Palaver Strings_2025-26_Biographies.pdf

What exactly is “classical” music? Join Palaver Strings for an engaging presentation exploring string music by Bach, Mozart, and Haydn, as well as groundbreaking voices of the modern age. This 45-minute workshop introduces the sounds of the string instrument family (violin, viola, cello, and bass), as well as the diverse voices, eras, and styles under the classical umbrella, with an emphasis on music by women and composers of color. This presentation is designed for grades K-8, with no prior musical experience required.

Outside The Bachs (Grades K-8)

Designed for school orchestra students, this workshop puts Palaver Strings musicians side by side with students, introducing the fundamentals of chamber music and conductorless ensemble playing. We also introduce the concept of improvisation and spontaneity as tools for creative musical expression. This 60-minute workshop is designed for grades 4-12, with some prior string instrument study required. Repertoire will be chosen in consultation with the school’s orchestra director/string teacher and tailored to the age and experience of the students.&nbsp;

SideXSide (Grades 4-12)

Hear the classic story of Ferdinand the Bull with a full string orchestra and narrator! With music by Alan Ridout and text by Munro Leaf, Ferdinand the Bull tells the story of a young bull who feels different from others, and eventually learns to accept himself for who he truly is. This 10-15 minute performance is designed for students age 5-10, with no prior music experience required. Palaver Strings or the host organization may provide a narrator.

Ferdinand The Bull (Ages 5-10)

Join Palaver Strings for an engaging and hands-on experience that empowers students to unleash their creativity! Guided by experienced musicians, participants will explore music through interactive activities such as instrument-making and painting to live music.&nbsp; This multi-sensory approach encourages students to explore and experiment freely. These 45-60 minute workshops can be customized according to age group, with no prior musical experience required. Additional costs for materials may apply, depending on the activities involved.

Touching Sound

Music and emotion are inextricably linked; music evokes a wide range of emotions in listeners, from happiness to sadness to excitement to calm. Join Palaver Strings in an interactive concert of music and emotion through active listening, musical expression, movement, and mindfulness.This 45-minute presentation is designed for students ages 5-9. No prior musical experience is required.

Harmony of the Heart (Ages 5-9)

Creative collaboration brings together people from different backgrounds, skills, and experiences. This 60-minute workshop/performance features Palaver Strings and collaborating artists, and includes a short performance and discussion of musical style, cultural values, power dynamics, and strategies for equitable collaboration across cultures, genres, and artistic disciplines. Examples of collaborating artists include Kinan Azmeh (clarinet/composer/improviser), Heather Stewart (modern dance), Chris Pattishall (jazz pianist), and Lauren Stevens (traditional Wabanaki song). This presentation is designed for students age 8 and up, with no prior musical experience required. Note that this workshop is dependent on the availability of collaborators, must be booked at least one year in advance, and that additional costs for guest artists may apply. &nbsp; &nbsp;

Come Together: Palaver and Friends (Ages 8+)

Palaver Strings—Photos for Public Download.zip

Palaver Strings

Dancing Home explores themes of heritage, belonging, displacement, and resilience through the lens of dance. At the heart of this program is the world premiere of ḥawwāsh by Kareem Roustom. Inspired by the ḥawwāsh, or lead dancer of a traditional dabke dance, this piece allows any musician to lead the ensemble at any given moment, sharing fluid leadership through physical and sonic cues. This program also features Palaver’s arrangement of Bartok’s Romanian Dances, original tunes by Maya French and Jamie Oshima, and Kinan Azmeh’s Syrian Dances, commissioned by Palaver in 2022. Dancing Home celebrates social dance as a meeting place for tradition and innovation, and a vehicle for building resilience, joy, and trust.

Dancing Home

Sinfonia Fantastica addresses themes of gender, power, fear, and desire through the medium of chamber music. Sinfonica Fantastica, a world premiere by Palaver’s own Teagan Farran, is a response to Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, retold from the perspective of the pursued woman. It draws on themes from the original Berlioz as well as Farran’s deep knowledge of tango idioms, relating them to Paris’s role in globalizing and exoticizing tangoian tastes during Berlioz’s time. Sinfonica Fantastica turns the Romantic fascination with the exotic and the masculine hero on its head. Our program continues with Nina Shekhar’s Above the Fray, which takes Bach’s famous cello prelude and transforms, degrades, and reshapes it. Llyllyth’s Canary Resuscitator is an ambient chorale-like piece that refers to the use of canaries in coal mines to warn of gas leaks. She compares the canary to the US trans population, especially around issues of healthcare and wellness, and her piece is intended both as a response to and a respite from the political turmoil surrounding trans rights.

Sinfonia Fantastica

Serenades explores the serenade through a broad lens, across genres, eras, and styles in a changing world. At its heart is Josef Suk’s Serenade for Strings. We juxtapose this Romantic classic with Carlos Simon’s Between Worlds, a meditative work inspired by visual artist Bill Traylor, whose life and work spanned the end of slavery through the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. In our arrangement, different string parts “serenade” one another antiphonally across the ensemble. Ravel’s Troi Chansons, written at the outbreak of World War I, reflects on loss of life, innocence, and continuity in a changing world. Our arrangement of Laurie Anderson’s O Superman, fused with the third movement of Bach’s A Minor Violin Sonata, explores human relationships with machines and with one another. The program concludes with modern-day “moonlit serenades” by Glen Miller and Laura Mvula. Serenades is a musical call for a new and brighter world.

Serenade

This program explores the African-American experience in classical music, through the eyes of Black composers. It begins with the “blues” movement of Ravel’s Violin Sonata No. 2, arranged for string orchestra and solo violin, and continues with our arrangement of Julia Perry’s Prelude for Piano, a nuanced, neoclassic gem full of anticipation and reflection. At the heart of the program is Clarence White’s Bandana Sketches, a four-movement arrangement of Negro Spirituals. We conclude with the lush romantic string writing of Adolphus Hailstork and William Grant Still, linked by themes of spirituality, meditation, and familial bonds. The Apple of their Eyes encapsulates the beauty and resilience of the African-American experience, and celebrates the richness and depth of Black classical music.

The Apple of their Eyes

Featuring Grammy award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan, this program explores our country’s rich legacy of protest songs. Repertoire includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including Nico Muhly’s Stranger, Akenya Seymour’s Fear the Lamb, and a new commission by Errollyn Wallen. Spanning genres, eras, and movements, A Change Is Gonna Come provokes conversation, confronts our past and present, and celebrates the act of protest as one of our most precious rights.

A Change is Gonna Come

Featuring acclaimed jazz vocalist Vuyo Sotashe and Grammy-nominated pianist Chris Patishall, Songbook celebrates the rich musical heritage of Sotashe’s home country, South Africa. The program includes traditional folk songs in Zulu, Sepedi, and Xhosa, choral works by Michael Moreane and Bheki Mseleku, a new string orchestra arrangement of Bongani Ndodana-Breen’s Apologia at Uzimvubu, and originals by Vuyo Sotashe, all presented in fresh arrangements for voice, piano, and strings by Chris Patishall. Songbook explores connections between American jazz, South African traditional music, and European classical music, moving fluidly between traditions in a spirit of exploration and joy.

Songbook with Vuyo Sotashe & Chris Pattishall

Port City explores tango music throughout the genre’s history, and features bandoneon visionary Heyni Solera as soloists and composers. Palaver will perform danceable classics alongside contemporary tango-inspired compositions. We will also welcome powerhouse dancers Phi Lee Lam and Carla Marano to join us for a full tanda, or series of tango dances. This performance will celebrate tango’s ongoing evolution and the powerful interplay between music and dance.

Port City ft. Heyni Solera

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A 2025 Grammy nominee, A Change Is Gonna Come&nbsp;provokes conversation, confronts the past and present, and celebrates the act of protest as one of humanity’s most precious rights.&nbsp;Featuring Palaver Strings, Grammy-nominated tenor Nicholas Phan, and jazz vocalist Farayi Malek,&nbsp;A Change is Gonna Come&nbsp;explores our country’s rich legacy of protest songs. Repertoire includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including Nico Muhly’s Stranger, Akenya Seymour’s Fear the Lamb, and the premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Protest Songs. Read more about the album <a href="https://www.arielartists.com/news/palaver-strings-announce-3rd-album:-'a-change-is-gonna-come'" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>About the Lifesongs Project</h3>To celebrate the album's release, Palaver Strings and Nicholas Phan have launched a 3-day residency project and performance that explores collaborative music-making, storytelling, and protest through song by involving local community members in writing their own stories with Palaver's Lifesongs Project.&nbsp;This 3-day residency will explore the expressive potential of collaborative music-making, storytelling, and protest through song, and how themes of hope and justice can connect us with each other. The project will centre around Grammy-nominated album A Change is Gonna Come&nbsp; while working closely with local&nbsp;community members to write their own stories through the lens of Palaver's Lifesongs Project. Presenters can choose which community, and which members within that community, would benefit most from participating in the Lifesongs songwriting workshop.&nbsp; Examples of communities could include: an LGBTQ group, an Osher lifelong learning group, an Alateen group, a group of inmates pursuing higher education degrees, etc.&nbsp;After a day of songwriting followed by a day of revision/demoing, Palaver and the community songwriters will offer a culminating public performance of the songs, as well as the process-sharing discussion.Day 1:&nbsp;Lifesongs songwriting workshop. Palaver musicians will work with 3-5 members of the community of your choice to write songs about their life stories or issues that are important to them.Day 2:&nbsp; Lifesongs songwriting revision session and creation of take-home demo recordings. Palaver musicians and participating community members will finish the songs and record demo recordings for the community member's&nbsp;personal use.Day 3:&nbsp;Lifesongs live performance and process-sharing session with public audience, followed by a culminating&nbsp;Change is Gonna Come&nbsp;performance by Palaver Strings and Nicholas Phan&nbsp;<h3>A Change is Gonna Come</h3>Repertoire on the album&nbsp;includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including a new commission by Errollyn Wallen titled&nbsp;Protest Songs, sung by Phan. Eight of the thirteen tracks on the album are heard in arrangements by Attacca Quartet’s Domenic Salerni.The centerpiece of A Change Is Gonna Come is the world premiere recording of Errollyn Wallen’s “Protest Songs”, commissioned for this project in 2021. An award-winning, Belize-born British composer and performer, Wallen herself wrote the text for the first movement, setting the second to a text by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper, an abolitionist and one of the first Black poets published in the United States.The album has been nominated for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album for the 67th Grammy Awards.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://d2k153re4i383a.cloudfront.net/Palaver_Strings_Album_Cover_3000x3000px_300dpi_V05_020424_bbfbf0718e.jpg"></figure>&nbsp;<h3 style="margin-left:0px;">“It has been the greatest privilege to compose for Nicholas Phan and Palaver Strings. I am delighted that my new work,&nbsp;Protest Songs, is included on this important album.”</h3><h3>– Errollyn Wallen</h3>&nbsp;<h3>Repertoire</h3>Nico Muhly – Stranger Roberta Slavitt, Alfred Hayes, Malvina Reynolds, arr. Domenic Salerni – Freedom is a Constant Struggle/I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill/It Isn't Nice Harry Burleigh/ Langston Hughes, arr. Ian Gottlieb – Lovely, Dark and Lonely One Abel Meeropol/Billie Holiday, arr. Jonathan Bingham – Strange Fruit Akenya Seymour – Fear the Lamb Bob Dylan, arr. Domenic Salerni – Blowin’ in the Wind Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs, arr. Domenic Salerni – Fiddle and the Drum/Where Have all the Flowers Gone/What Are You Fighting For? Errollyn Wallen – Protest Songs (Project Commission) Sam Cooke, arr. Domenic Salerni – A Change is Gonna Come&nbsp;

featuring Palaver Strings and Nicholas Phan

A Change is Gonna Come Performance and Lifesongs Project

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Benedict Kloeckner_2021-22 Biographies.pdf

Benedict Kloeckner—Photos for Public Download.zip

Benedict Kloeckner

Inspired by Bach explores the influence of Johann Sebastian Bach, a major influence to many composers, through two of the most beautiful cello sonatas of the repertoire. Mendelssohn is known for being a great advocate of Bach’s music, and in his vibrant, virtuous Cello Sonata, it is especially clear in the slow third movement, which touches the listener as a slow Bach-style chorale and quotes parts of Bach’s chromatic Fantasy and Fugue. It is not known how familiar Beethoven was with Bach’s work, however in his magnificent Cello Sonata, he quotes Bach’s Johannes Passion “es ist vollbracht.” Beethoven’s Cello Sonata then became its own inspiration for many composers, who attempt to echo its perfect instrumental balance and compositorial genius.&nbsp;

Inspired by Bach

Forgotten Romance is a program of works by three great Romantic pianists and composers who didn’t write very much chamber music, but had a particular love for the cello. Sergei Rachmaninov wrote his Cello Sonata after a long personal and artistic crisis, in which he had to fight back his way to mental health and artistic creativity. His Cello Sonata is a journey of the soul –from darkness, struggle, and despair to blazing joy and glory Following a similar journey, Chopin’s Cello Sonata was one of his last works, a complex masterpiece full of poetry, virtuosity, and intensity. The program opens with Liszt’s beautiful and lyrical Romance oubliée and his famous Dream of Love, conveying the composer’s great emotional depth in what&nbsp; Frederic Delius calls “an outburst of the soul.”&nbsp;

Forgotten Romance

Robert Schumann’s works for violoncello and piano have accompanied and inspired me ever sinceI started playing the cello. It was our wish to combine works by Schumann with 20th century compositions that shared his spirit of innovation, his love for the music of the past (in particular that of Johann Sebastian Bach) and his efforts to achieve a simplicity of expression&nbsp; a “folk style” that, in its approachability and highest artistic standard, appealed to the public’s interest back then.Schumann’s music is characterized by poetry, sensibility, and sincerity; they are also indispensable elements for Dmitri Shostakovich and Bohuslav Martinů, even if these contrasted sharply with external conditions –perhaps to even counter the disorders of the world with something deeply intimate and human. In keeping with the spirit of Leonard Bernstein,&nbsp; I wish to do justice to the relevance of this music. “This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before.”

Between Nostalgia and Revolution

Legendary cellist Pablo Casals once said that Johann Sebastian Bach’s 6 Suites for Violoncello “is the quintessence of Bach’s music, and Bach himself the quintessence of all music itself.” Casals made these works famous as one of mankind’s great achievements. They are inspired by fashionable court dances of the time and some musicologists also suspect a connection to biblical stories from the New Testament. Experiencing the complete cycle in one (or optional two) evenings is both an adventure for the listener and a challenge for the interpreter, with both facing some of the most virtuosic, emotionally deep, and musically genius art ever made.

A Dancing Miracle

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Danae_2025-26_Biographies.pdf

Danae offers a 45-60 minute school visit where she gives students an insight into the world of classical music. The engagement includes playing and speaking segments, where Danae presents some pieces, talks about the composers, the piano as an instrument and answers any questions that the students might have. She frequently runs this project at her festival, Molyvos International Music Festival, in Greece and also in Germany with the established "Rhapsody in School" project.

Music Key (K-12)

Danae offers open master classes to students of all levels. Danae will work one-on-one with students to focus on a piece of their choice.

Master Classes (Ages 12 and Up)

Danae Doerken—Photos for Public Download.zip

Danae Doerken

Apollo, the God standing for music, poetry, order and logic and Dionysus, the God standing for chaos, wine and excess are polar opposites. They both guard the oracle of Delphi and in Greek mythology we are taught that, in order to make a balanced decision, it is important to always ask both these Gods for advice. In this program for one piano, four hands, we want to explore the world of these two intriguing figures and in the end, come to the realization that we all carry parts of both Apollo and Dionysus inside of us.

Apollo & Dionysus

This program combines works that were inspired by sounds and melodies the composers heard as well as images the composers saw. Schumann’s Forest Scenes are short musical depictions of nine settings he experienced when walking through the forest, while Schubert’s Fantasy Op. 15 is based on his own famous song “Der Wanderer” that speaks about trying to find happiness. Claude Debussy’s impressionist music is an accurate description of three images through sound, while Bartòk’s Romanian Folk Dances were influenced by folk tunes that he heard on the street. The program ends with two famous works by Liszt, his Love Dream No. 3 and his Rigoletto-Paraphrase, which is composed around four different melodies that stand for four different characters from his own opera “Rigoletto” that sing together in harmonious unity.

Songs and Images

This program is a celebration of my Greek heritage and explores the world of Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who is not only an important musical figure, but rather a true hero of the people, who fought for freedom above all and endured great hardships while doing so. His songs reflect exactly that sentiment and remind us why freedom is such a fundamental value that is worth fighting for, while his “Melos” showcase his influence by Greek composer Manolis Kalomiris and Claude Debussy, as well as his contemporary, Dimitri Shostakovich.&nbsp; &nbsp;

HELIKON (version one)

This program is a celebration of my Greek heritage and explores the world of Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis, who is not only an important musical figure, but rather a true hero of the people, who fought for freedom above all and endured great hardships while doing so. His songs reflect exactly that sentiment and remind us why freedom is such a fundamental value that is worth fighting for, while Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Say’s “Black Earth” and Liszt’s “Rigoletto paraphrase”, like the songs, very similarly tell moving stories through music within their own very different harmonic world.&nbsp; &nbsp;

HELIKON (version two)

Homer’s epos of Odysseus and his journey from Troy back home is a tale as old as time that stands for the greatness of human endurance, strength and ingenuity. The mindset of never giving up and overcoming all adversity and even godly obstacles is the basis of this mythical story, but its message is relatable to the most current of events.&nbsp;Turkish composer Fazil Say’s “Black Earth” (composed in 2007) is based on a famous Turkish song titled “Kara Toprak” and marks the beginning of this Odyssey, symbolizing the cycle of life and the fact that we are all equal. One of the most famous obstacles that Odysseus has to overcome on his journey are the Sirens, mythical creatures that, with their beautiful voices, lure sailors to their islands and subsequently to their doom. Claude Debussy brought these creatures to life in his Nocturne “Sirènes”, the last of 3 Nocturnes composed between 1892-1899. Originally written for orchestra, today’s arrangement for piano solo was made by Gustave Samazeuilh. The “Waltz of Lost Dreams” by Manos Hatzidakis (composed in 1983) is a famous Greek song that awakes feelings of hopefulness amidst difficult circumstances. The final work of the program is Felix Mendelssohn’s Fantasy op. 28 (composed in 1834), also titled “Scottish Sonata”. The piece was strongly influenced by his travels through Scotland and, once again, depicts how we are transformed through internal and external journeys. Let us all embark on this Odyssey together and, in pursuit of Ithaca, cherish every moment - easy and difficult - in order to realize that the journey itself&nbsp;is&nbsp;the destination.

Odyssey

East and West embodies Danae Dörken’s feeling that our diversity is what ultimately brings us together and gives us enormous strength. All of the works in this program share the commonality of being heavily influenced by folk music traditions of different countries around the world. The folkloristic character of these compositions highlights the individual elements of each culture that render the pieces unique and underscore the necessity for them to be loved and remembered forever.Chopin’s Polonaise in C-sharp minor embeds the melancholy of the tunes of polish folk music, while Bartók’s Romanian Folk Dances feature the unusual rhythms of the Transylvanian peasant polka. Schubert’s 12 Ländler reflect the melodies of alpine folk dances, while Danza ritual del fuego by de Falla is reminiscent of guitar performers that can be heard in village squares in Spain. Grieg’s inspiration for Wedding Day at Troldhaugen came from the mighty chords that characterise Norwegian folklore and Manolis Kalomiris’ compositions are influenced by Greek folk music. At first glance, the Huit Nocturnes by the French neoclassical composer Francis Poulenc might seem a little out of place, but while this composition is not directly influenced by folk music, the simplistic elegance of the Nocturnes render them ideal counterparts to the remaining pieces on the program.

East and West

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Danae and Kiveli Doerken's success as a piano duo, their obvious artistic consensus, their pianistic coalescence and even the way they physically intertwine at the instrument all attest to the fact that they are predestined to perform as a duo. Fono Forum considers them “worthy candidates as successors to the Labèques or the Pekinels”, while the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger praises the duo as “a miracle of lightness, charm and feeling”.&nbsp;The sisters have both been pursuing successful careers as soloists and chamber musicians for several years already, but independently of one another, instead performing with other well-known instrumentalists. “We used to think that playing four hands or as a duo would be too self-evident a choice, so we first wanted to discover our own paths and develop independently, both musically and personally.” Their separate tracks eventually merged: “It’s fascinating to hear how they have imbibed the cooperative spirit of real chamber music,” enthuses the magazine PianoNews. “The piano duet is the most intimate form of chamber music and such a revealing art form, being physically so close at the same instrument,” says Danae.&nbsp;Their early musical routes were independent, yet parallel: both sisters were moulded by the same teachers. When they were 11 and 7 years old, they started lessons with the renowned piano pedagogue Prof. Karl-Heinz Kämmerling. Later they continued their studies with pianist and conductor Lars Vogt, with whom they formed a close friendship that lasted until his death in September 2022.&nbsp;In the 2023/24 season their engagements include concerts with the Symphony Orchestra in Helsingborg, the Bruch Concerto for two pianos with the Baden-Baden Philharmonic and four-hand recitals in Fürth, Finsterwalde, Koblenz and at the festival Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker. Recently their first CD containing four-handed piano compositions, Apollo &amp; Dionysus, was released on the Berlin Classics label. “The mysteries of the selected pieces mostly gleam from within, never obtrusively, but with poetic intensity,” writes the reviewer of the magazine Concerti.&nbsp;<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Programs</h3>Apollo &amp; Dionysus (one piano, four hands)Schubert – Fantasy in F minor, Op. 103, D.940De Falla – “La vida breve” Dos DanzasRavel – Daphnis et Chloé, Suite No. 2- intermission -Mendelssohn (arr. Carl Czerny) – Song Without Words, Op. 38 No. 6 “Duetto” in A flat MajorMendelssohn (arr. Carl Czerny) – Song Without Words, Op. 67 No. 2 in F sharp minor&nbsp;Brahms – Hungarian Dances Nos. 1-10 (Book 1)Apollo, the God standing for music, poetry, order and logic and Dionysus, the God standing for chaos, wine and excess are polar opposites. They both guard the oracle of Delphi and in Greek mythology we are taught that, in order to make a balanced decision, it is important to always ask both these Gods for advice. In this program for one piano, four hands, Apollo &amp; Dionysus explores the world of these two intriguing figures and in the end, come to the realization that we all carry parts of both Apollo and Dionysus inside of us.&nbsp;BLACK &amp; WHITE (two pianos)Debussy – En blanc et NoirPhillip Glass – III. from Four Movements for Two PianosLutoslawski – Variations on a theme of Paganini- intermission -Rachmaninov – Symphonic Dances, Op. 45BLACK &amp; WHITE explores the theme of contrast through different musical works. Debussy’s&nbsp;"En blanc et Noir"&nbsp;alternates between delicate lightness and heavier, darker textures. Glass’s minimalist patterns create a sense of movement through repetition and subtle variation, while Lutosławski’s variations contrast the familiar Paganini theme with radical, often jarring changes. Finally, Rachmaninov’s&nbsp;Symphonic Dances&nbsp;balance expansive lyrical passages with more dramatic, rhythmic energy and bring all the orchestral colors out with two pianos. &nbsp;

Danae Doerken & Kiveli Doerken

Duo Doerken

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Paragon Ragtime Orchestra_2025-26_Biographies.pdf

The Orchestra also creates customized programs for special events, centennials, celebrations, and holidays. With over 20,000 historic scores covering every musical style popular from the Civil War era to the Jazz Age, and with acclaimed American-music expert—and showman—Rick Benjamin in charge, we have the power and experience to custom-build programs especially for your venue, event, or theme. Your imagination is the only limit! Our client list over 30 years ranges from billion-dollar entertainment conglomerates to major performing arts centers and museums to small not-for-profit groups (and everything in-between).

Special Events & Customized Programs

The PRO also offers condensed 50 minute versions of all of the above programs for young audiences in schools; we have different versions of each designed for specific age levels: kindergarten–grade 2, grades 3–5, middle school, and high school students.

Educational Programs for Schools

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra–Photos for Public Download.zip

Paragon Ragtime Orchestra

Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource.Meet Me at the Fair! is a two-hour spectacular musical celebration of the world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Musical “exhibits” rotate, but works by Offenbach, Joplin, Moses-Tobani, and Sousa are the core attraction, performed by Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the official orchestra and conductor of the U.S. Pavilion of the 1992 World’s Fair. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). This new PRO program reunites stirring world’s fair hits with the continuous projections of magnificent fairground images. There is audience participation (on “Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis”), and as a finale, the Orchestra accompanies the Moving Picture Travelogue – historic world’s fair films by Thomas Edison &amp; company. All is propelled forward with evocative narration by conductor Rick Benjamin.

Meet Me at the Fair!: Music from the Great World's Fairs

For over a century, the name George M. Cohan has conjured the rollicking magic that is Broadway. And this legend is real: as America’s beloved tunesmith and original “Song &amp; Dance Man,” he was the father of modern musical theater. You’re a Grand Old Rag is a two-hour concert program of approximately a dozen songs and pieces by Cohan, played from the showman’s rediscovered original 1900s Broadway orchestrations. Based on the Orchestra’s BILLBOARD-charted “Top Classical Album” of the same name, this celebration of early American musical theater stars modern-day Broadway song &amp; dance man, Colin Pritchard. This exciting PRO program offers a stirring look at George M’s amazing life and music – “Give My Regards to Broadway,” “H-a-rr-i-gan,” “The Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Over There!,” and all the rest. You’re A Grand Old Rag is a tap-dancing bravura performance that brings audiences to their feet!

You're a Grand Old Rag: George M. Cohan's Broadway

With more than 700 screenings across 48 States and 7 countries, PRO is one of the world’s foremost silent film accompanists. From Hollywood (American Cinematheque) to Chicago (Ravinia Festival) to New York (Lincoln Center), PRO leads the way in designing, producing, and performing silent film programs for contemporary audiences. Paragon also has one of the world’s finest collections of more than 900 original film scores (c. 1898-1928), adding unmatched historical depth and interest to its screenings.

Silent Film

Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource.Travel back to the early 1900s as modern life begins: America falls in love with electricity and automobiles, flying machines take to the sky, and vaudeville creates American idols. A two-hour concert program of approximately 15 pieces played from historic orchestrations drawn from the Orchestra’s legendary 22,000 title collection. Joplin’s music takes center stage, but all performances are one of a kind as conductor and pianist Rick Benjamin shares his score discoveries with the audience – and the Orchestra – in a voyage of discovery tracing the roots of American music. This is PRO’s most popular program – critically acclaimed across 48 U.S. states and seven countries. Composers represented on this program include Scott Joplin, Joseph F. Lamb, James Scott, George Botsford, May Aufderheide, and Kerry Mills.

Scott Joplin and the Original Kings of Ragtime

Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource.Touring annually in November and December, ’Round the Christmas Tree is Paragon Ragtime Orchestra’s stylish and warm-hearted tribute to America’s Holiday musical traditions. This colorful program features favorite selections from the theaters, ballrooms, grand mansions, and humble hearthsides of the Victorian era. Familiar Christmas songs and carols are heard from their original 19th century scores, along with novelties—including a ragtime version of the Nutcracker Suite!—and sparkling instrumental and vocal soloists. As a finale, the Orchestra accompanies a screening of one of the world’s first Christmas movies, a 1905 Thomas Edison production. ’Round the Christmas Tree is a unique event that will delight and cheer your audiences well into the New Year.

'Round the Christmas Tree

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With more than 700 screenings across 48 States and 7 countries, PRO is one of the world’s foremost silent film accompanists. From Hollywood (American Cinematheque) to Chicago (Ravinia Festival) to New York (Lincoln Center), PRO leads the way in designing, producing, and performing silent film programs for contemporary audiences. Paragon also has one of the world’s finest collections of more than 900 original film scores (c. 1898-1928), adding unmatched historical depth and interest to its screenings.&nbsp;The Clown PrincesOur most popular two-hour silent film program of featuring a “variety pack” of three short, complete comedies, one each by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and Harold Lloyd, accompanied by their original 1910s/20s orchestral scores. See&nbsp;<a href="https://paragonragtime.com/programs-and-bookings/film-programs/">here</a>&nbsp;for the current list of films.&nbsp;Langdon – All Night Long (New Program!)&nbsp;Keaton – Sherlock, Jr. (New Program!)&nbsp;Chaplin – A Dog’s Life&nbsp;A two-hour silent film program of Charlie Chaplin’s 1918 featurette&nbsp;A Dog’s Life, with Rick Benjamin’s new reconstruction of the original score. The big city adventures of the Tramp, with his trusty “thoroughbred mongrel,” scraps. Charming!&nbsp;Fairbanks – The Mark of ZorroA two-hour silent film program of the original&nbsp;Zorro, Hollywood’s very first action-adventure movie! Douglas Fairbanks thrills audiences with swordplay, romance, and just a bit of comedy. Features the spectacular original Spanish flavored 1920 orchestral score.&nbsp;Keaton – The GeneralA two-hour silent film program of Buster Keaton’s 1927 masterpiece&nbsp;The General, a “story of love, laughs, and locomotives,” is a Civil War railroad epic inspired by the Great Locomotive Chase. World famous, and rightly so, featuring the original 1927 orchestral score.&nbsp;Chaplin – The KidA two-hour silent film program of Chaplin’s first full-length feature,&nbsp;The Kid. The Tramp adopts an abandoned child, and the two set off on a series of adventures. Sweet and funny, with touches of high drama featuring the original 1921 orchestral score.&nbsp;&nbsp;Keaton – Steamboat Bill, Jr.A two-hour silent film program of Keaton’s late-era,&nbsp;Steamboat Bill, Jr.&nbsp;features Keaton as the hapless son of a Mississippi riverboat captain trying to learn the family business. Extremely funny, with a fantastic cyclone finale! Features the original 1928 orchestral score.

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Note: Paragon has one of the world’s largest libraries of historic American orchestral music, and the particular pieces played on each of Paragon’s concert programs are subject to change to reflect this unique resource.Meet Me at the Fair! is a two-hour spectacular musical celebration of the world’s fairs, including the 1876 Centennial Exhibition, the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, and the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition. Musical “exhibits” rotate, but works by Offenbach, Joplin, Moses-Tobani, and Sousa are the core attraction, performed by Rick Benjamin and the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, the official orchestra and conductor of the U.S. Pavilion of the 1992 World’s Fair. Music played a key role in the success of all these international festivals, launching both hit songs and the illustrious careers of many American musicians (including Scott Joplin and Sousa). This new PRO program reunites stirring world’s fair hits with the continuous projections of magnificent fairground images. There is audience participation (on “Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis”), and as a finale, the Orchestra accompanies the Moving Picture Travelogue – historic world’s fair films by Thomas Edison &amp; company. All is propelled forward with evocative narration by conductor Rick Benjamin.&nbsp;Repertoire – curated by Rick Benjamin using original historic orchestra scores from his Collection“unheard since ____" piecesCentennial Hymn - John Knowles Paine (1839-1906)Telephone Galop - Theodore Moses-Tobani (1855-1933)Hail Columbia: Fantasie Brilliante (Op. 184) - Theodore Moses-Tobani (1855-1933)World's Columbian Exposition Waltz - Adelaide Marcelia Glück (1863-1934)Scherzo (orchestral version) - Edward McDowell (1860-1908)The Official Panama-Pacific March - Harry L. Alford (1875-1939)Rediscovered by and exclusively performed by Paragon&nbsp;Swing Along! (orchestral concert version) - Will Marion Cook (1869-1944)Rarely performed but not “lost”La Nuit et L'Amour - Augusta Holmès (1847-1903)The Official St. Louis World's Fair March (excerpt) - Frank Van Der Stucken (1858-1929) FilmThe"Meet Me at the Fair!" performance includes actual moving pictures from the Panama-Pacific International Exposition (San Francisco, 1915) by the Edison, Biograph, and Keystone film companies, featuring 1915 fair music by Sousa, Saint-Saëns, and Louis Hirsch.&nbsp;BiographyParagon came into being as the result of Rick Benjamin's 1985 discovery of thousands of historic orchestra scores once belonging to Victor recording star Arthur Pryor. Since then, Rick has discovered or been gifted thousands more historic scores, making him custodian of the world's largest library of scores from this turn-of-the-20th-century era.

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ZOFO_2025-26_Biographies.pdf

In this interactive and fun 45-minute program, children and young adults ages 12–18 are introduced to the history of the piano duet—from its inception to its future.What were people doing for entertainment before there were LPs, CDs, or iTunes? Why was playing piano duets was so hot? What does English composer Gustav Holst have to do with Star Wars? Wait—these sounds came from a piano?What happens when you break the territorial boundaries of one-piano-four-hands playing?How can you prevent fights between the two players? How can we help give birth to new piano duets?&nbsp;Excerpts from the following works are played during the presentation:<ul><li>BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5, arranged for piano duet</li><li>SCHUBERT: Fantasy in F minor</li><li>GUSTAV HOLST: The Planets, arranged for piano duet</li><li>ALLEN SHAWN: Hard-Edged</li><li>URMAS SISASK: The Milky Way</li><li>TOMOHIRO MORIYAMA: Let’s Play a Duet! (video)</li><li>GABRIELA LENA FRANK: Karnavalito from Sonata Serrana No.1</li></ul>

One-Piano-Four-Hands: The Original iTunes

ZOFO—Photos for Public Download.zip

ZOFO

Mind Meld brings together stunning duet works by four noted 20th century composers and pianists who knew each other, learned from each other, and sometimes shared the bench. As young students at Harvard, Leonard Bernstein and Harold Shapero teamed up as a piano duo before Bernstein’s career exploded. Shapero wrote his Sonata for the two of them. Stravinsky read through the one–piano–four–hand score of his Rite of Spring together with Debussy in the home of their friend Louis Laloy, before any orchestra had touched the work. Debussy later wrote to Stravinsky about the Rite of Springas a “beautiful nightmare.” Released by Sono Luminus in 2012, ZOFO’s album Mind Meld was nominated for Grammy Awards in the categories of Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance and Producer of the Year, Classical. The album and live performance program continue to attract positive critical attention around the world.

Mind Meld: Composers Share the Bench

The focus of this program is the night, at turns mysterious, enchanting, peaceful, teeming with life, convivial and boisterous.

A little more night music

ZOFORBIT takes the listener on a voyage through outer space. Estonian composer Urmas Sisask’s The Spiral Symphony sets the mood with otherworldly sounds, featuring innovative inside–piano techniques that evoke a sense of the cosmos. The short movements serve as a sonic spaceship to transport the audience from one planet or star to another. Starting on Mars, the Bringer of War, the journey continues to tour Gustav Holst’s The Planets and pays visits to the stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Cygni as musically envisioned by George Crumb in his one–piano–four–hands masterpiece, Celestial Mechanics. David Lang’s gravity gives the impression of falling without ever landing. Before taking off for infinity, we alight on a planet for the last time—Venus, the Bringer of Peace.

ZOFOrbit: A Space Odyssey

&nbsp;Echoes of Gamelan explores the influence of gamelan music on Western composers, as well as how our music perception changes depending on the context. Colin McPhee’s transcriptions of Balinese ceremonial music are interwoven with pieces by Godowsky, Debussy, and Holst. This juxtaposition prompts us to listen to each piece from outside the Western tradition and to experience compositional time differently. Debussy heard gamelan music for the first time at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This exposure made a huge impact on his development and by extension on many composers to come. Brian Baumbusch’s Penrose Prologue, commissioned by ZOFO, is inspired by gamelan heterophony. The program closes with pieces by Balinese composers Putu Septa and Ni Nyoman Srayamurtikanti. Putu Septa’s piece KoSo is written for ZOFO while Srayamurtikanti’s piece Speech Delay was originally written for Balinese shadow-puppet theater instruments and transcribed for ZOFO by Brian Baumbusch. Just as Debussy did with Western classical music more than a hundred years ago, Putu Septa and Srayamurtikanti are exploring the outer reaches of traditional gamelan music.

Echoes of Gamelan

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The ZOFOMOMA live concert experience unfolds as an aurally and visually stunning walking tour through a virtual museum of modern art. Against an ever-changing backdrop of contemporary paintings, 15 new ZOFO-commissioned compositions are revealed throughout the 72-minute continuous performance. Composer Terry Riley praised the performance, saying, “It is just what the world needs now.”In a nod to Mussorgsky, this 21st century “Pictures at an Exhibition” leads viewers and listeners from one gallery to the next accompanied by a re-imagined Promenade Theme by ZOFO’s Keisuke Nakagoshi. For this cutting-edge project ZOFO solicited new works from top composers around the globe, and requested each to select a painting representative of his or her culture as a springboard to the creative process. The result is a rich tapestry of sights and sounds reflecting the cultural, musical and artistic diversity of our world community.&nbsp;PROGRAMIntroductionGilles Silvestrini: Le bassin d'ArgenteuilPromenade 1Carl Vine: The Arrival of Implacable GiftsPromenade 2Avner Dorman: Dancing with the Torah at Mount MeronPromenade 3Pawel Mykietyn: SM34Promenade 4Franghiz Ali-Zadeh: Spring Morning in BakuPromenade 5Lei Liang: Will you come to my dream? (Detail from Landscapes)Promenade 6Jonathan Russell: Untitled SkeletonPromenade 7I Wayan Gde Yudane: Street SolacePromenade 8Kenji Oh: Sacred Chichibu Peaks at Spring DawnPromenade 9Cécile Marti : Wendung&nbsp;Promenade 10Sahba Aminikia : Inspector’s Scrutiny&nbsp;Promenade 11Gabriel Prokofiev : Untitled Etching 3&nbsp;Promenade 12Samuel Adams : Night Sea (for Agnes)Promenade 13Pablo Ortiz : Paisaje&nbsp;Promenade 14 for SaraKeyla Orozco : Viajeros&nbsp;&nbsp;Introduction and Promenades: Keisuke Nakagoshi,&nbsp;inspired by Modest Mussorgsky&nbsp;This project has been made possible through generous funding and support from the Van Dyke Family Foundation.

ZOFOMOMA

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There are hundreds of concertos for one piano, dozens for two pianos, but how many people can name a one-piano four-hands concerto?Here’s a brand-new addition to the almost nonexistent repertoire: Argentinian-born American composer Pablo Ortiz will write a piano duet (one-piano four-hands) concerto for ZOFO and chamber orchestra. Instead of using piano benches the pianists will sit on Cajóns, changing quickly between playing these Latin-American box percussion instruments and the keyboard.Length: 15 minutesInstrumentation: Version 1: One-piano four-hands and Chamber Orchestra (Strings only). The pianists will each sit on a Cajón. They will play on the Cajóns as well as on the keyboard. Version 2: One-piano four-hands and string quintet (2 violins, viola, cello, double bass). The pianists will each sit on a Cajón. They will play on the Cajóns as well as on the keyboard.

Pablo Ortiz Piano Duet Concerto

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Australian composer Carl Vine has written two piano solo concertos and a concerto for two pianos. Now ZOFO commissions him for a concerto for piano duet (one-piano four-hands) and full orchestra – a combination that is very attractive, but extremely rare.“When we came across Carl Vine’s Sonata for Piano Four Hands a few years ago, we were immediately enthralled by his music. We were attracted to the richness and depth of expression, the overflow of ideas, the carefully crafted score, so artfully and smartly composed for four hands — a masterwork, inspiring us and demanding that we give our very best. Now, a few years later, we are very excited to have the opportunity to commission Carl Vine for a piano duet concerto. It will be an invaluable addition to the almost non-existent list of piano duet concertos and will be cherished by generations of piano duos.” — ZOFO“I am overwhelmed by the artistic unity and performance perfection of ZOFO. They play with a single, massively inventive mind, and I want to create music for this mystical four-armed animal that will turn the piano into the acoustic embodiment of the twenty-fingered orchestra.” – Carl VineLength:&nbsp;22-23 minutesInstrumentation:&nbsp; One piano four hands and an orchestra, 2.2.2.2-4.2.3.1-timp, 2pc, harp, and strings.

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Carl Vine Piano Duet Concerto

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Chemistry for Gamelan and Piano is a new intercultural music collaboration between one of Bali's most exciting contemporary gamelan ensembles, Nata Swara (12 drummers directed by Balinese composer and virtuoso performer Putu Septa), who performs alongside the scorching and internationally renowned piano-four-hands duo ZOFO, featuring Swiss pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann and Japanese pianist Keisuke Nakagoshi, all of whom have been gathered together by composer and musical envoy, Brian Baumbusch.&nbsp;This touring group of 15 musicians showcases the thrilling potential of bringing brilliant minds and hands together to draw from disparate cultural reservoirs in order to concoct a new musical idiom that is both accessible and inconspicuously complex. Nata Swara and Baumbusch began working together in 2021, when Baumbusch donated two sets of "American Gamelan" instruments that he had designed and built over the course of a decade to Putu Septa and Nata Swara; this was the first instance of a set of "gamelan" instruments built outside of Indonesia being sent to Indonesia for local musicians to develop new repertoire and performance practices. Building on this relationship, Baumbusch then began to work with ZOFO to develop a repertoire that could combine the musical forces of Nata Swara with the kaleidoscopic tapestry of piano-four-hands into a new music that draws from traditional Balinese temple music and 20th century American minimalism alike.&nbsp;The “Chemistry for Gamelan and Piano" project offers presenters a rare and luscious musical repertoire paired with enriching and deeply informed educational presentations offered by Baumbusch, Septa, and ZOFO by way of master classes, lectures, gamelan workshops, and concert talks.&nbsp;The project also offers a 5-person version comprising of ZOFO, Brian Baumbusch, and two Balinese drummers (including Putu Septa). &nbsp;REPERTOIRE (15-Person Version**)<ul><li>Kendang Tunggal (Balinese paired drumming demonstration with Putu Septa and Baumbusch)</li><li>Gender Wayang performance (2 Balinese musicians playing on a pair of interlocking metallophones)</li><li>Prisms for Gene Davis by Brian Baumbusch (full group, meaning piano four-hands, two balinese drummers, and Baumbusch on percussion)</li><li>Balinese Ceremonial Music transcribed by Colin McPhee for two pianos, arranged for one-piano four hands by Eva-Maria Zimmermann (ZOFO)</li><li>Speech Delay for Gender Wayang by Ni Nyoman Srayamurtikanti (Balinese shadow-puppet theater instruments), arranged for one-piano four hands by Brian Baumbusch (ZOFO)</li><li>KoSo for ZOFO by Putu Septa (ZOFO)</li><li>Tombeau&nbsp;(Piano-four-hands and two Balinese gender-wayang interlocking metallophones)</li><li>Penrose&nbsp;by Brian Baumbusch (Nata Swara and ZOFO)</li><li>Penrose Prologue by Brian Baumbusch,&nbsp;10 minute&nbsp;excerpt for one-piano four hands only (ZOFO)</li></ul>**5-person version of repertoire available.&nbsp;&nbsp;EDUCATIONAL ENGAGEMENTMaster ClassZOFO offers their chamber music workshop/master class on piano-4-hands repertoire.Lecture/WorkshopThe Balinese musicians, in conjunction with Brian Baumbusch, offers a 1-2 hour lecture/workshop on Balinese music that includes a demonstration on Balinese instruments. This workshop could be spread across several days wherein the participants could learn to play a full (simple) piece from the gamelan repertoire. This offering features a short demonstration from the Balinese musicians on how Balinese musical structure works, particularly the aspect of duo-interconnectivity and rhythmic interlocking, which is central to Balinese musical structure and also has an interesting parallel with the piano-four-hands world.&nbsp;Global Music CompositionBrian Baumbusch offers a lecture, demonstration, or master class on composition, or if appealing to be more specific, “global music composition” where students will learn how to compose music that caters to intercultural collaboration, and talk about some experiences as well as considerations regarding effective collaborations with musicians from other parts of the globe, particularly centered on his experiences in Bali.Pre-Concert TalkThe concert itself offers a pre-concert talk where the audience will learn more about the form of the music on the program, as well as hear about the process of how these musicians found a way to collaborate while coming from disparate traditions and geographical regions.&nbsp;&nbsp;BIOGRAPHIESZOFO<a href="https://www.arielartists.com/artists/zofo" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Find more information about ZOFO here.</a>Brian BaumbuschComposer, instrument designer, and musicologist Brian Baumbusch’s work, while innovative within the global contemporary music community, is deeply in dialogue with cross-cultural exchanges. Baumbusch’s compositional work is centered on developing alternative acoustics paradigms through the creation of new instruments and tuning systems, and originating new performance practices that feature computer-assisted live performance and recording projects in order to achieve performances of inconspicuously complex polytempo music. Between 2007 and 2010, Baumbusch was deeply engaged in ethnomusicological field work centered on Argentine-Quechua folklore music. From 2012 to the present, Baumbusch has collaborated with several of Bali’s leading performing ensembles, and his works have premiered at the Bali Arts Festival. At the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, Baumbusch began creating new compositions that performers could collaborate on remotely by recording in isolation to individualized click tracks in order to cooperatively create complex polytempo structures. These include the symphonic length Isotropes, recorded by roughly 150 musicians between 2020 and 2021, and the evening length Polytempo Music, designed as a VR experience where the listener can interact with the music in a real-time spatial audio environment. Baumbusch resides in Alameda, CA. and teaches at the University of California, Santa Cruz.Putu SeptaI Putu Adi Septa Suweca Putra (Putu Septa) is a contemporary Balinese composer and performer, and the founder and artistic director of Nata Swara, an art community and performing ensemble located inside Padangtegal Village in Ubud, Bali. Septa actively composes diverse styles of music that connect local and international musicians with both traditional and newly designed instruments. As a performer, Septa is a senior member of Gamelan Salukat, led by Balinese composer Dewa Alit. As a musician and a gamelan teacher, Septa is engaged in artistic cultural activities with many diverse communities. As a teenager, Septa founded a children’s gamelan club for children aged 5-12 in his village. Many of those young students have matured to become part of his ensemble Nata Swara, and several of them have gone on to join Gamelan Salukat. His compositions include instrumental music with diverse instrumentations involving both Indonesian and global instruments, collaborations with dance choreographers, music for film, and experimental electronic music, among others. His devotion to traditional gamelan music started from childhood, when he drew inspiration from his grandfather, I Ketut Genjet, who’s role as a musical leader in his community was an inspiration to Septa. Septa regularly performs and tours with Gamelan Salukat, Gamelan Yuganada, and Shangrila. He holds a degree in music composition from ISI Denpasar, and resides in Ubud, Bali.Nata SwaraNata Swara is an art community that focuses on the explorations of traditional and contemporary gamelan music. The repertoire commissioned and performed by Nata Swara offers young gamelan musicians and composers the opportunity to explore new musical directions at the highest caliber. Nata Swara was established in 2011, in Padangtegal village, Ubud, Bali, which still serves as its home base. Nata Swara performs on a variety of different sets of gamelan instruments, including Gamelan Sada Sancaya, a large orchestra of extended range bronze instruments designed by Putu Septa; two sets of instruments created by American composer Brian Baumbusch; and a newly developed instrument set consisting of a varied collection of Balinese kendang drums called Kendang Briuk, of which Nata Swara has commissioned several new works for. Nata Swara actively engages in deepening the well of repertoire of both traditional and contemporary gamelan music, while collaborating with musicians and composers from within Bali and abroad.&nbsp;Ni Nyoman SrayamurtikantiSrayamurtikanti is a stage name of Ni Nyoman Srayamurtikanti. She is a musician and a composer based in Balinese traditional music (Balinese Gamelan). Sraya’s works often concern gamelan instrumental, innovative, vocal, and experimental music on Balinese gamelan. Sraya’s arts are developed by exploring the possibilities of composing and playing gamelan, musician’s movement, and space responses. She currently performed her compositions “Empowerment” at the SouthEast Asian Music Symposium (Bangkok, Thailand), “Nuutsih” at Pekan Komponis Indonesia (Jakarta, Indonesia), “Speech Delay” at Music Gamelan Creative Competition (Bali) and The Northern California Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology (NCCSEM), “Himpit” at Rocky Mountain Gamelan Bali Festival (Denver, Colorado-USA), “To Reckon through Complexities” Collaboration with Gabi Motuba (South Africa) at Mutual Mentorship of Musicians (New York, USA), “Just Us” Collaboration with Aine Nakamura at Center for New Music (San Francisco, California-USA), etc. Sraya is a Gamelan Guest Artist Bali Teacher at Gamelan Sekar Jaya based in Berkeley, California (2022-2024) and a Guest Artist Teacher/Instructor at Gamelan Bali Class at the University of California, Berkeley.

ZOFO | Brian Baumbusch |  Putu Septa & Nata Swara 

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Chemistry for Gamelan & Piano

one piano, four hands

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Akropolis Reed Quintet_2025-26_Biographies.pdf

Winner of the 2015 Fischoff Educator Award, Akropolis has engaged more than 50,000 youth during its 16-year history, including an annual, yearlong residency at three high schools in their home Detroit community. As an independent nonprofit they have received grants from the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan, and many individuals nationwide to support their educational programming, which comprises a noteworthy portion of their activity. At the elementary school level, Akropolis gives fast-paced, interactive concerts that include introductions to each performer and their instruments, plus a Q&amp;A. Certain musical selections include interactions and collaboration with students, who identify elements of the composition or share their observations. At the middle and high school level, Akropolis most enjoys performing for and interacting with students of all musical and artistic disciplines. They prefer engagement directly in the classroom if possible.&nbsp;“I am in awe of your genius in this educational arena and excited for all the young lives that you will impact and change because you are first and foremost extraordinary artists who are bringing that excellence and meticulous preparation and execution to the educational arena.”-Kathy Soroka, Allegheny RiverStone Center for Arts Education

K-12 Education

Akropolis believes that "quality" in classical music comes not only from the technical competency of the performers, but of the relevance an artist creates within their community. To do this, Akropolis engages their communities nationwide through experiences informed by the communities they serve. This includes collaborating with community members on new musical works, including&nbsp;so much more, featuring interviews with local business owners, and&nbsp;Sprocket, featuring a rideable percussion bike created by scrap metal artist, Juan Martinez. They commissioned new work from Detroit poet Marsha Music, and in their travels have performed with guest percussionists in several communities.&nbsp;Akropolis has performed at dozens of workplaces during its Detroit Workplace Concert Series, including hospitals, factories, tech companies, and more. They have performed in juvenile&nbsp;detention centers, homeless shelters, development centers, and senior care centers. They have given dozens of outdoor performances at parks and other pop-up locations, including grocery stores and farmers markets. They have given house concerts, backyard concerts, and concerts on river walks and bike paths.&nbsp; &nbsp;Each concert is custom-designed with community input and shaped to reflect the vibrancy of the community.&nbsp;

Community Engagement

A major part of Akropolis' mission is to facilitate the creation of new, vibrant careers in music. Akropolis hosts the Akropolis Chamber Music Institute (ACMI) each summer during which they directly collaborate with early-career instrumentalists and composers to create and record new works. Akropolis has given masterclasses, recitals, career development workshops, and readings of new works at over 50 universities. They have performed alongside collegiate students at certain residencies and offer two concertos for reed quintet and band: "Storm Warning" by Roshanne Etezady and "Un Momento Dado" by Johan De Meij. They especially enjoy conversations about career development, which they facilitate holistically, inviting students to consider the intersections of their personal lives, their careers, and their dreams.&nbsp;Akropolis' university offerings includes:<ul><li>Recitals</li><li>Master classes</li><li>Career development conversations/Q&amp;A's</li><li>Readings of student-composed works</li><li>1:1 mentoring/coaching</li><li>Concerto/other collaborative performances</li><li>Other offerings in collaboration with faculty and students</li></ul>

Career Development Workshops (University)

Akropolis Reed Quintet—Photos for Public Download.zip

Akropolis Reed Quintet

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<h3>Ariel Artists proudly congratulates&nbsp;Akropolis Reed Quintet, Pascal Le Boeuf, and Christian Euman on their incredible GRAMMY win for Best Instrumental Composition with their single Strands&nbsp;from the album, Are We Dreaming The Same Dream?, awarded&nbsp;at last night's&nbsp;67th GRAMMY Awards Ceremony in Los Angeles.</h3><figure class="image"><img src="https://d2k153re4i383a.cloudfront.net/BEST_INSTRUMENTAL_COMPOSITION_2_987a74dc26.png"></figure>&nbsp;Akropolis becomes the first ever GRAMMY® winning reed quintet with their 2024 album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, in collaboration with Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman.&nbsp;Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?&nbsp;is an examination of what Ralph Ellison calls “the unity of American experience.” With a hybrid ensemble comprised of Akropolis Reed Quintet, pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf, and drummer Christian Euman, Le Boeuf deconstructs the fabric of his American experience by recognizing the strands of his musical DNA—Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, and Leonard Bernstein. Learn more about the album <a href="https://www.arielartists.com/news/akropolis-reed-quintet-announce-6th-album-'are-we-dreaming-the-same-dream'" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.&nbsp;Live performances of Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? include University Musical Society, Chamber Music Corvallis at the PRAx Center, and the Williams Center for the Arts.&nbsp;&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9IBnRuLGk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://d2k153re4i383a.cloudfront.net/Screenshot_2024_04_04_at_14_18_45_41add248f2.png"></a></figure>&nbsp;To book the Akropolis Reed Quintet, please contact <a href="mailto:oni@arielartists.com?subject=Akropolis%20Booking%20Inquiry">Oni Buchanan</a>.&nbsp;

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GRAMMY® Award-winning, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?&nbsp; is a “tour-de-force” (I Care If You Listen) of a concert experience that blurs the lines between classical, jazz, and contemporary music, examining what Ralph Ellison calls “the unity of American experience.” With a hybrid ensemble comprised of Akropolis Reed Quintet, pianist/composer Pascal Le Boeuf, and drummer Christian Euman, Le Boeuf deconstructs the fabric of his American experience by recognizing the strands of his musical DNA—Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, and Leonard Bernstein. What are the strands that form our collective identity, and are we dreaming the same dream?Akropolis became the first ever GRAMMY® winning reed quintet with their 2024 album, Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?, in collaboration with Pascal Le Boeuf and drummer Christian Euman, taking home Best Instrumental Composition for the track "Strands" at the 67th Grammy Awards held in February, 2025.&nbsp;&nbsp;<h3>"Brilliant writing, exquisitely performed, and ingenuously conceived! Are We Dreaming The Same Dream? is a musical journey that shares a sound world that reveals the deep layers of life experience, and done so in the hands of some real masters of their instruments."&nbsp;</h3>~ Jennifer Higdon, Pulitzer Prize &amp; Grammy Award-Winning Composer&nbsp;<h3>Concert Repertoire</h3>Pascal Le Boeuf – Are We Dreaming the Same Dream? (full septet) 50′Pascal Le Boeuf – Variations on a Mood (Pascal &amp; Christian) 8'George Gershwin arr. Raaf Hekkema – An American in Paris (Akropolis) 18′Geri Allen arr. Le Boeuf – “RTG” (full septet) 5′Charles Mingus arr. Le Boeuf – “Self-Portrait in Three Colors” (full septet) 7′&nbsp;<h3>Watch GRAMMY® winning single, Strands: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9IBnRuLGk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mt9IBnRuLGk</a></h3>&nbsp;<figure class="image image-style-align-center image_resized" style="width:75%;"><a href="https://akropolisquintet.org/are-we-dreaming-the-same-dream/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><img src="https://d2k153re4i383a.cloudfront.net/2024_BST_Akropolis_Dream_1500x1500_cover_1_96a806d2cd.jpg"></a></figure><h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>About Are We Dreaming The Same Dream?</h3>“America is woven of many strands; I would recognize them and let it so remain.” Ralph Ellison, from Invisible Man (1952)“If one were to examine [...] the DNA of one’s influences [...] in terms of how the various strands interact to create the artist, one would see how important conflict between strands is.” Bill T. Jones, from Story/Time (2014)"Are We Dreaming the Same Dream?" is an examination of what Ralph Ellison calls “the unity of American experience” and draws upon a selection of my musical “ancestors” — Geri Allen, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, and Leonard Bernstein — each of whom have historically represented a variety of perspectives concerning the unity of American experience. Following this chain of artistic ancestry leads to Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams, Aaron Copland, and beyond.This project was prompted by a quote from choreographer Bill T. Jones. When I first worked with Bill in 2014, I was taken by his fearless approach to creating socially engaged art, and the myriad ways in which he married improvised and planned material throughout the collaborative process. That same year, he published Story/Time (Princeton University Press) which examines his artistic relationship to John Cage, whom he both admires and questions.“If one were to examine [...] the DNA of one’s influences [...] in terms of how the various strands interact to create the artist, one would see how important conflict between strands is. I don’t think any artist can come to who they are without experiencing this conflict. [...] In some cases, one has to accept an uncomfortable fit in order to become the artist one truly is.”On a personal level, this music represents my struggle to understand, as Bill puts it, the artist who I truly am, the context in which I exist, and the strands of influence that form my identity. But this work also begs the audience to consider the unity or disunity of their American experience and to examine the strands that contribute to our collective identity, for as Ellison once pointed out, “the most agonizing mystery sponsored by the democratic ideal is that of our unity- in-diversity, our oneness in manyness. American culture is of a whole, for that which is essentially ‘American’ in [that] it springs from the synthesis of our diverse elements of cultural style.”~Program note by Pascal Le Boeuf<h3>&nbsp;</h3><h3>Biographies</h3>Each artist on stage is a powerhouse in their field. Founded in 2009, the Billboard charting, 7-time national prize winning Akropolis Reed Quintet makes music with “infallible musicality and huge vitality” (Fanfare Magazine). Winner of 7 national chamber music prizes including the 2014 Fischoff Gold Medal, Akropolis has premiered and commissioned over 150 works by living artists and composers. Pascal Le Boeuf is a Grammy-nominated composer, pianist, and producer described as "sleek, new" and "hyper-fluent" by the New York Times. He is widely recognized for his polyrhythmic approach to chamber music and hybridization of disparate idioms. Christian Euman, one of Revive Magazine's "six drummers you should know about," has toured with Jacob Collier, Kurt Elling, Billy Childs, Walter Smith III, and Geoff Keezer, among others. He attended the Thelonious Monk Institute where he studied and performed with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chris Potter, Jimmy Heath, and Stefon Harris.&nbsp;<figure class="image image_resized" style="width:75%;"><img src="https://d2k153re4i383a.cloudfront.net/AF_690_AE_8_0_DAB_4989_812_D_1_E749_DDC_9_E60_c64e726d7f.jpeg"></figure>

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