bass.
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Abhik Mukherjee
- Music
- Abhik Mukherjee is a Kolkata-born sitar player of the Etawah-Imdadkhani gharana. He was initiated to sitar at the age of six by his father, Sri Tarit Mukherjee, and Sri Bimal Chatterjee, while simultaneously receiving vocal instruction from Sri Kaylan Bose. He has since taken talim from Pandit Arvind Parikh and Pandit Kashinath Mukherjee, themselves disciples of the legendary Ustad Vilayat Khan. He is a gold medalist in musicology from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and has also received a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture, India. Abhiks first public performance was at the age of nine at the Governors House, Kolkata. He has since performed in ten countries on four continents. Some memorable concerts include performances for the inauguration of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial (Washington D.C.); at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City); at the Indian Habitat Center (Delhi); on Doordarshan (Kolkata); and a summer tour of Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. Abhik currently lives in New York City and is a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, an Indian classical music artists collective.
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Vijay Iyer
- Music
- Composer-pianist VIJAY IYER was voted DownBeat Magazines Jazz Artist of the Year for 2012, 2015, and 2016. He received a 2013 MacArthur Fellowship,a 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and a 2011 Grammy nomination. He has released twenty-one albums, including A Cosmic Rhythm with Each Stroke (ECM, 2016) in duo with legendary composer-trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, named Best New Music by Pitchfork; Break Stuff (ECM, 2015) with the Vijay Iyer Trio, winner of the German Record Critics Award for Album of the Year; the live score to the film Radhe Radhe: Rites of Holi (ECM, 2014) by celebrated filmmaker Prashant Bhargava; and Holding it Down: The Veterans Dreams Project (Pi Recordings, 2013), a searing collaboration with poet-performer Mike Ladd, named Album of the Year in the Los Angeles Times.
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Yosvany Terry
- Music
- Born into an illustrious musical family in Camaguey, Cuba, Yosvany Terry is an internationally acclaimed composer, saxophonist, percussionist, bandleader, educator and cultural bearer of the Afro-Cuban tradition. After immsersing himself in the European classical tradition at Havanas prestigious National School of Arts (ENA) and Amadeo Roldan Conservatory he went on to perform with major figures in every realm of Cuban music, including celebrated nueva trova singer/guitarist Silvio Rodriguez, pianists Chucho Valdes and Frank Emilio, and Don Pancho y Los Terry, the band led by his father, violinist and shekere master Eladio Don Pancho Terry Gonzales. From his earliest days in New York, Terry has been embraced by the jazz and contemporary music community, playing with Branford Marsalis, Rufus Reid, Dave Douglas, Steve Coleman, Roy Hargrove, Henry Threadgill, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, Jeff Tain Watts, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Taj Mahal and the Eddie Palmieri Afro-Caribbean Sextet. While best known as a blazing improviser, hes rapidly gaining renown as a composer, bandleader and educator with a string of high-profile awards, appointments and commissions. In 2015, Terry was named a recipient of the prestigious Doris Duke Artist Award, and was hired by Harvard University as Director of Jazz Ensembles and Senior Lecturer on Music. He has received recent commissions from San Franciscos Yerba Buena Garden Festival (Noches de Parranda for 12-piece ensemble with the support of The MAP Fund), the French-American Jazz Exchange with support from the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation (Ancestral Memories with French pianist Baptiste Trotignon), and the Harlem Stage (the score for the opera Makandal, premiering in 2016-17). Terry also received a grant from Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and New York State Music Fund to create Afro-Cuban Roots: Yedgb, a suite of Arar music documented on his acclaimed 2014 album. His latest release, 2014s GRAMMY Award-nominated New Throned King (5Passion), features music based on cantos and rhythms of the Arar people of the western Cuban province of Matanzas, who hail from the Dahomey kingdoms Fon culture in what is now Benin. His previous album, 2012s Todays Opinion (Criss Cross), was selected as one of the Top 10 Albums of the Year by the New York Times Nate Chinen. Terrys latest project, The Bohemian Trio, is a genre-defying contemporary music ensemble based in New York slated to release its first album in the spring of 2016.
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Ganavya
- Music
- Vocalist, scholar, and composer Ganavya has carved a niche for herself at the nexus of South Indian vocal styles and contemporary music. Her own debut album, Aikyam: Onnu, ("Harmony: One") features the incredible breadth of her character: it draws from an amalgam of ancient Indian spirituals she learnt during pilgrimages as a child, with an anchor in jazz standards that she has translated to Tamil from English, showcasing a linguistic command over her two mother-tongues. ? She holds degrees in theatre and psychology (FIU), and graduate degrees in contemporary performance (Berklee College of Music), and ethnomusicology (UCLA). She was awarded one of Berklee's first Post-Graduate Fellowships, for which she constructed a course titled Sounds of Indian Music, and published a text under the same name for the course. Currently, she is a doctoral student at Harvard's newly developed Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry program. She has learnt from, or performed and recorded with: Danilo Perez, Placido Domingo, James Newton, Victor Wooten, Wadada Leo Smith, Alain Perez, Perico Sambeat, Vijay Iyer, Zakir Hussain, Laura Karpman, Polo Orti, Victor Mendoza, Sandra Carrasco, Javier Limn, Ousso Lotfy, Tyshawn Sorey, Claire Chase, and Zebbler Encanti Experience, among other artists who have influenced her work. Recently, she sang on the Quincy Jones-produced Tocororo, which hit #1 on jazz charts
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Rajna Swaminathan
- Music
- Rajna Swaminathanis an accomplished mrudangam (South Indian percussion) artist, a protg of mrudangam maestroUmayalpuram K. Sivaraman. Rajna is one of only a handful of women who play the mrudangam professionally. She has performed with several renowned Indian classical musicians, most notably mentor and vocalist T.M. Krishna. Rajna has performed in several prestigious venues and festivals, including the Smithsonian (D.C.), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Asia Society (NYC), Lincoln Center (NYC), Walker Art Center (MN), Music Academy (Chennai), Shanmukhananda Hall (Mumbai) and The Esplanade (Singapore). Rajna also regularly gives workshops on the South Indian rhythmic perspective, most notably at the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the KOSA International Percussion Camp.Rajna holds degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently pursuing a PhD in cross-disciplinary music studies at Harvard University.
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Nitin Mitta
- Music
- Nitin Mitta is one of the most accomplished and distinctive tabla players of his generation, with a reputation for technical virtuosity, spontaneity, clarity of tone, and sensitivity to melodic nuances. Apart from being a dynamic soloist, he is a highly sought after accompanist who has performed with some of Indias most celebrated Hindustani classical musicians, including Pandit Jasraj, Dr. Prabha Atre, Pandits Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Ustad Shahid Parvez, as well as many Carnatic musicians, such as Lalgudi G.J.R Krishnan and Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Nitin has also made a mark as a versatile collaborator in other spheres. He recently joined forces with 2010 Grammy Nominee Pianist Vijay Iyer and electric guitarist R. Prasanna to produce a studio album titled Tirtha that blends elements of contemporary jazz with the North and South Indian traditional ragas and compositions. Another collaboration with R. Prasanna can be heard on the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning documentary Smile Pinky. He has also performed and toured with singer and Juno Award nominee Kiran Ahluwalia. Born in Hyderabad in 1975, Nitin received his early training in Hyderabad from Pandit G. Satyanarayana. Blessed with raw talent, he gave his first solo tabla performance at the age of ten. During his studies he won many accolades, including first prize in the All India Competition held in Calcutta. To expand his repertoire of tabla compositions, he sought the guidance of Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar of Mumbai, one of the most highly respected mentors of his generation. Under Mulgaonkarjis tutelage, Nitin not only broadened his tabla vocabulary, but sharpened his understanding of how to bring the material to life in performances through interpretation, improvisation and respect for the dynamics between instrumentalist and rhythmic accompanist. Both of Nitins gurus are disciples of the late Ustad Amir Hussain Khan Saheb, legendary doyen of the Farukhabad Gharana. After moving to the United States in 2002, Nitin received a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on Arts. He was a member of the faculty at the Learn Quest Academy of Music in Waltham, MA. He maintains a busy schedule of performances and tabla workshops, traveling throughout the U.S, Europe, Canada and India. He has performed at several prominent venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Weill recital Hall/Carnegie Hall, the UCLA Royce Hall, the Indian consulate in New York, the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C, the Music Academy in Chennai, and the Habitat Centre in New Delhi.
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Suryaksha Deshpande
- Music
- Suryaksha Deshpande is fortunate enough to have a good Literary and Musical heritage . His father Shri.Prakash Deshpande is a retired Professor of English and an eminent writer and critic in Marathi and his mother Prof. Hema Deshpande herself is a vocalist, disciple of Pt. Babanrao Haldankar( veteran of Agra Gharana). He has taken tremendous efforts in balancing his academic career and Tabla training.1977 born, Science Graduate Suryaksha is a disciple of renowned scholar and performer Pt. Arvind Mulgaonkar of Farrukhabaad Gharana (senior disciple of Ustad Amir Hussein Khan Sahab) . He has also received training of Delhi Baaz from Pt. Sudhir Mainkar a great Musicologist disciple of Inam Ali Khan Sahab of Delhi Gharana. He has won many prizes in competitions held by reputed organisations and was also felicitated with prestigious V. D. Paluskar Award ( Mumbai).
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Andrew Shantz
- Music
- Andrew Shantz is a keyboardist, vocalist, composer and educator with a foundation in jazz and a penchant for musical exploration. In 2003 he completed a BM in Jazz Piano Performance at William Paterson University which has been complimented by studies of composition and improvisation with the late legendary trumpeter Clark Terry as well as pianist Jason Moran and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Since 2008 Andrew has been immersed in the world of Hindustani - North Indian - classical music. He studies classical vocal (khayal) under Pt. Sanjoy Banerjee of Kirana Gharana. He was initiated into Hindustani vocal music in Kolkata, India by his Guruma Smt. Madhumita Saha and receives special guidance and training from tabla maestro Pt. Samar Saha. In 2016 Andrew founded the fusion group Sangha to bring together the two primary musical streams in his life: jazz and Hindustani classical. Sangha illuminates both the shared characteristics and divergent elements of these forms, and addresses larger questions of the effect of music and its role in our lives beyond reflecting our culture back to us. In 2012 Andrew founded Vanguard Music Studio with partners Anna Evangelista and Attila Mozsolits. VMS offers first rate musical instruction in private lessons, group classes and ensembles and in special workshops and performances. It is a dynamic musical community that inspires creativity and dedication in their students.
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Umer Piracha
- Music
- Umer Piracha is a Singer/Guitarist, Concept Artist and Composer in Acoustic and Electronic genres. Raised in Multan, Pakistan, and now living in Philadelphia, he focuses on using experimental and improvisational techniques to capture the essence of a complex and emerging global world, using a multilingual blend of Pakistani-folk-inspired songs alongside more traditionally Western tracks. His work has gained significant momentum online, and has been featured in both US and Pakistan based publications. Over the years, Umer has become increasingly interested in studying Psychology, Philosophy and Sciences as mediums to enrich his art, and form collaborations with artists across a broad range of mediums in a continued exploration of the human condition.
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Siddharth Ashokkumar
- Music
- Siddharth Ashokkumar has been learning Carnatic music for the past 12 years. He initially learnt the violin from Smt. Ranjani Swamy and vocal from Smt. Lalitha Venkat of New Jersey. He now takes advanced lessons from Sri Vittal Ramamurthy and Sri Srinivasamurthy of Chennai. He is also currently taking advanced lessons from his Yuva Sangeetha Lahiri teachers in New Jersey facilitated by Suresh Ramachandran and has also received guidance from Smt. Kalyani Ramani. He has accompanied a number of programs in the tri-state area.
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Tom Deis
- Music
- Thomas Deis is a music educator, performer, producer and composer. Deis has done sound design for theater, composition for film scores, and produced other international acts such as Elizabeth and the Catapult.
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Paul Arendt
- Music
- Paul Arendt is a Guitarist
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Adam Hershberger
- Music
- Born November 14 1982 in Wilmington Delaware, Adam graduated in 2005 from Temple Universitys Esther Boyer College of Music in Philadelphia, where he studied with trumpeter Terell Stafford, as well as Ben Schachter, Greg Kettinger, Dan Monaghan, Bruce Barth, Mike Natale, Mike Frank, Jaleel Shaw and others. Since then, Adam has been very active in the Philadelphia music scene, playing gigs and teaching lessons full time. Making as many connections as possible has led Adam to collaborate with projects spanning the genres. When Adam is not in the recording studio, playing a wedding ceremony/party, or booking gigs for the West Philadelphia Orchestra, he teaches the fundamentals of brass playing, theory, ear training, and improvisation to students of all levels.
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Greg Foran
- Music
- Greg Foran is a percussionist
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Roopa Mahadevan
- Music
- Roopa Mahadevan is a versatile Indian Classical vocalist. Born and raised in San Jose, California, Roopa underwent her major formative training in Carnatic vocal music under Asha Ramesh, disciple of the late Sangeetha Kalanidhi D.K. Jayaraman and Sri Nanganallur Ramanathan. In 2007, Roopa was awarded the Fulbright Scholarship by the U.S. Department of State to receive advanced Carnatic vocal training in Chennai, India under Smt. Suguna Varadachari, a senior guru of the Musiri Subramania Iyer tradition. Roopa has been a regular performer of Carnatic vocal concerts in the U.S. and India. She has been performing in all of the major sabhas in Chennai, India during the December music season, including the prestigious Music Academy. She has received praise from the Carnatic music fraternity and notable press, including The Hindu. She has also performed at the well-known Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, which gave her the title Kala Ratna for her commitment to the pursuit of Carnatic music as a young American. Roopa is also an accomplished Bharathanatyam dancer who has performed her arangetram under the training of the Smt. Indumathy Ganesh, disciple of Padmashri Smt. Chitra Visweswaran. Roopa is a sought-after singer for Bharathanatyam productions and has sung for a variety of artists, including C.V. Chandrasekhar, Bragha Bessel, Mythili Prakash, Rasika Kumar, Preeti Vasudevan, Vidhya Subramaniam, Janaki Rangarajan, Aparna Ramaswamy, Abhinaya Dance Company, Ragamala Dance Company, and Shakti Dance Company (CA) among several others. Roopa also enjoys performing R&B/soul music and has lent her voice to several contemporary art projects, including two urban/R&B music albums Lovespeak (with Everyday People A Capella), Bring Back the Nyte, and the album *Calling All Dawns* composed by Christopher Tin, which won the 2011 Grammy for Best Crossover Classical Album. In 2011, Roopa performed an exciting acting and singing role in Bakwas Bumbug, a first-ever Desi Musical directed by Samrat Chakrabarti and Sanjiv Jhaveri and produced by Desipina in New York City. Roopa has been fortunate to perform at prestigious venues, including the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Roopa is the artistic director of the NYC-based Navatman Music Collective, an Indian Classical Vocal ensemble, conceived by Navatman founder Sahi Sambamoorthy. Roopa was an inaugural 2013 fellow of IndianRaga and is a frequent instructor for the IndianRaga Labs program. Roopa received her Bachelors degree in Biology and Masters degree in Cognitive Science from Stanford University. She is based in New York City, where she enjoys a mission-driven career in public health policy while pursuing her artistic passions with equal vigor.
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Preetha Raghu
- Music
- Preetha Raghu is a musician with Navatman Music Collective
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Vlada Tomova
- Music
- Honoring tradition while embracing the present, Vlada Tomova?s Balkan Tales aims for the heart with earthy sophistication. Called a ?Bulgarian vocal sorceress? and "one of the most exciting voices in the New York global music scene", Brooklyn's exquisite Bulgarian songstress carries haunting, otherworldly energy in her voice. Featuring some of New York?s finest instrumentalists, Balkan Tales brings modern soul to the Gypsy Balkan diaspora. Reaching far and wide for its tales, the group?s repertoire stretches from Tomova?s native Bulgaria to the rest of the Balkans to the Middle East, with flavors of India and Sephardic Spain, recalling Bulgaria?s cultural origins shaped by ancient migrations. Music critics have likened Tomova?s delicate moans and descant runs to those of Flora Purim. Her 21st century take on the music of her homeland channels the joy that helps keep all great folk traditions alive. The international ensemble brings an array of textures and moods, blending fiery vocals, mournful taqasims, driving percussion, and colorful harmonic treatments, mixing old world flavor with the zest of a modern metropolis. Balkan Tales, the ensemble's full-length album, was released in October 2009/2011 on Bulgarian label Kuker Music. Balkan Tales was released on vinyl in 2014, featuring 2 previously unreleased tracks. Additionally, the Bulgarian-born, New York-based Tomova founded New York?s first Bulgarian Women?s Choir, Yasna Voices, and is presently leading her Bulgarian Voices Trio, which performs both within Balkan Tales extended format shows, and full length a cappella concerts, showcasing village songs and arrangements in the style of The Mystery of the Bulgarian Voices choir. Tomova collaborates on interdisciplinary projects, and is a guest vocalist in demand in the world music, film, and theatre communities. Her work with the Balkan Beat Box continues to receive international acclaim. Her voice is featured on National Geographic's touring exhibit King Tut, and was heard in the sound installation Echoes from the Mountains at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Italy. Vlada recently created a new program, Songs of the Spice Road, which was commissioned by and premiered at Lincoln Center in New York. She has collaborated with Bulgarian kaval virtuoso Theodosii Spassov and innovative American sitarist Chris Rael for a series of concerts in the USA, and joined forces with Italian producers Analog People in a Digital World for a new dance track. Tomova collaborated as well with Bulgarian folk dance ensembles Bosilek and Gorana Dance for a show at Brooklyn Botanic Garden's 20th Chile Pepper Fiesta, and was invited to open the second season of Live@365: World Music Series at CUNY Graduate Series, together with Haitian song legend Emeline Michel, and Native American songstress Martha Redbone. Vlada is featured on Chris Rael's last album recording, The Lazarus Rose, a collection of old Sephardic songs, arranged by Rael for a world music orchestra. The album was released in late 2013, and on vinyl in 2014. Vlada's appearances include Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival (New York), Carnegie?s Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall (New York), Symphony Space (New York), David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center (New York), the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Chicago World Music Festival, Cumbre Tajin (Veracruz, Mexico), Toronto's Small World Festival, New York Summer Stage, among others. Situated in the heart of the Balkans, Bulgaria?s distinct cultural and folkloric heritage has evolved at the crossroads between East and West for more than 13 centuries. Having joined the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria has entered a new and exciting era, with music serving as one of its most captivating ambassadors.
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Shelley Thomas
- Music
- Shelley is a professional vocalist, oudist, voice coach, percussionist, and composer specializing in Eastern European and Arabic styles. She sings in numerous languages with disarming fluidity, authenticity and emotion, syncretizing methods absorbed from different world musics which she has studied extensively. She has taught workshops, recorded, performed and toured nationally and internationally with notable world music artists including Yo-Yo Mas Silk Road Ensemble, The Knights, Kronos Quartet, Simon Shaheen, Hassan Hakmoun, the New York Arabic Orchestra, Bulgarian Voices Trio, Brooklyn Raga Massive, Yael Deckelbaum and the Mothers, Adam Maalouf, Innov Gnawa, Maysa Karaa, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and Black Sea Hotel. She has performed at prestigious venues and festivals such as the Moscow Conservatory, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Massachussetts Institute of Technology, Pioneer Works, National Sawdust, St. Anns Warehouse, Vancouver Island Music Festival, and Abu Dhabi Festival at Emirates Palace. Current highlights include feature on Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensembles 2017 GRAMMY-Winning album, Sing Me Home, with vocal trio Black Sea Hotel (Best World Music Album); soundscape vocals for Panorama Festivals 360 ARK Dome; Yale Repertory Theaters 2017 Skin For Skin Workshop; and vocals for producer MJ Dorians new music video Devil Wood. Recent performances include BRIC, Regis College, Le Poisson Rouge, Jalopy Music Theater, SoFar Sounds, Astoria International Cultural Fest, Alwan for the Arts, Havana World Music Festival, MusikFest Pennsylvania, NY Sephardic Music Festival, Rural Route Film Festival at Brooklyn Grange, Prototype Festivals Secondary Dominance at HERE Arts Center, the Arabic Music Retreat Fundraiser Gala at Harvard Club NYC, Chicagos Old Town School of Folk Music, Torontos Small World Music Center, and Fete de la Musique, Beirut with West African percussion ensemble Jebebara. Shelley released her solo debut a cappella album of Bulgarian songs, titled Joy, in Spring 2016. A graduate of California Institute of the Arts, she has worked as Executive Director with the One World Brooklyn Kids Chorus, and attended Artist Residencies at Canadas BANFF Centre (Persian & Eastern Traditions Program) and Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Vermont. She has also been a recipient of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Traditional Arts Development Grant.
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Neel Murgai
- Music
- Neel Murgai is a multi-instrumental performer, composer and teacher from New York City. He is a graduate of Goddard College's MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program. His life long journey into the depth and beauty of sitar and Indian classical music began with Ravindra Goswami in Banaras, 20 years ago. For the past 14 years Neel has studied with his guru and mentor, Pundit Krishna Bhatt. His interest in music began at a young age with trombone and guitar. While obtaining a degree in Civil Engineering, Neel worked as a radio DJ, hosting an international music program. This fostered in him an abiding interest in music from around the world. He went on to live in India, immersing himself in the music and culture of his parents homeland. Upon returning to the U.S. Neel began a career in music. In addition to sitar, he has since learned to play daf (Persian frame drum) with Soheil Zolfonun and kanjira with V. Nagarajan in Chennai. He has studied overtone singing with the Buriyat performance group Uragsha and Harmonic Choir member, Timothy Hill. Western composition, Neel studied with Edgar Grana.
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Charles Burnham
- Music
- The passion and fire of Charles Burnhams violin has graced the work of many: Cassandra Wilson, James Blood Ulmer, Steven Bernstein, Susie Ibarra, Peter Apfelbaum, Henry Threadgill, String Trio of New York, Ted Daniel, Medeski, Martin & Wood, and many, many others. But armed with a whole new book of originals and a stellar new band, Burnhams step into the spotlight has long been coming. Wordly and other-worldly sounds can be heard from Burnhams musical and personal journeys as his soulful voice and violin lead you down some open roads and dark alleys, and bring you to some spots you may not have known even exist.
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Adam Rudolph
- Music
- Adam Rudolph is a composer, improviser, and percussionist actively involved in modern music. For the past four decades Rudolph has performed extensively in concert throughout North & South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Rudolph has been hailed as "a pioneer in world music" by the New York Times and "a master percussionist" by Musician Magazine. He has released over 25 recordings under his own name, featuring his compositions and percussion work. Rudolph composes for his ensembles Adam Rudolph's Moving Pictures, the Hu Vibrational percussion group, and Go: Organic Orchestra, an 18 to 54 piece ensemble for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide utilizing the Go: Organic Orchestra concept. In 1995 Rudolph premiered his opera The Dreamer, based on the text of Friedreich Nietzsche's "The Birth of Tragedy."
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Swaminathan Selvaganesh
- Music
- Swaminathan takes forward his father Selva Ganeshs efforts in making the diminutive kanjira be heard across the globe through his cross-genre collaborations. Under his grandfathers guidance and training, he brings out the mysticism of bhakti music and the traditional charm of classical notes through the kanjira beats.
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David Ellenbogen
- Music
- David Ellenbogen has studied and performed music in over a dozen countries including India, Mali, Cuba, Brazil and has expanded the audience for world music through his radio broadcasts on WKCR, his podcast, NYC Radio Live and ambitious live productions like the Ragas Live Festival, a 24 hour, 60 musician, experience held at the Rubin Museum of Art and Pioneer Works. David co-founded the Acoustic Mandala Project, which explores the potential of raga based ambient music for yoga and meditation and has since led many Sound and Yoga retreats from upstate NY to Costa Rica. Davids work as a guitarist and artist director of Brooklyn Raga Massive has led to praise in the New York Times for Preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit and the Wall Street Journal for Expanding the notion of what ragathe immersive, epic form of Indian musiccan mean. He hopes to continue serving the music and is proud that many of his guitar students are now actively performing.
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Michel Gentile
- Music
- Flutist and composer Michel Gentile is an active member of the New York jazz scene. He received his Master of Music degree with distinction from the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Jimmy Giuffre, Dave Holland, Geri Allen, Mick Goodrick, and George Garzone. Michel has appeared on record with Ray Charles, Anthony Braxton, Dave Kikoski, Bobby Previte, Jane Ira Bloom, Michael Formanek, and Adam Rudolph. He has performed with Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Fred Hersch, Kurt Rosenwinkle, Joseph Jarman, Yusef Lateef, and many others. He has been teaching for over 30 years and his teaching portfolio includes Queens College, New England Conservatory, Wellesley College and Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. Michel has taught privately, in the classroom, in workshops, and lead master classes. He takes special pride in his work in the public schools and with preschoolers with special needs at the Helen Keller School for the Visually Impaired. Michel has studied composition with George Russell, John Heiss, Muhal Richard Abrams and is very honoured to be currently studying with Donna Doyle. Michel has composed for everything from solo instruments to a quintet with flute and string quartet and a triple concerto for flute, piano and drums with chamber. He has composed for radio, television and film media. His compositions have been featured on "Seize the Moment" 1994, "Trapeze Contortionist" 2001 "Red Balloon" 2005, Flesh and Steel" 2008 and "Rock, Paper, Scissors" 2011 by Gentile-Romano. His most recent release with the collaborative ensemble WORKS has received rave reviews. Michel has worked extensively with dance, theater, and film, most notably with the remarkable ensemble" Strike Anywhere", and has been featured on national radio and television throughout North America and Europe. Michel has been running the non-profit organization Connection Works with Rob Garcia and Daniel Kelly for the last seven years. Connection Works' acclaimed concert series, Brooklyn Jazz Wide Open, has consistently received New York Times critic's picks. CW has presented an outstanding array of jazz musicians, including jazz legends Dave Liebman, Joe Lovano, Billy Hart, John Abercrombie, Joseph Jarman and Cecil McBee.
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Sylvain Leroux
- Music
- Sylvain Leroux was born in Montral in the eventful year of 1956. He studied classical music at Vincent d'Indy School of Music and at the University of Montreal. He attended the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY where he was exposed to World music, participating in workshops led by world class artists. In Montral, he worked with Yaya Diallo in performances and recording of the LP "Nangap" and founded and led the group Mysterioso, dedicated to the music of jazzman Thelonious Monk and performed at the Montral International Jazz Festival (1983). Concurrently, he was a member of Bantamba a group that broke new ground in the meeting of traditional and modern African music. In New York since then, he has been free lancing for many groups and dance companies in the Afro-Brazilian, African and African-American fields. In 1995, he took a trip to Conakry, Guinea (West Africa) to study the tambin, the peculiar flute of the Fulani people. He since has become one of the rare outsiders to master this astonishing instrument. He has recorded with: Takadja on the Juno nominated album "Diye"; Nego Gato; Naby Camara; Mohamed Diaby; Magbana; Martino Atangana; Abdoulaye Diabate; Lucia Hwong; Emeline Michel; and on the 2005 World music masterpiece BataMbira by Michael Spiro and Michael Williams. He also leads the Fula Flute Ensemble.
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Ze Luis
- Music
- Jos Luis Segneri Oliveira is a Brazilian composer, saxophonist, flutist, producer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist. Oliveira became famous in the 1980s performing and recording with Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tania Maria and Cazuza
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Steve Gorn
- Music
- Steve Gorn, whose flute is featured on the 2011 Grammy winning recording, Miho Journey to the Mountain, with the Paul Winter Consort, and the Academy Award winning Documentary film, Born into Brothels, has performed Indian Classical Music and new American Music on the bansuri bamboo flute, soprano saxophone and clarinet in concerts and festivals throughout the world. He is also featured on Grammy nominated cds: Paul Simon, You are the One, Angelique Kidjos, Oyo, Silvia Nakkach/David Darling, Long & Longing, and Paul Avggerinos, Bhakti. His unique blend of Indian music and contemporary world music can be heard on recordings with Paul Simon, Glen Velez, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Winter, Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Tony Levin, Adam Rudolph, Layne Redmond, Richie Havens, Alessandra Belloni, Badal Roy, Simon Shaheen, Deepak Chopra, Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, and numerous Indian musicians. His numerous recordings include Luminous Ragas, the landmark Indian-Jazz fusion recording, Asian Journal, Pranam a jugalbandi with Barun Kumar Pal playing hansaveena, and Samir Chatterjee, tabla. His latest recordings are Rasika, with tabla by Samir Chatterjee, and Illumination, with Nepali flutist, Manose. In addition to the landmark world music recording, Asian Journal, with Nana Vasconcelos and Badal Roy, he recorded Wishing Well with Richie Havens, and in August, 2013, he performed at Back to the Garden: A Day of Song and Remembrance Honoring Richie Havens, at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival.
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Sean Sonderegger
- Music
- (Sonderegger is) a deep thinker and a laudable technicianit's quite evident that (he) possesses the wherewithal to go just about anywhere he pleases within a far-reaching progressive jazz radius.-Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz "Sondereggers arrangements are a mix of control and freedom: favoring the former when setting the song, often with intricate counterplay among the vocal line and horn players; favoring the latter in brief intervals where the artists are given free rein to co-improvise...Sondereggers playing style...is both logical and loose, grounded yet floating."-Tom Greenland, New York City Jazz Record A seriously accomplished saxophonist whose playing is equal parts fluid, lyrical, commanding, and muscular, Sondereggers music exemplifies the sort of truly varied and genuinely eclectic palette that often characterizes that of younger players who have freed themselves of the confines of genre and style while maintaining the highest in quality and integrity.-Alex Cline
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Sara Schoenbeck
- Music
- Sara Schoenbeck is a bassoonist who dedicates herself to expanding the sound and role of the bassoon in the worlds of classical, contemporary notated and improvised music. The Wire magazine places her in the "tiny club of bassoon pioneers" at work in contemporary music today and the New York Times has called her performances "galvanizing" and "riveting, mixing textural experiments with a big, confident sound. Originally from California, Sara spent her time on the west coast freelancing in various orchestral bassoon sections such as Santa Barbara Symphony, California Symphony, Redlands, Mancini Orchestra, the Dakah Hip Hop Orchestra and touring as a member of creative music ensembles Gravitas Quartet with Wayne Horvitz, Ron Miles and Peggy Lee, Anthony Braxtons 12+1(tet) and Vinny Golias Large Ensemble. Sara also recorded for various sound and film projects including the Matrix 2 and 3, Dahmer and Spanglish.
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Julianne Carney-Chung
- Music
- Julianne Carney is a classically trained, improvising violinist who finds intersections between classical, jazz, and electro-acoustic noise improv. Seeking a global musical language, everyday sounds, sine waves, beats, resonant drones, justly tuned cellos or unjustly tuned banjos, and glimmers of hip hop, gypsy, indian, arabic, and appalachian oldtime find their way into her musical biosphere. A Music Resident at the OMI International Arts Center in 2008, Julianne has also performed with Jay Z at Radio City Music Hall and at Royal Albert Hall, recorded with Sufjan Stevens for his album Illinois, and has appeared onstage with Beyonce, Jenny Scheinman, Bill Frisell, Adam Matta (beatbox) & My Brightest Diamond. She has performed at Royal Albert Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Tonic, The Stone, Roulette, Knitting Factory, NYC New Museum, Apollo Theater, Joe's Pub, and Cornell University's Schwartz Center. Julianne currently performs with Eco-Music Big Band, New Muse 4tet with Gwen Laster, Melanie Dyer, and Tomas Ulrich, with Anthony Braxtons Tri-Centric Orchestra led by Taylor Ho Bynum, and with Adam Rudolphs Go: Organic Orchestra. Julianne is Director of the Suzuki Division at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, where she teaches violin. She completed Suzuki Teacher Training (vol. 1-8) at the School for Strings with Louise Behrend, Allen Lieb, and Ekaterina Gerson, as well as courses with Ronda Cole and others listed on her Suzuki Association profile. Past teaching positions include the Preparatory Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, Harlem Childrens Zone Promise Academy, and Ecole Trinite in Leogane, Haiti. Julianne was a 2001-02 recipient of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, a grant for a year of independent travel and study, which she used to study the Modern legacies of violin pedagogy traditions in Berlin, Vienna, Salzburg, Paris". She completed her Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance, Summa Cum Laude, at Lawrence University, in Appleton, WI. A Suzuki kid, Julianne grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, and was a student of Ellen Luby for many years within the Center for Creative Studies/Institute of Music and Dance Suzuki program led by Mark Mutter. She had the absolute privilege to work with Paul Kantor during her final year of high school, and to attend Interlochen Arts Camp and Meadowmount School of Music for several summers each. At Lawrence, Julianne worked with Allison Edberg and Georgios Demertzis, a student of Max Rostal, followed by additional studies with Elizabeth Larson, who worked closely with Yehudi Menhuin towards the end of his life.
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Sana Nagano
- Music
- Sana Nagano is the kind of improviser that recalls the very best of avant-jazz-rock violin, resurrecting the spirit of Billy Bang, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and the full breadth of modernism all in one. Naganos acoustic violin is clean, cutting, sinewy, regal, magical. Yet nothing seems to please her more than ripping into a lightning bolt like, electric sounding improvisation using her pedals intermittently. This die-hard improviser grew from many years of formal classical and jazz training, all put to excellent use. She clearly musses the conservatory up with the intentional/unintentional chaos and musical jokes in the best imaginable way. Nagano aims to approach to music organically and boundlessly. Her violin playing has attracted critical acclaim since her album, Inside the Rainbow, was released in 2014. "There is something magical here, an unforced sublime unfolding like flowers reaching for the sun." Bruce Gallanter (The Downtown Music Gallery) expresses the sentiment. Being an active band leader and composer, Some of Naganos latest projects have been her own quintet Smashing Humans, harsh-noise/guitar-violin duo Silent Noodles (Tristan Pollack), avant-pop/experimental strings-vocal duo Peach and Tomato (Leonor Falcon). Nagano has been a mainstay of free jazz giant Karl Bergers Improvisers Orchestra and world-reknowned, innovative percussionist Adam Rudolph's Go: Organic Orchestra. Nagano also worked with Joseph Jarman, Yusuf Lateef, William Parker, Daniel Carter, Oliver Lake, Glen Velez, Loire (Lori Cotler), Billy Martin, Kenny Wessel, Peter Apfelbaum, Steven Bernstein, Dave Fiuczynski, John Ehlis, Harvey Valdes, Yuma Uesaka, Brittany Anjou, Yasuno Katsuki, Keisuke Matsuno, Paolo Cantarella, Rocco John Iacovone, Will Mason, Dan Stein, Showji Masaharu, Akihiro Honma, Michiru Inoue, Kenya Kawaguchi, Stephen Elkins, Tyler Luppi, Pawel Klin, Rebecca Aparicio, Sam Day Harmet, Robert Boston, Glen Fittin, Aaron Edgecomb, Ken Filiano, Max Jaffe, Kevin Shea and others. In 2016 she played for contemporary dancer/choreographer Jodi Melnicks residency at the Guggenheim Museum. Nagano has toured in various cities in the U.S., Japan and Poland. She regularly performs in some of the finest venues in NYC, including Carnegie Hall, Kaufman Music Center, Le Poison Rouge, St.Peters Church, the Guggenheim Museum, the Rubin Art Museum, the Stone, Shapeshifter Lab and Roulette, the Rockwood Music Hall.
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Sarah Bernstein
- Music
- SARAH BERNSTEIN is a New York-based composer and violinist whose work incorporates vocals, electronics, improvisation and original text. She is known for her fiery multidisciplinary performances, and has garnered international acclaim for her distinctive recordings. She leads the avant-jazz Sarah Bernstein Quartet, improvising strings Frikativ Quartet, and synth-pop trio Day So Far. Her minimalist/poetry duo Unearthish celebrates the release of their second album: Crazy Lights Shining (Phase Frame). Recent release Kid Millions & Sarah Bernstein Tense Life (577 Records) juxtaposes her heavily processed violin and voice with explosive drums. Nominated "Rising Star" in the DownBeat Critics Poll for the past four years, Bernstein is a recognized innovator in forward-thinking jazz. Her poetry has been published by Red Ceilings Press and Sensitive Skin Magazine. She is originally from San Francisco, CA.
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Richard Carr
- Music
- Richard Carr is a violinist, composer and music educator who lives in Rosendale, New York (a little under 2 hrs. north of New York City). He holds a Doctorate in music education from Columbia University. He has recorded numerous albums under his own name and with artists such as Bill Laswell, Fred Frith, Bootsy Collins, Sly & Robbie, The Swans, Milt Hinton, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Pizzarelli Jr., Alan Dawson, Howard Alden, and Karl Berger. He has performed with James Williams, Kenny Davern, Doc Cheatam, Jay McShann, Jamal Nasser, Mike Nord, Georg Hofmann, Steve Gorn, and John McDermott. He has regularly toured the US, Europe, Japan, and Mexico over the past twenty years. He is a former radio host on WDST in Woodstock, NY. In the 1980s he lived in Boston and played sectional violin with the Boston Philharmonic. He currently teaches strings in the Poughkeepsie City School District.
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Stephanie Griffin
- Music
- Stephanie Griffin is an innovative violist and composer with a unique and eclectic musical vision. Born in Canada and based in New York City, her musical adventures have taken her to Indonesia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, England, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Mexico and Mongolia. From large concert halls to the sand dunes of the Gobi desert, she has performed as a soloist and chamber musician in classical, contemporary and improvisational contexts. As a soloist, she has worked closely with numerous composers, among them Salvatore Sciarrino; Tristan Murail; Tony Prabowo; Kee Yong Chong; Ursula Mamlok; Matthew Greenbaum; and Arthur Kampela. A founding member of the Momenta Quartet, she has given over 200 chamber concerts at such esteemed venues as the Library of Congress and the National Gallery in Washington, DC and led residencies at major American institutes of higher education, among them Cornell and New York Universities and the Eastman School of Music. Ms. Griffin performs regularly with the New York contemporary music institution, Continuum, now in its 50th year, and has given American premieres of major works by leading European composers, among them Georg Friedrich Haas and Michael Jarrell, as a member of the Argento Chamber Ensemble. From 1998 through 2002, she was Executive Director of the contemporary music series at Galapagos Art and Performance Space. As a composer, Stephanie is the recipient of the prestigious 2017 Emerging Composer and Sound Artist Fellowship from the Jerome Foundation, and the 2016 composition fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. As an improviser, Stephanie was a 2014 fellow at Music Omi, and is a member of Carl Maguires Floriculture, Gordon Beefermans Other Life Forms, Hans Tammens Third Eye Orchestra, Adam Rudolphs Go: Organic Orchestra and the composer/improviser collective the Brooklyn Infinity Orchestra. She worked closely with the late Butch Morris from 2001 until shortly before his death in 2013, and was the only non-Indonesian member of Tony Prabowos New Jakarta Ensemble, creating avant-garde compositions alongside traditional musicians from Sumatra. Ms. Griffin is now in her twelfth year as principal violist of the Princeton Symphony, and teaches viola at Brooklyn and Hunter Colleges. She studied viola with William Gordon in Vancouver, Paul DeClerck in Brussels and Wayne Brooks at Rice University in Houston, and holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Juilliard Quartet violist Samuel Rhodes. Stephanies varied viola sounds can be heard on a diverse array of classical, new music, jazz and world music labels, among them Tzadik, Innova, Naxos, Aeon, Centaur, Aksara, Firehouse 12, and New World, Albany, and Aeon records.
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Gwen Laste
- Music
- GWEN LASTER (violinist/composer) is a native Detroiter whose creative voice is heavily informed by the Motor City's burnin urban music culture. She earned both Bachelor and Master degrees from University of Michigan School of Music. She began her studies in improvisation in high school with the educator Anderson White, whose orchestral rehearsals included electric violins, amplifiers and David Baker string arrangements. She has received major performance, composition and teaching awards from the NEA, ASCAP, Lila Wallace, and a first place, $10,000 award from Cognac Hennessey Jazz. Shes the visionary founder of the Creative Improvisers Orchestra (CIO) the first non-traditional intuitive music education program at Interlochen Summer Institute, the Sphinx Performance and Preparatory Academy, and the Eastman School of Music. CIO reaches and teaches young musicians with the greatest needs and the fewest resources. She is a member of the Sphinx Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic and Go: Organic Orchestra. Gwen's music publications are available at CD Baby, iTunes and other digital media sources. Her discography as a leader includes Sneak Preview and I Hear You Smiling.
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Leco Reis
- Music
- Leco Reis is an American bassist
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Kenny Wessel
- Music
- Ken Wessel is a versatile, sensitive and soulful guitarist and composer. A vital and personal voice on the jazz guitar, Wessel has been involved in projects playing jazz, ranging from straight-ahead to free music. Ken is also very interested in creating and investigating points of intersection between jazz and Indian music and has performed and recorded with musicians from various parts of the globe. He has performed in 27 countries at major jazz festivals, concert halls and in radio and television appearances. Wessel worked with revolutionary jazz artist Ornette Coleman for over 12 years (1988-2000), touring the world as a member of Prime Time, Ornettes groundbreaking ensemble. Ken can be heard on Ornette Colemans critically acclaimed Polygram/Verve CD, Tone Dialing. Performing Skies of America, Ornette Colemans seminal work for symphony orchestra and jazz ensemble, Ken has appeared with Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic and Londons Philharmonia Orchestra. Ken can also be heard on Steely Dan frontman, Donald Fagens album, Morph the Cat as a featured guitar soloist. He has worked with artists from different shades of the jazz spectrum, including John Abercrombie, David Liebman, Gloria Lynne, Arthur and Red Prysock, Karl Berger, Steve Gorn, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Drake, Steve Turre and Johnny Hartmann. Ken has a strong interest in world music, particularly with North Indian music, and he has performed with Debashish Bhattacharya, Karaikudi Mani, V.M. Bhatt, Samir Chatterjee and others. Wessel co-leads a trio with jazz tabla master Badal Roy and bassist Stomu Takeishi. Their CD, Daybreak, was included in JAZZIZ magazines Top 10 Critics Picks of 1998. They have performed together extensively throughout North America. In 1995, Ken and Badal toured India and the U.S. with their composition, Testimony, which was commissioned by the Battery Dance Company. As a U.S. Jazz Ambassador, Ken has toured South Asia and South America, visiting India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Bengladesh and Venezuela in 2002-03. He is an active composer (he has received numerous Meet the Composer grants) and his original music has an organic and evocative quality. Wessel recently released Weights & Measures on Nonotes Records, which features Joel Frahm (sax), Brad Jones (bass) and Kenny Wollesen (drums. His earlier trio recording, Jawboning (CIMP), with bassist, Ken Filiano and drummer, Lou Grassi investigates the boundaries between freedom and structure. A dedicated jazz educator, Ken currently teaches at Long Island University (Brooklyn campus) and at CCNY. He has given clinics and Master classes at numerous institutions in the U.S. and overseas, including Yale University, Manhattan School of Music, ISCMS Festival, Istanbul, Turkey, the Jazz Education Network Conference, Atlanta, GA, Mahaidol University in Thailand, the Music Academy in Oslo, Norway, and Columbia University.
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Damon Banks
- Music
- Born and raised in the Bronx, New York, Damon Banks has performed with and / or recorded with some of the entertainment industrys brightest stars, creative artists and innovative musicians. Most of these artists defy category and transcend genre. These artists include: George Benson, Peter Gabriel, Caetano Veloso, Angelique Kidjo, Hassan Hakmoun & Zahar, Chico Hamilton, Hubert Laws, Wadada Leo Smith, Arto Lindsay / Marc Ribot, Loose Ends, The Neville Brothers, Daryl Hall, Phyllis Hyman, Majek Fashek, C.J Chenier, Noel Pointer, Corin Curschellas, George Howard, Bobby Womack, Lillias White, Ronny Jordan, Miki Howard, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, KRS-ONE, Sekou Sundiata, DJ SPOOKY, Karsh Kale, Lawrence Butch Morris, Ntozake Shange, Angela Bofill, Saul Williams, Roxane Butterfly, Eileen Ivers and Adam Rudolph (to name a few)
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Dan Kurfirst
- Music
- Dan Kurfirst is an NYC based percussionist, composer and improviser. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, his music reflects his upbringing amongst people from all different strands of humanity, which sparked his interest in music from all corners of the world. He incorporates aspects of Middle Eastern, West African and Indian music, while being clearly rooted in the jazz and rock traditions he grew up with. He began traveling to Istanbul in 2009 to study music, Sufism and the intersection between the two. He has studied under master drummers Shane Shanahan, Nasheet Waits, and Tariq Snare, in addition to an immersive period of study with Hakan Kaya and other local musicians in Istanbul, Turkey. Dan currently leads his Subtle Realms trio featuring Ben Cohen and Will McEvoy in and around New York City. He regularly performs with top musicians in the world-jazz scene including Tomchess, Matt Darriau, Brandon Terzic and Kane Mathis.
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Rogerio Boccato
- Music
- Leading his own group, Rogerio arrives at the release of his debut recording as a leader No Old Rain (coming out May 25th on Red Piano Records). With his quartet, Roge?rio breaks out of the traditional jazz mold, collectively weaving form and structure out of the disparate threads of each members creative input, using motifs from each song as springboards for spontaneous group compositions. The result of this open- eared deconstruction is a reverent, impressionistic vision of each song. The album is a warmly-colored Brazilian Rorschach test viewed through a much-loved second-hand kaleidoscope. No Old Rain focuses on gems of Brazilian music excavated from the source written by four of the greatest composers of the post-Bossa Nova generation, who took Brazilian music into new directions: Toninho Horta, Milton Nascimento, Egberto Gismonti and Edu Lobo. Just as their music could have only come from Brazil in the late 20th century, No Old Rain is the seemingly inevitable result of Roge?rio Boccatos 13 years in New York.
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Joe Hertenstein
- Music
- Joe Hertenstein was raised in Germany as the son of a Black Forest lumber jack and boar hunter, spending his childhood carving woods and horns into drumsticks and assembling his first drum set of pots 'n' pans 'n' boar heads on the back of a dis-functioned pick-up truck that served as his childhood-refuge. By age 16 he had hit the timpani on all nine Beethoven symphonies and grew bored of all the 'tacet'. Looking for more involvement, making his ways through cover-, punk- and doom-core bands, at 19 a Charlie Parker bootleg cassette left him so confused, that he dropped everything to study freedom and ultimate creativity in music. His mission remains to learn from and explore music with (m)any master musician(s), some of which he calls friends and colleagues by now. He hopes to encourage and experience the dialogue with all cultures through music, through the abstract, through friendship and inspiration. Joe is a thalassophile and lives in Brooklyn, NY
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Partha Bose
- Music
- Shri Partha Bose is a widely acknowledged Sitar player and a much respected artiste in the arena of comtemporary Hindustani Classical Music. Born on January 21,1962, Partha was initiated to the Sitar at the age of six and thereafter underwent intensive training in the tradition of Guru-Shishya parampara under the tutelage of Pandit Monoj Shankar of the famous Maihar Gharana. Partha has received overwhelming appreciation from connoisseurs and critics of Hindustani classical music in India and abroad over two decades now.
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Aditya Narayan Banerjee
- Music
- Aditya is a Masters in Instrumental Music (Percussion) from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata. He was born in a musical family. His father Late G.C.Banerjee and sister both are sarod players. His uncle Late Sri B.B.Banerjee was a senior most disciple of Pandit Ravishankarji and A graded musician of AIR, New Delhi. Aditya turned to tabla an early age of five when he started his training under guidance of Sri Shivshankar Karmakar, a prominent disciple of Late Ustad Karamatullah Khan of Farukhabad Gharana. Since 1990 he has been under able guidance of the great tabla maestro Pandit Swapan Choudhuri, a great Exponent of Lucknow Gharana. Aditya is Sangeet Prabhakar from Prayag Sangeet Samiti, Allahabad and M. Music from Trilokya Sangeet Parishad, Kolkata. He also completed a music appreciation course from West Bengal State Academy & is also a computer hardware and software engineer. He was the faculty member of Pandit Jasraj school of Music Foundation, Tampa (Florida), USA. He also has to his credit execution of several music workshop under the able guidance of Padmavibhusan Pandit Jasrajji. Aditya led a Tabla Workshop for Visually Impaired children at LaVoy Exceptional Center in Tampa, FL, USA. He did a lecture demonstration at Renaissance Center For the non Indian audience organized by projectahimsa. Patel Foundation for Global Understanding & Renaissance Center for the Arts in Tampa. Aditya got Rastrya Gaurav Award the year 2007 from India. 7th Nov07 Aditya performed in WHITE HOUSE with Pandita Tripti Mukherjee for occasion of Diwali. This year(2008) Aditya got the Award "Acharya-Var" from "Pandit Jasraj Institute for music research, artistry & appreciatio" by the hand of "Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj ji" July '08. Visited Cape town, South Africa, in Dec 99 along with Pandit Jasrajji in the Parliament of World Religion, where Ex- President of SA, Nelson Mandela, Dalai Lama & many other dignitaries were present. Visited U.K. in 2002 for few months as a performer at England, Welse, few parts of Scottland, in which the most prestigious concert at Harry Ford, the World Music Festival of Royal Family of Great Britain. Aditya got "TAAL MANI" award from "Sikshayatan Cultural Center" New York Sep '08. Aditya accompanied Padmavibhusan Dr. Balmuralikrishna at Cochin, Dec 2009.
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Rajeswari Satish
- Music
- Rajeswari Satish is a South Indian Carnatic vocalist. Introduced to music by her mother Smt. Vijayam Ranganathan, Rajeswari began her formal musical education with Sri. M. A. Venugopal at the age of seven. She continued advanced studies with Sangeetakalacharya Sri C.S. Krishna Iyer and later with Padmabhushan Sri. P. S. Narayanaswamy. Rajeswari has been performing concerts since 1985 and has been featured in several prestigious festivals in India, USA and the U.K. In her teaching career that began in 1992, Rajeswari has trained several vocalists from young beginners to full-fledged concert performers. Rajeswari's performance approach remains rooted in tradition, while she engages in creative ways with students and fellow artists. A new chapter in her musical journey, Rajeswari has begun her doctoral studies in Ethnomusicology at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
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Bala Skandan
- Music
- Bala Skandan is a performer, educator and composer of Carnatic music. He performs both on the Mridangam (double-headed drum) and violin (Carnatic style). He also highlights the beauty of Kanjira (frame drum) and konnakkol (vocal rhythm) in his compositions as well as in performances. He is the lead artist and composer of Akshara Music Ensemble, a NY based Indian-classical music inspired band. Bala Skandan lives in Manhattan and teaches actively. Bala Skandan started his music training at the age of 6 in both Mridangam and Violin; He received training from the legends of Carnatic music Guru Karaikudi Mani on Mridangam and Vidushi T Rukmini on Violin. Noted for his superb musical accompaniment by the NY Times, Bala Skandan has accompanied established international musicians and dancers and has performed in prestigious venues in Chennai, Europe and North America throughout his musical career. He is the lead musician and composer for Akshara, an Indian percussion ensemble based in NY. In 2007/08 Balaskandan had the distinction of teaching and conducting the first Carnatic student recital at the prestigious Juilliard School of music.
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Andrew Shantz
- Music
- Andrew Shantz is a keyboardist, vocalist, composer and educator with a foundation in jazz and a penchant for musical exploration. In 2003 he completed a BM in Jazz Piano Performance at William Paterson University which has been complimented by studies of composition and improvisation with the late legendary trumpeter Clark Terry as well as pianist Jason Moran and trumpeter Ralph Alessi. Since 2008 Andrew has been immersed in the world of Hindustani - North Indian - classical music. He studies classical vocal (khayal) under Pt. Sanjoy Banerjee of Kirana Gharana. He was initiated into Hindustani vocal music in Kolkata, India by his Guruma Smt. Madhumita Saha and receives special guidance and training from tabla maestro Pt. Samar Saha. In 2016 Andrew founded the fusion group Sangha to bring together the two primary musical streams in his life: jazz and Hindustani classical. Sangha illuminates both the shared characteristics and divergent elements of these forms, and addresses larger questions of the effect of music and its role in our lives beyond reflecting our culture back to us. In 2012 Andrew founded Vanguard Music Studio with partners Anna Evangelista and Attila Mozsolits. VMS offers first rate musical instruction in private lessons, group classes and ensembles and in special workshops and performances. It is a dynamic musical community that inspires creativity and dedication in their students.
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Roshni Samlal
- Music
- Roshni Samlal (tabla) is a New Yorkbased tabla player who hails from the West Indies, where she was initiated into the ancient tradition of Indian classical music by her vocalist father. She has continued her tutelage in the Benares style of tabla playing under Shri Tapan Modak and is currently a student of the epic Farukhbad exponent Pt. Anindo Chatterjee. While her passion is Indian classical tabla, she has played folk, jazz, and other genres. Samlal has performed at notable local venues such as Pianos, The Knitting Factory, The Bitter End, The Shrine, and Tea Lounge.
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Ehren Hanson
- Music
- Ehren Hanson began learning tabla at age 15 under Misha Masud in New York City. In 2000, he became a disciple of Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. Ehren went on to teach rhythm as an assistant professor at Bard College in 2002, and in 2005 he received the Senior Performing Arts Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies. He has accompanied great musicians including Pandit Debi Prasad Chatterjee, Pandit Subrata Roy Chaudhuri and Steve Gorn. Ehren is the director of the Anindo Chatterjee School of Tabla in Brooklyn, NY, and is an active performer and teacher.
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Steve Gorn
- Music
- Steve Gorn, whose flute is featured on the 2011 Grammy winning recording, Miho Journey to the Mountain, with the Paul Winter Consort, and the Academy Award winning Documentary film, Born into Brothels, has performed Indian Classical Music and new American Music on the bansuri bamboo flute, soprano saxophone and clarinet in concerts and festivals throughout the world. He is also featured on Grammy nominated cds: Paul Simon, You are the One, Angelique Kidjos, Oyo, Silvia Nakkach/David Darling, Long & Longing, and Paul Avggerinos, Bhakti. His unique blend of Indian music and contemporary world music can be heard on recordings with Paul Simon, Glen Velez, Jack DeJohnette, Paul Winter, Krishna Das, Jai Uttal, Tony Levin, Adam Rudolph, Layne Redmond, Richie Havens, Alessandra Belloni, Badal Roy, Simon Shaheen, Deepak Chopra, Robert Bly, Coleman Barks, and numerous Indian musicians. His numerous recordings include Luminous Ragas, the landmark Indian-Jazz fusion recording, Asian Journal, Pranam a jugalbandi with Barun Kumar Pal playing hansaveena, and Samir Chatterjee, tabla. His latest recordings are Rasika, with tabla by Samir Chatterjee, and Illumination, with Nepali flutist, Manose. In addition to the landmark world music recording, Asian Journal, with Nana Vasconcelos and Badal Roy, he recorded Wishing Well with Richie Havens, and in August, 2013, he performed at Back to the Garden: A Day of Song and Remembrance Honoring Richie Havens, at the site of the original 1969 Woodstock Festival.
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Eric Fraser
- Music
- Having learned intensively and extensively in Kolkata, India, for over 15 years, Eric Fraser is a senior disciple of the legendary bansuri flute artist Pandit Gopal Roy, one of the only masters of the original "gayaki-ang" or vocal style of bansuri flute. Eric's bansuri playing rings with authenticity and pure Indian tone, carrying a distinct and masterful sound quite original in its quality. The lineage of classical bansuri pioneer Pannalal Ghosh and PT. Gour Goswami, is delightfully alive in this unique style from Kolkata. Eric Fraser is also a multi-instrumentalist, educator, composer, and music therapist (MA, MT-BC). Bridging his experience as a composer and songwriter, Eric's orientation to Indian classical music serves as an inspiration for melody, and a creative tool for improvisation in original styles of an American indie songwriting; incorporating singing, human beat boxing, guitar, keyboard, electronics and looping. Eric is currenlty a full time professor of music therapy at SUNY, New Paltz, and 2010 Fulbright senior research scholar for Indian classical music. He is also a co-founder of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, and has toured, recorded, performed and collaborated with a great list of artists including Pandit Krishna Bhatt, Pandit Ramesh Mishra, Steve Gorn, Arturo O'farrell and Bollywood composer A.R Rahman at Carnegie Hall and many more, including radio performances (NPR morning edition and WKCR New York).
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Aaron Shragge
- Music
- Aaron Shragge has performed with Daniel Carter, Ben Monder, Dave Douglas, William Parker, Jon Gibson, The Sam Roberts Band, Akim Funk Buddha, and Medeski Martin and Wood's Billy Martin at such venues as Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and The Blue Note. Aaron is an active in the NYC improvised/creative music scene serving on the board of Festival of New Trumpet Music NY/Canada. Aaron's unique instrument the Dragon Mouth Trumpet was designed to expand the trumpets melodic capacity and is the result of over a decade of studying both the Shakuhachi (Japanese, Flute) as well as North Indian Vocals. Aaron Shragge's current projects include a duo with Ben Monder, a Jazz quintet that plays the music of Tom Waits and his continuing solo works for Dragon Mouth Trumpet/Shakuhachi.
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Ross Hammond
- Music
- Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond has played on large stages and in small corners throughout the United States and beyond. His sound is equal parts jazz, folk, blues, spirituals and world music. He has played for Hillary Clinton, to audiences of five and all points in between. Ross has collaborated/gigged/recorded with: Kevin Seconds, Oliver Lake, Pheeroan AkLaff, Vinny Golia, Vladimir Tarasov, Tetuzi Akiyama, Nicole Mitchell, Lizz Wright, Dwight Trible, Calvin Weston, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Alex Cine, Suzuki Junzo, Amy Reed, Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, Max Johnson, Steve Adams, Ken Filiano, Mike Pride, Catherine Sikora, Scott Amendola, Steuart Liebig, Sameer Gupta, Tony Passarell and more.
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PAWAN BENJAMIN
- Music
- Saxophonist, Flutist, and Composer Pawan Benjamin, started his musical training at a young age in Madison, Wisconsin, receiving guidance and mentorship from jazz luminaries such as bassist, Richard Davis, AACM founder Roscoe Mitchell, and many others in the Madison area. In 2006 he left to attend the Manhattan School of Music, where he plunged headfirst into the diverse music scene of New York City, performing and recording with musicians from around the globe, across genres from Jazz, Hip Hop, Nepali Folk, Indian Classical Music and beyond. Pawan has collaborated with artists such as Roscoe Mitchell, Ranjit Barot, Taufiq Qureshi, Rez Abbasi, Mike Stern, Candido Camero, Bill T. Jones and many others. Performance credits stretch across the globe at venues including the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), the Rose Theater and Dizzy's Club Coca Cola at Lincoln Center, the National Center of Performing Arts in Mumbai India, Goa International Jazz Festival, the Bimhuis and Blue Note in Amsterdam, and countless other venues in between. Pawan is an active member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a music collective which seeks to bridge the worlds of American and South Asian art of all kinds.
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Perry Wortman
- Music
- When not making things for the web or working on various music projects, I enjoy spending time with family, cooking, traveling, and watching the occasional Next Gen episode.
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Karsh Kale
- Music
- Described by Billboard Magazine as a visionary composer and producer, Karsh Kale is one of global musics brightest stars. In the past 12 years as a solo recording artist, producer, composer, live performer and DJ, Karsh has set the world of electronic fusion on fire and has helped to create a genre of new music and culture that continues to influence an entire generation. His body of work has been cause for fans and critics alike to claim Kale as a pioneer and a trail blazer, not only opening doors for his own career but for an entire scene to emerge in the world of electronica and fusion music. Karsh Kale has also developed a reputation as a genre bending collaborator and a world renowned tabla player and musician, exploring the worlds of electronica, Indian classical music, rock, jazz fusion and hip hop which has led him to work with some of the most renowned artists from around the globe. Kale continues to reinvent his ever-evolving sound and has established himself as one of the worlds most sought after fusion artists. Read more
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Samarth Nagarkar
- Music
- Described by critics as one of the most prolific and promising young artistes of today, Samarth Nagarkar is a Hindustani (North Indian) classical vocalist, known for his captivating performances and a traditionally rich approach towards raagdaari (raga exposition) and gayaki (stylistic distinction). Trained under Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, he is a former scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. Pursuing a full-fledged music career as a performer, composer, teacher and author, Samarth currently divides his time between the US (New York) and India.
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Rohan Prabhudesai
- Music
- Rohan has been actively studying music for the past 18 years. He began his training in Indian Hindustani classical music on the harmonium on one of his trips to India at the Goa Kala Academy. Later, he continued this musical pursuit under the guidance of Dr. Kedar Naphade, a senior disciple of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar. At the same time he started learning harmonium, he studied classical piano with Mr. Edwin Lopez, the concert master and conductor of Crescent Avenue Presbyterian church music program. He has studied classical contemporary composition at NYU Steinhardt and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
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Sandip Ghosh
- Music
- Sandip Ghosh is a talented, young, upcoming musician of the present generation. He has successfully evolved as a promising Tabla player of the Farukhabad Gharana. He is equally adept as a solo musician as well as an accompanist with vocal, instrumental and dance performances. Sandip is known for his great sense of creativity as well as intelligent and sensible accompaniment.
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Anirban Dasgupta
- Music
- Anirban DasGupta is the younger son of Sarod maestro Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta and has received all his training in music from his father and guru. Initiated early into this art by Buddhadev and his guru Pandit Radhika Mohan Moitra, Anirban is known today for his delicate mastery of the Sarod and great facility in its technique and authentic rababiya repertoire. Since the early 80s, Anirban has accompanied his father in concert, and carved out a niche for himself in the world of classical music. Some of the hallmarks of his playing are extremely consistent and balanced right hand strokes, tunefulness, razor-sharp taans, and the traditional Ameerkhani baaj. Anirban has a very authentic and systematic style of playing . In keeping with the true spirit of Hindusthani Classical Music he believes in winning the audience over by the aesthetic content of his music rather than aggressive gimmicks. Amongst the younger generation of musicians, he is reckoned for his mastery in playing 'ekhara-tans' on sarode.
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Mir Naqib Islam
- Music
- Mir Naqibul Islam is a tabla player with rhythm in his veins. A classical artist of the new generation who is learning the beats under tutelage of tabla maestro Shri Ashoke Paul for the last 13 years and is an ardent of Pandit Gopal Mishra & Padma Shree Pandit Suresh Talwalkar from India. He is best on stage performing live where he has an audience to hypnotize. Naqib originally belongs to the Farukhbad gharana which has delicate strokes and sound variation. But he likes to incorporate his playing with Veranas gharanas' resonance and strength. He also utilizes the style of Pakhawaj to bring different tones to his overall playing. He has performed with artists like Ustad Karim Shahabuddin (Classical Vocal), Sattyajit Chakrabarty (Sitar), Ebadul Haque Saikat (Sitar), Srinjoy Mukherjee (Sarod), Rinat Fawzia (Sitar), Mahmudul Hasan (Violin), Murtuza Kabir Murad (Flute), Mrityonjoy Das (Flute), and many other renowned artists in Bangladesh. Naqib has performed solo recitals in Peshkar Cultural Forum on September 2015, Haldia Music Conference(India) on April 2015, East West University on May 2015, Lakshyapar Music Conference on November 2014 , 'Srotar Ashor' at Chayanaut on September 2014, Shuddha Sangeet Proshar Goshti on March 2013 and also performed a jugalbandi with Shri Ahsoke Paul in Bangladesh National Tabla Festival 2008. At present, he is a tabla teacher at Chhayanaut Sangeet Bidyayatan, Dhaka and a regular artist in Dhaka's classical arena.
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Aditya Prakash
- Music
- Aditya has worked in cross-over genre music, touring and performing throughout the USA, Europe and Canada aslead vocalist with Anoushka Shankar, Karsh Kale, Salim Merchant and MIDIval Punditz.
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Abhinav Seetharaman
- Music
- Abhinav Seetharaman is a promising young South-Indian percussionist on the drum known as the mridangam. He had his initial training on the mridangam at the age of 7, under Sri N. Ganesh Kumar and Sri Vijay Ganesh, and later proceeded to learn from Sri Tiruvarur Vaidyanathan. Currently,he is undergoing advanced training from Sri Kumar Kanthan of New Jersey, as well as world-renowned mridangam maestro Guru Karaikudi R. Mani. Abhinavs playing style is characterized by tonal clarity, powerful strokes, and manual dexterity. His sensitivity in playing is brought out by a perfect balance of melody and mathematical patterns.He regularly travels extensively around the United States and India to perform, and has accompanied distinguished musicians such as Dr. N. Ramani, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Sri Ganesh Rajagopalan, Sri P. Unnikrishnan, Pandit Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar,Sirkazhi Dr. G. Sivachidambaram, Sri Ramakrishnan Murthy, and Smt. K. Gayatri, just to name a few. He has played in several prestigious venues, such as the United States Capitol Building (Washington D.C.), John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington D.C.), Millenium Park (Chicago), Waukesha Civic Arts Theatre (Wisconsin), Narada Gana Sabha (Chennai), and JSS College (Bangalore). In November of 2013, Abhinav was invited to play at the United States Capitol Building, as part of the first international annual Indo-American meet, which featured several leading members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. An avid French horn player himself, Abhinavs extensive exposure to Western classical music provides an advantage in collaborating cross-culturally with musicians from a variety of global genres, and in the process brings awareness about South-Indian classical music to both initiated and uninitiated audiences. Abhinav is also the co-founder of MusiLinks, a non-profit organization whose primary purpose is to raise funds for the needy, locally as well as internationally, through music. He has given over 60 charity concerts to date and continues to do outreach programs. Abhinav is a third-year undergraduate student at Columbia University in the City of New York.
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Amali Premawardhana
- Music
- Amali Premawardhana, cellist and graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, currently enjoys a career as a classical orchestral and chamber musician, as well as Suzuki cello instructor. She co-leads her own ensemble, Karavika, which blends Western chamber music with musical traditions of India and Sri Lanka. Karavika has been hailed by the New York Times as "a soulful blend of classical and folk traditions" and by the San Francisco Classical Voice as "commanding performers... suggestive of some of the adventures of such crossover explorers as Edgar Meyer and Yo-Yo Ma." Her primary teachers were Julia Lichten, Margo Tatgenhorst-Drakos, and Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi and she has received guidance in Indian music from Indian - Dhrupad cellist, Nancy Lesh Kulkarni. Amali has taken part in festivals such as the Tanglewood Institute, the New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Learnquest Indian Music Conference, the New Directions Cello Festival, San Francisco's Classical Revolution Festival, and has performed frequently with Brooklyn Raga Massive, a leading community of Indian music artists in New York City. Amali has had the privilege of performing in master classes with extraordinary cellists such as Yo-Yo Ma, Ron Leonard and Matt Haimovitz, in orchestral workshops under the baton of Kurt Masur, and in performances for events hosted by international brands as exciting as Stella Artois. Her performing career has taken her to major concert halls across the United States, Paris, Southern France and Sri Lanka, and to venues such as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center with groups such as the the New England Symphonic Ensemble and the Distinguished Concerts International New York Orchestra. Amali has performed with the Broadway tour of South Pacific, and has toured with the critically acclaimed Black Rock Coalition Orchestra. Amali studied Suzuki Cello pedagogy at New York School for Strings under the tutelage of Pam Devenport, where she was registered in Books 1-8. As a teacher, Amali is on the music faculty at Primoris Academy in Westwood, New Jersey and teaches privately in the New York, New Jersey and Chicagoland area.
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Perry Wortman
- Music
- When not making things for the web or working on various music projects, I enjoy spending time with family, cooking, traveling, and watching the occasional Next Gen episode.
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Rajna Swaminathan
- Music
- Rajna Swaminathanis an accomplished mrudangam (South Indian percussion) artist, a protg of mrudangam maestroUmayalpuram K. Sivaraman. Rajna is one of only a handful of women who play the mrudangam professionally. She has performed with several renowned Indian classical musicians, most notably mentor and vocalist T.M. Krishna. Rajna has performed in several prestigious venues and festivals, including the Smithsonian (D.C.), Kennedy Center (D.C.), Asia Society (NYC), Lincoln Center (NYC), Walker Art Center (MN), Music Academy (Chennai), Shanmukhananda Hall (Mumbai) and The Esplanade (Singapore). Rajna also regularly gives workshops on the South Indian rhythmic perspective, most notably at the Banff International Jazz and Creative Music Workshop, the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, and the KOSA International Percussion Camp.Rajna holds degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland, College Park. She is currently pursuing a PhD in cross-disciplinary music studies at Harvard University.
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Ganavya
- Music
- Vocalist, scholar, and composer Ganavya has carved a niche for herself at the nexus of South Indian vocal styles and contemporary music. Her own debut album, Aikyam: Onnu, ("Harmony: One") features the incredible breadth of her character: it draws from an amalgam of ancient Indian spirituals she learnt during pilgrimages as a child, with an anchor in jazz standards that she has translated to Tamil from English, showcasing a linguistic command over her two mother-tongues. ? She holds degrees in theatre and psychology (FIU), and graduate degrees in contemporary performance (Berklee College of Music), and ethnomusicology (UCLA). She was awarded one of Berklee's first Post-Graduate Fellowships, for which she constructed a course titled Sounds of Indian Music, and published a text under the same name for the course. Currently, she is a doctoral student at Harvard's newly developed Creative Practice and Critical Inquiry program. She has learnt from, or performed and recorded with: Danilo Perez, Placido Domingo, James Newton, Victor Wooten, Wadada Leo Smith, Alain Perez, Perico Sambeat, Vijay Iyer, Zakir Hussain, Laura Karpman, Polo Orti, Victor Mendoza, Sandra Carrasco, Javier Limn, Ousso Lotfy, Tyshawn Sorey, Claire Chase, and Zebbler Encanti Experience, among other artists who have influenced her work. Recently, she sang on the Quincy Jones-produced Tocororo, which hit #1 on jazz charts
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Max Ridley
- Music
- Vocalist, scholar, and composer Ganavya has carved a niche for herself at the nexus of South Indian vocal styles and contemporary music. Her own debut album, Aikyam: Onnu, ("Harmony: One") features the incredible breadth of her character: it draws from an
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Charles Overton
- Music
- Charles Overton is a Boston-based harpist and performer of classical, jazz and world music. He began his harp studies at the age of ten under the direction of Lynelle Ediger, where as a member of her "American Youth Harp Ensemble" he was afforded the opportunity at an early age to perform internationally in notable venues such as the Salle Gaveaux in Paris and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall. In 2009 Charles went on to attend the Interlochen Arts Academy to further his musical development under the direction of Joan Raeburn Holland during which time he was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Harp Competition and was twice a finalist for the Interlochen Arts Academy Concerto Competition. In 2012 Charles moved to Boston to attend the Berklee College of Music, where while continuing to study classical music under the direction of BSO principal harpist, Jessica Zhou, he also began to explore the world of jazz and other improvised musics more seriously. During his time at Berklee, he competed in the 2013 American Harp Society National Competition where he was a finalist, and became the first harp student to be admitted to the Berklee Global Jazz Institute - a prestigious and highly specialized program at the school in which students are able to learn from and work intimately with master jazz artists such as Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano, and Terri-Lynn Carrington. Over the course of his musical career, Charles has attended several summer music festivals such as the Tanglewood Music Center, Pacific Music Festival, and the Castleton Festival where he has performed under the batons of conductors such as Stphane Denve, Jun Markl, Stefan Asbury, and the late Lorin Maazel. Additionally he has performed with various ensembles in some of the world's greatest concert halls including Tokyos Suntory Hall, the Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic, Boston's Symphony Hall and the KKL Luzern Concert Hall. Currently, Charles resides in Boston where he maintains an active performance schedule as a performer of classical, jazz and contemporary music. Recent engagements include an appearance at Scullers Jazz Club with his jazz ensemble: the Charles Overton Group, regular performances with the Boston Philharmonic, an appearance as a featured artist at the Dutch Harp Festival in concert with the Dutch National Youth Jazz Orchestra, as well as a performance tour of Spain performing Ginastera's Harp Concerto with Benjamin Zander's Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra.
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Mitali Bhawmik
- Music
- Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik is an exponent of Hindustani Classical vocal music. She started her training in music at a very early age from Sri Ajit Dutta, followed by extensive training from Late Shree Biren Phukan in Guahati, Assam. Subsequently she received training from Srimati Meera Banerjee, the Kolkata based noted vocalist. Since 1984, Mitali was under the tutelage of late Padmabhushan Pandit V. G. Jog, the famous violin maestro. Pandit Jog's vast and extensive experience in the different musical styles and traditions has helped Mitali to blend the best of few Gharanas in her music in contrast to sticking to a single traditional Gharanas style. This has been the essence of Pandit Jog's philosophy in music and training methodology. Currently she is expanding her repertoire in semi-classical (Thumri, Dadra, Kajri, Chaiti, Hori, etc.) music from Smt. Dahlia Rahut, a senior disciple of Smt. Girija Devi. She has performed in different prestigious venues in North America, Europe and India. She is the director of Ethnomedia Music Studio where she trains students of music.
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Anirban Chakravarty
- Music
- Anirban Chakraborty gifted with a rare taalim of one of the richest musical traditions of India The Kotali Gharana Anirban Chakrabarty plays harmonium to give solo concerts and to assist Khayal and other vocal performances of Hindustani Classical Music. A rigorous taalim under the doyen of the Kotali Gharana Pt. Manas Chakraborty has created Anirban's artistic consciousness. His initial training has been under his father Shri Amal Chakrabarty. A First class Masters' degree holder in Music from Rabindra Bharati University, Anirban has to his credit a number of brilliant performances as a harmonium accompanist throughout the country with reputed as well as upcoming musicians with notable participation in Tarapada Music Conference, Anirban Sangeet Sammelan, Sangeet Piyasi, Mahfil, Paramparik-The Tradition, Sur Chhandam, Sahana Baahar, ICCCR, Sangeet Darbar, Raga 2001, Music For Peace, Sur Sagar Society, Gharoa, Ranchi, Meifil Nagur, Sangeet Sankalp, Chandrapur, Habitat World, New Delhi, Epicentre, Gurgaon, Birth Centenary Celebration of Sangeetacharya Tarapada Chakraborty at Nazrul Manch and Rabindra Sadan, Harballav Music Festival, Jalandhar, West Bengal State Academy Annual Music Conference, Bishnupur Utsav organized by W.B. Tourism, Salt Lake Music Festival, Shantiniketan Society of Visual Arts & Design, Moore Avenue Music Conference, Kolkata; Krintan, Delhi; Dakshini Sangeet Sammelan, Kala Bhavan, Shantiniketan and many others. In harmoniumAnirban has accompanied musicians of repute like Pandit Manas Chakraborty, Pandit Dinanath Mishra, Pandit Arun Bhaduri, Smt. Kankana Banerjee, Gaan Saraswati Shreela Bandopadhyay, Pandit Madhup Mudgal, Sri. Sarathi Chatterjee, Smt. Ruchira Panda, Sri. Subhasish Mukherjee, Smt. Raka Mukherjee, Sri. Ratan Mohan Sharma and many more Anirban is a regular artist of several television channels. Alongside being a good vocalist Anirban is also adept at playing tabla, keyboard and guitar. His work as an arranger has culminated into several light music albums. Popular commercial artists like Indrani Sen, Srikanto Acharya, Manomay Bhattacharya, Shampa Kundu, Tarun Chakraborty have sung to albums of Modern Bengali Songs, composed and arranged by Anirban. Invited by numerous music festivals Anirban has visited the United Kingdom, Canada and United States of America several times to take part as a harmonium accompanist and has earned accolades from music lovers and connoisseurs.
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Dibyarka Chatterjee
- Music
- Dibyarka Chatterjee is a young Tabla player from the Farrukhabad Gharana, and is the son and disciple of Pandit Samir Chatterjee. Having grown up in a musical environment his natural inclination towards Tabla became apparent early in his childhood. At the age of five he was initiated by his father into the ancient system of pedagogy called the guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple tradition). Dibyarka was born in Kolkata, where even in his childhood he was already performing in concerts as well as on Akaashbani Kolkata's Children's Section (National Radio - Kolkata Station). At the age of ten he moved to New York City with his family; since then he has continued to perform regularly with both Indian and Western music. Dibyarka has had the honor and privilege of performing with renowned musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Pdt. Budhhadev DasGupta, Pta. Lakshmi Shankar, Utd. Shujaat Khan, Utd. Mashkoor Ali Khan, Pdt. Ramesh Mishra, Pta. Shubhra Guha, Pta. Tripti Mukherjee, Pdt. Suman Ghosh to name only a few. He has collaborated in world music projects with groups like the Dance Theater of Harlem (in 'South African Suite'), the Battery Dance Co. (in Songs of Tagore), and with fusion musician/composers like Salman Ahmad (Junoon), Douglas Cuomo, John McDowell (on the award-winning documentary A Sons Sacrifice), Gary Lucas & Najma Akhtar (on their collaborative album "Rishte") etc. He has composed music for, and performed in, two off-Broadway theatrical productions (Nuraldeen's Lifetime & Lee/gendary). He has also performed in many prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall, the United Nations General Assembly, Lincoln Center & Asia Society in NYC, Place des Arts (Montreal), the Google Amphitheater (Palo Alto), Salt Lake Music Conference (Kolkata, India), Pratishruti Festival (Bhopal, India) etc. He has also appeared on numerous radio shows such as The Leonard Lopate Show and New Sounds on NPR, Raag Aur Taal on WKCR etc. (recordings available below). Dibyarka is a part of the Arpan ensemble featuring some of finest musicians from the NY/NJ area. Dibyarka has a Masters in Fine Arts from Goddard College (VT). His academic pursuits are mainly focused on the history, theory, and philosophy of Indian Music. As a guest lecturer Dibyarka has conducted classes and lecture demonstrations at numerous institutions such as Columbia University, Dartmouth College, New York University, Manhattan School of Music etc. He also teaches Tabla classes regularly at various institutions and locations in NY & NJ.
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Flute Raman
- Music
- Breathing magical melodies on the Indian bamboo flute, flute virtuoso Sri Raman Kalyan is one of the leading flautists in the Carnatic style of music. He started learning flute under Vidwan A. V. Prakash at the age of 9 and performed his first concert at the age of 15 in Mysore. Raman has studied music with many renowned musicians of diverse backgrounds, enriching his repertoire of music. His intensive training with renowned flautist Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. N. Ramani and advanced performance techniques under the guidance of several great stalwarts in the field make him one of the leading flautists of the world today. With a vision to make Carnatic music global, Raman has performed and collaborated with many well-known artists and musicians both in India and abroad. In addition to being a top ranking artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan, Raman has twice won the Best Flautist Award from the prestigious Madras Music Academy for his concert during the December Music Festival. Raman is a featured artist in the "Miles from India" tour and has performed with legends Dave Liebman, Lenny White, Mandolin Shrinivas, Selvaganesh (Remember Shakti), Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones), John Beasley (Finding Nemo), and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, San Francisco Jazz Festival & Miles from India Fest in Paris. Raman has performed with South Indian music legends like Dr. M Balamuralikrishna, Dr. N Ramani, and A.K Palanivel and has also been touring as a special guest with the legendary Singer & Guinness record holder K.J Yesudas. His accompaniment for Martha Grahams documentary The Flute of Krishna received international acclaim and his globally popular Youtube channel, which features his meditation music videos, has received more than 300,000 views. Additionally, he has released over 65 CDs & DVDs and has been featured as guest artist in more than 300 commercial recordings and Indian Movies. As a music educator, Sri Raman Kalyan has trained a number of performing arts students in India and the USA. He has conducted many workshops and pioneered and published new techniques which enable students to get better control over the instrument in the path to mastery of flute playing. His new teaching website, www.carnaticlessons.com, features over 600 learning videos and has received global praise. Raman is the founder and president of Indo American Academy of Classical Music, an organization dedicated to the preservation and propagation of Indian classical music.
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Akshay Anantapadmanabhan
- Music
- Akshay Anantapadmanabhan is one of the leading young Carnatic mridangam artists. Known for his sensitive accompaniment,dynamic playing style and clarity coupled with energy, Akshay is quickly carving a space for himself amongst the top mridangam artists.He has accompanied and toured with several legends and popular artists in the Carnatic music field such as Sri.R.K. Srikantan, Smt. Sudha Raghunathan, Sri. O.S. Thiagarajan, Sri. Unnikrishnanand Sri. Chitravina Ravikiran to name a few. Akshay has toured extensively through North America, Europe,Asia and the Middle East.
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