Gene Pritsker official site | Gene Pritsker on Soundcloud

Composer/guitarist/rapper/Di.J. Gene Pritsker has written over five hundred eighty compositions, including chamber operas, orchestral and chamber works, electro-acoustic music and songs for hip-hop and rock ensembles. All of his compositions employ an eclectic spectrum of styles and are influenced by his studies of various musical cultures.

He is the founder and leader of Sound Liberation; an eclectic hip hop-chamber-jazz-rock-etc. ensemble who have released cd’s on Col-legno, Composers Concordance and Innova Records. He is also the co-director of Composers’ Concordance, a new music presenting organization with a 30 year history of producing concert in NYC. Other organization he is associate with include the Grammy nominated Absolute Ensemble, which he co founded in 1993 with Kristjan Jarvi and has been a composer in residence and guitarist with ever since. Gene’s music has been performed all over the world at various festivals and by many ensembles and performers, including the The Adelaide Symphony, MDR Symphony, The Athens Camerata, China Philharmonic Orchestra, Brooklyn, Shanghai and Berlin Philharmonics, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, St. Lukes Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonietta Riga, Orchester des Pfalztheaters, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Anhaltische Philharmonie as well as such soloists as Anne Akiko Meyers, Lara St. John, Sarah Chang, Kathleen Supové, Martin Kuuskmann and Simone Dinnerstein. He worked closely with jazz fusion legend Joe Zawinul and has orchestrated major Hollywood movies, including ‘Cloud Atlas’, for which he wrote additional music and composed his ”Cloud Atlas Symphony’.

The New York Times described him as “…audacious…multitalented.” Joseph Pehrson, writing in The Music Connoisseur, described Pritsker as “dissolving the artificial boundaries between high brow, low brow, classical, popular musics and elevates the idea that if it’s done well it is great music, regardless of the style or genre”. Raul d’Gama Rose writes in All About Jazz: “Barring the obvious exceptions, much of 21st century composition appears to be thinning in significance, but this might be about to change. Gene Pritsker is one of a very spare handful of composers effecting this change.” Evan Burke writes in ICareIf YouListen: “Pritsker seems to look at all music as one genre, in which all other possible styles, sounds and traditions are meant to be used as building blocks and palette colors, combined in various configurations to create a boundless whole. This result is almost always more interesting, and representative of how most new music will be born in the 21st century, as genres and barriers begin to vanish, and as styles begin cross-fertilizing in previously unimagined ways.” Classical Music Sentinel writes: “His expressive reach is so wide as to encompass everything from ethno/techno, rock/jazz fusion, classical opera and more, and it all seems to be effortlessly integrated within his anima and comes out through different facets of his persona. You could almost see him as a modern day renaissance man. “

Organizations he is associated with include: Co-director of Composers Concordance & Composers Concordance Records, co-founder/guitarist of Absolute Ensemble and artist-in residence at the Austrian Outreach Festival. Gene Pritsker’s music is published by: Falls House Press, Gold Branch Music, Periferia Sheet Music & Calabrese Brothers music. Recorded on: Col Legno, Enja, Eutrepe, Wergo, Innova , Composers’ Concordance Records, SONY Classical, and Capstone record labels.

Peter Jarvis is a percussionist, drummer, conductor, composer, music copyist, print music editor, and college professor. He teaches music at Connecticut College and William Paterson University.

Over the years Jarvis has performed as a Broadway musician, soloist, chamber musician, orchestral player and in several films. He has conducted the Saint Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, New Jersey

Percussion Ensemble, CompCord and several other groups. He has composed for large ensembles, chamber ensembles and several solos.  According to the NY Times, “Peter Jarvis led the New Jersey Percussion ensemble in a precise, tactile performance with an elastic pulse.”

Dr. Patti Cudd is active as a percussion soloist, chamber musician and educator.  She teaches percussion and new music studies at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and the College of St. Benedict/ St. Johns University.  Dr. Cudd is also a member of the new music ensemble Zeitgeist.  Other diverse performing opportunities have included Sirius, red fish blue fish, CRASH, the Minnesota Contemporary Ensemble, SONOR and such dance companies as the Minnesota Dance Theatre and the Borrowed Bones Dance Theater.  She received a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Contemporary Musical Studies at the University of California studying with Steven Schick, Master of Music Degree at the State University of New York at Buffalo where she worked with Jan Williams, undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and studied in the soloist class with a Fulbright Scholarship at the Royal Danish Conservatory of Music in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Cesare Papetti is a percussionist who lives in Brooklyn and works in and around New York City teaching and performing.  He studied classical percussion at Purchase College in New York and Music Education at Hofstra University.  Influenced by all sounds resonating from New York’s vibrancy, he pursues a multitude of different performing opportunities.  He has played orchestral percussion with Regina Opera, Camerata Orchestra, Staten Island Philharmonic, Centre Orchestra, Garden State Philharmonic, and the South Shore Symphony.  In addition, Cesare collaborates with Composers Concordance and the International Street Cannibals in chamber settings.  He is also player in  several bands including Peter Kerlin Octet (vibes), John Clark Nonet (drums), and  Barbaric Yawp (drums).  Cesare is a founding member of Occasional Noise Trio (William Lang, trombone, and Derin Oge, piano), Just Music duo (Alice Jones, flute), and Firebird Art Rock Ensemble (featuring the compositions of Dana Richardson).  Recently released recordings include: Samplestra (NAXOS), a CD featuring his performance of Gene Pritsker’s solo percussion and electronics piece entitled “Destined to Shed,” Salamander (Innova) featuring vibraphone work with the Peter Kerlin Octet., and Bonds of Life (Dionysian) featuring drum set work with Firebird Art Rock Ensemble.

Percussionist Michael Lipsey has performed at festivals in Bali, London, Lisbon, Madrid, Berlin, Mexico City, Taipei, Macao, Tokyo, La Jolla, New York, Moscow, Bogota and France. Michael is the founding member of Talujon Percussion and has also performed with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society, Steve Reich, Bang on a Can, Tan Dun, New York New Music Ensemble and Riverside Symphony. He has recorded for Sony Records, Red Poppy Records, Nonesuch, Albany, Capstone and Mode. Michael has performed throughout the world and given master classes at numerous schools including the Juilliard School of Music and California School of the Arts.

Michael has also worked with many musicians from around the world, most recently including Gamelan Dharma Swara, a Balinese gamelan located in New York City. He performed with DS at the first American gamelan at the PKB in Denpasar, Bali. He has worked with musicians Subash Chandran, Ganesh Kumar, Glen Velez, Carlos Gomez, Antonio Hart, Roland Vasquez, and River Guerguerian. His book and solo CD contains recently commissioned works for solo hand drums by Jason Eckardt, River Guerguerian, Mathew Rosenblum, Arthur Kreiger, Eric Moe, Dominic Donato, David Cossin and David Rakowski. The book is available at http://store.calabresebrothersmusic.com/08-00209.html and the recordings at: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/michaellipsey.

Arthur Kampela official site
 
Composer and virtuoso guitar player Kampela is the winner of both the Rodrigo Riera (Caracas, Venezuela) and the 1998 Lamarque-Pons Guitar Composition Competition (Montevideo, Uruguay). Commissions from the Guggenheim Foundation (2014), Collegium Novum Zurich (2013), DAAD (Berliner Künstlerprogramm 2012-13), The New York Philharmonic (2009), Koussevitzky Foundation (2007), Fromm Music Foundation (1998), ISCM/World Music Days Stuttgart 2006, Germany, etc.
 
Kampela has broken new ground in two particular ways: His 1988 CD Epopeia e Graça (‘Epic and Grace…’) uses popular music forms and new music resources creating a true hybrid genre. In his series of Percussion Studies for solo guitar (1989-present).
 
Some recent projects: Probe for 3 female voices 2 contrabass clarinets Neuevocalsolisten (2015); Das Tripas Coração for 2 pianos and 2 percussion Berlin Piano-Percussion Ensemble, MaerzMusik, March 19, 2014; Migro for guitarist and 5 mobile ensembles Collegium Novum Zurich Tage Für Neue Musik Nov.14, 2013; “…B…” for 10 instrumental soloists, video and electronics July 19th Darmstadt Ferienkurse 2012 Linea Ensemble of Strasbourg (Koussevitzky commission); Uma Faca Só Lâmina (‘A Knife All Blade’) Momenta String Quartet, May 2013 NYC; MACUNAÍMA, New York Philharmonic; Antropofagia, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin and Wiek Hijmans, on electric guitar (Fromm Commission), etc.
 
The New York Times has written: “Virtuosity was the order of the day, actually. Arthur Kampela, a Brazilian guitarist, played his own Percussion Studies I and II (1990-3), extraordinary pieces in which speedy figuration was punctuated by tapping, string snapping and scraping. Mr. Kampela’s effects were fascinatingly inventive: the best was his use of a spoon to give the guitar a wavery, underwater sound….”
 

JOSÉ MOURA has played with Arthur Kampela for 15 years, with whom he recorded Epopéia e Graça. He recorded with Guilherme Hermolin in his CD North, South, East, West. José Moura has played with the composer Giovanni Bizotto, and with bands like Cão sem Dono, Banda Brasil, and Frisson, among others. Besides his experience as an instrumentalist, he has developed projects for over 10 years at musical schools in Brazil, such as Centro Musical Antonio Adolfo and Musiarte in Rio de Janeiro, where he developed his own method of teaching electric bass.
 
In 1997 he won the Virtuose award from The Ministry of Culture of Brazil to study in New York with the bass player John Patitucci. Since then, he has performed in several places in Manhattan and Brooklyn.

“New-music luminary” (The New York Times) and “leading exponent of the avant-garde flute” (Village Voice), Margaret Lancaster has built a large repertoire of new works composed for her that employ extended techniques, multi-media, and electronics fusing music, theater and movement. Performance highlights include Lincoln Center Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Ibsen Festival, Santa Fe New Music, Edinburgh Festival, Tap City, New Music Miami, and Festival D’Automne. A member of Either/Or and Fisher Ensemble, she has been a guest of many groups including Argento, American Modern Ensemble, and the New York Philharmonic. Noted for her interdisciplinary performances, Lancaster, who also works as an actor, dancer, and amateur furniture designer, presents solo and chamber music concerts worldwide. Recent collaborations include projects with Jean-Baptiste Barrière, ArmitageGone!Dance, playing Helene in the 7-year global run of OBIE-winning Mabou Mines Dollhouse, the US premiere of Stockhausen’s KLANG cycle, and touring Morton Feldman’s 5 hour epic For Philip Guston.
 
Margaret Lancaster official site

Max Pollak official site
 
Max Pollak, is a Bessie Award nominee 2011, 2010 Individual Artist Grantee of the Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance and 2008 fellow in Choreography from the New York Foundation of the Arts. He is one of the most prestigious names on the international tap scene today. He is recognized worldwide for his superior musicianship and his highly individual style as the first person to merge authentic Afro-Cuban music and dance with American rhythm tap and body music to create RumbaTap.
Originator of Cuba’s first tap festival, he has been teaching and performing there since 1998, and has worked with Los Muñequitos de Matanzas, Cuba’s top Rumba group, Chucho Valdés, Lila Downs and jazz legends Ray Brown, Phil Woods, Paquito D’Rivera, Slide Hampton and Danilo Perez.
 
He is also recognized for making European and South American classical music more accessible by playing with classical ensembles in prestigious venues like Vienna’s Konzerthaus, Musikverein, Havana’s Teatro Nacional and Teatro Amadeo Roldan. He has performed with members of both the Vienna Philharmonic and the New York Philharmonic as well as the Duluth Superior and Plano Symphony Orchestras, with the latter two as soloist in the Morton Gould Tap Dance Concerto.
On faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, he travels the world with his group RumbaTap and is about to release his first CD recording.

Borislav Strulev official site | Belgorod Music Fest official site
 
World-renowned cellist Borislav Strulev has been fascinating audiences on some of the world’s most prestigious stages as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and all the major halls throughout the United States, as well as Auditorio de Madrid and Auditorio de Leon (Spain) Auditorio de Torino (Italy) Muzikverein (Vienna) Suntory Hall (Tokyo) Berlin Philharmonic (Berlin) Salle Gaveau (Paris), Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall (St-Petersburg), Bolshoi Theatre (Moscow). New York Times wrote “cellist Borislav Strulev, channeling no one, or perhaps God.” Borislav Strulev – universal multi-stylist, Renaissance-man, an outstanding cellist of exceptional temperament, charismatic personality, powerful sound and virtuoso technique, a musician of faerie energy and drive.
 
Borislav had his debut at Carnegie Hall – played with legendary pianist Byron Janis and also was a special guest at the ceremony dedicated to Oscar Peterson at Carnegie Hall.
Mr. Strulev had the honor of carrying the Olympic Torch for The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. He was a nominee for The “Russian-American Person of the Year” 2014 Award in New York.

David Cossin on Bang On A Can
 
David Cossin was born and raised in Queens, New York, and studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. His interest in classical percussion, drum set, non-western hand drumming, composition, and improvisation has led to performances across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms to incorporate new media with percussion.
 
David has recorded and performed internationally with composers and ensembles including Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet, and the trio, Real Quiet. Numerous theater projects include collaborations with Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and director Peter Sellars. David was featured as the percussion soloist in Tan Dun’s Grammy and Oscar winning score to Ang Lee’s film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. David is happy to have performed with Sting on his world tour, Symphonicity.
 
David has performed as a soloist with orchestras through out the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Hong Kong Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony.
 
David ventures into other art forms include sonic installations, which have been presented in New York, Italy and Germany. David is also an active composer and has invented several new instruments, which expand the limits of traditional percussion. David is the curator for the Sound Res Festival, an experimental music festival in southern Italy and also teaches percussion at Queens College in New York City.