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Welcome to the inaugural Shastra Festival!
Over the past two thousand years, both India and the West have cultivated deep, sophisticated, and
continuously evolving musical traditions. In the last century, as the world has become increasingly
interconnected, incredible musicians from both cultures are finding new pathways to connect
Indian and Western musical styles, while preserving the integrity and heritage of each.
Shastra is the central hub for innovative, cross-cultural music that connects the great
musical traditions of India and the West. Each of Shastra’s musicians works at the intersection
of Indian and Western music. Each has developed a unique musical voice, informed by both
cultures. Through performances, festivals, commissioning projects and educational initiatives,
Shastra showcases and supports Indian/Western crossover music - we are a nexus for musicians to
share their artistry and bring this music to the world.
Thank you for coming to the Shastra Festival! We are so excited to share this very special
music with you this evening -- we hope something your hear tonight resonates with you. We also
invite you to discover the music of Shastra’s diverse group of artists through our website
(www.shastramusic.org) and to visit our events calendar to see a curated list of Indian/Western
musical events in your area. We invite you to learn more about our educational initiative,
Parampara, through which our first two Shastra-commissioned works were made possible tonight.
We encourage you to engage with the Shastra community through our blog, where we profile
important musicians and events in Indian/Western collaborative music today.
Shastra is a registered non-profit 501c3 – tonight’s events were made possible by many of our
generous donors, who are listed on the back cover of this program. Please visit our support page at
www.shastramusic.org/support to make a donation today.
Welcome to the Shastra community!
Sincerely,
Payton MacDonald and Reena Esmail
Shastra Co-Artistic Directors
SET 1: 4PM-6PM
The festival opens with a newly commissioned work for big band by jazz composer Aakash Mittal; Shawn
Mativetsky’s tabla set showcases a broad range of new compositions for tabla; Payton MacDonald creates
beautiful spacial music from a combination of Dhrupad singing and electronic processing; Rajna Swaminathan
and Rafiq Bhatia share their new collaborations for mridangam and guitar.
I. Sapna; II. Street Music II; III. Pooja*
Aakash Mittal
World Premier by musicians of Face the Music
Samurai Mama Big Band
Vasudevan Panicker, conductor
Jonah Murphy, Rebecca Frank, Violet Marmur, flute; Sam Mellins, clarinet
Ben Schaffzin, Declan Sheehy-Moss, alto saxophone; Sam Hudson, Zach Schurr, tenor saxophone
Owen Carter, Jack Eisenthal, Taja Graves-Parker, trombone; Eoighan Gray, bass trombone
Deandre Desir, tuba; Sebastian Arias, Miles Hilger, Sam Friedman, Lauren Reilly, trumpets
Zachary Detrick, piano and keyboard; Marek Subernat, Francisco Garcia, guitars; Violet Jensen-Moulton,
cello/electric bass; Juliana Maitenaz, drumset; Maxx Adorno, Elijah Valongo, Caspar Lant, percussion
Les arbres célestes
Saat
Something to Say
Bruno Paquet
Shawn Mativetsky
Tawnie Olson
Shawn Mativetsky, tabla
Dhrupad Trance
Payton MacDonald
Payton MacDonald, Dhrupad vocals and electronics
Selections
Rajna Swaminathan
Rajna Swaminathan, mridangam & Rafiq Bhatia, guitar
*Commissioned by Shastra
SET 2: 6PM-8PM
Michael Harrison’s Jaunpuri draws together the vocals of revered Hindustani vocal master Mashkoor Ali Khan
and international concert pianist Kimball Gallagher in a meditative and soulful work; Shirish Korde creates
vibrant counterpoint between tabla, cello and vibraphone in Lalit;an arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov’s
Hindu Lied from his opera Sadko paints a picture of India through a late nineteenth century French lens ; The
Awaz Trio performs works at the intersection of jazz and Hindustani music.
Jaunpuri
Michael Harrison
Mashkoor Ali Khan, classical Indian vocals; Kimball Gallagher, piano;
Anirban Roy Chowdhury, tabla; Michael Harrison, tamboura
Lalit
Shirish Korde
Jan Müller-Szeraws, cello; Amit Kavthekar, tabla;
Jonathan Hess, marimba
Hindu Lied
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Shastra Fetival 2015 String Quartet
Mélanie Clapiès, Jessica Oddie, violins; Lucy Caplan, viola; Yan Levionnois, cello
Nocturne II
Nocturne IV
Nocturne V
Akash Mittal
Awaz Trio
Aakash Mittal, saxophone; Rez Abbasi, guitar;
Rajna Swaminathan, mridangam
SET 3: 8PM-10PM
Philip Glass’s Two Pages, written during his studies with Alla Rakha and Ravi Shankar; a Shastracommissioned work for Face the Music by composer Asha Srinivasan incorporates Gujarati, Tamil, Marathi and
Punjabi folk rhythms; Dan Weiss’s unique drumming techniques map a tabla onto a drum set; Reena Esmail’s
mellifluous String Quartet draws from Hindustani melody and rhythm. The Shastra Festival closes with a large
group improvisation, featuring a special guest artist, clarinetist Shankar Tucker.
Two Pages
Philip Glass
Payton MacDonald, vibraphone; Michael Harrison, piano
Samyukt*
Asha Srinivasan
World Premier by Face the Music Philharmonic
Jenny Undercofler, conductor
Nadira Novruzov, flute; Harry Wang, oboe; Joseph Gelb, clarinet; Cindy Baez, bassoon
Benjamin Korman, trumpet; Christopher Rush and Chelsea Jordan, horns; Ethan Brown and
Hao Wang, trombones; Deandre Desir, tuba; Elif Abali and Katie Clinch, percussion
Leina Sheehy, Paris Lavidis, violins; Amelia Krinke, viola; Javin Bose, cello; Catherine Michetti, bass
Selections
Dan Weiss
Dan Weiss, drum set
String Quartet (Ragamala)
Reena Esmail
Shastra Fetival 2015 String Quartet
Mélanie Clapiès, Jessica Oddie, violins; Lucy Caplan, viola; Yan Levionnois, cello
Gopala
Shastra Artists
featuring Shankar Tucker, clarinet
Rez Abbasi, guitar; Michael Harrison, piano; Shawn Mativetsky, tabla; Payton MacDonald,
vibraphone; Aakash Mittal, saxophone; Rajna Swaminathan, mridangam; Dan Weiss, drums;
BIOGRAPHIES:
REZ ABBASI was born in Karachi, Pakistan, removed at the
age of four to the vastness of Southern California, schooled at
the University of Southern California and the Manhattan
School of Music in jazz and classical music, along with a
pilgrimage in India under the tutelage of master percussionist,
Ustad Alla Rakha, Rez Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the
above stated influences and genres. Making New York his
home for the past 20 years, Abbasi has developed a unique sound both as a composer and an
instrumentalist. He is considered by many to be one of the foremost modern jazz guitar players the world
over. Since graduating from the Manhattan School of Music, Rez has honed his skills with performances
throughout Europe, Canada, the U.S., Mexico and India. He has performed and recorded with many
including, Grammy winner Ruth Brown, Peter Erskine, Kenny Werner, Barre Phillips, TIm Berne, Marc
Johnson, Billy Hart, Gary Thomas, Dave Douglas, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Mike Clark, Tony Malaby, George
Brooks, Ronu Majumdar, Kadri Gopalnath, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Marilyn Crispell, Greg Osby, Howard Levy
and a host of others. Voted #2 “Rising Star” guitarist in DownBeat magazine’s 2012’s esteemed Critic’s Poll,
and #1 in 2013’s poll, Rez Abbasi’s star is indeed shining bright.
The New York Times describes one of the American composerguitarist RAFIQ BHATIA’s recent performances as "transcending real
sound in real time with the unexpected,” noting, “there aren't many
usual moments in his music.” The “rising guitar star” (Time Out New
York) has released two debut recordings to high acclaim, including
recognition on several critics’ lists of the best albums of 2012. He has
collaborated with composer-improvisers Vijay Iyer, Billy Hart, David
Virelles, and Marcus Gilmore; producers Alexander Overington, Valgeir
Sigurðsson, Ryan Lott (of Son Lux), Prefuse 73, and Lord RAJA; emcees
High Priest (of Anti-Pop Consortium) and Himanshu Suri (formerly of Das Racist); members of the chamber
ensembles ICE, JACK, MIVOS, and Alarm Will Sound; and numerous others. You can also hear Rafiq on
recordings alongside pop revisionists Lorde and Sufjan Stevens, and on the soundtracks to the films The
Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby and Afflicted. Most recently, Rafiq and drummer Ian Chang joined Ryan Lott
as members of the band Son Lux, touring North America, Europe, and Asia for close to 150 performances in
2014 alone. Son Lux will be release a new album in 2015, while Rafiq's next album is currently in the
works.
Born into a family environ of music in Assam (India), ANIRBAN ROY
CHOWDHURY gulped music in his boyhood days from his father Akhil Roy
Chowdhury - a noted musician in his days - and elder brother Animesh Roy
Chowdhury. Anirban’s soul enlivened with rhythm during days of formal
education. The young maestro is at once the torch-bearer of the Punjab
style of tabla (percussion) playing, and an ace ambassador of Indian
Classical Music as well.The formal, intensive and extensive training in the
art of tabla was with Ustad Allarakha ( Allarakha Institute of Music ) Bombay, and Pt Yogesh Shamsi
suitably overseen by the legendary tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. Anirban is a Sangeet Visharad
(B.Mus) of Bhatkhande Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, and a Sangeet Nipun (M.Mus) of Bangiya Sangeet
Parishad, Calcutta. He currently lives in New Jersey, and has been deeply involved with the organization
Art Speaks for Autism, with the two fold aim of promoting interactions of Indian Classical Music with music
abroad for enabling a holistic fusion and giving back to society the support music gets from it through
music support to the cause of alleviation of Autism.
Indian-American composer, REENA ESMAIL “creates richly
melodic lines that imbue her music with the heights of lyricism,
balanced by winning textural clarity.” (AAAL) A graduate of
Juilliard and Yale School of Music, she has won numerous awards,
including the Walter Hinrichsen Award from the American
Academy of Arts and Letters (with subsequent publication by C.F.
Peters of her work Aria for Hindustani vocalist and orchestra) and
two ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. She has
received commissions from the Albany Symphony, Imani Winds,
and SOLI Chamber Ensemble. Her new orchestral work for the
American Composers Orchestra will be premiered at Carnegie Hall in Spring 2016. Esmail was a 2011-12
Fulbright-Nehru grantee to India, and was also a 2011 INK Fellow (in association with TED). She is currently
a post-residential doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Music, where her thesis explores the methods
and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers.
Pianist KIMBALL GALLAGHER has risen to
prominence as one of the most dynamic and
multifaceted artists on the musical stage today.
Gallagher’s sold-out 2008 debut at Carnegie Hall
launched his international 88-Concert Tour, which
seeks to revive salon culture through a series of
200+ performances in a variety of non-traditional
venues. Through these performances, Gallagher has blazed a trail across the 7 continents, appearing in 30
countries, and taken him to distinguished venues and intimate gatherings all over the world, from the
Kennedy Center to Kabul, Bombay to Boulder, Chicago to Shanghai, and Tuscany to Tunisia. Highlights of
recent tour seasons have included Gallagher’s debuts at the Cairo Opera House, the National Recital Hall in
Taipei, the United Nations in New York, and the World Bank, as well as in private homes and more exotic
venues throughout Paris, Alexandria, Burma, Dubai, Thailand, Fiji, India, and Antarctica. In Afghanistan, he
performed at the German Embassy and taught master classes at the Afghanistan National Institute of
Music.
Through his expertise in “just intonation” tunings and Indian ragas composer/pianist MICHAEL
HARRISON, has created “a new harmonic world…of vibrant sound” (The New York Times). He has
collaborated with filmmakers, choreographers and visual artists for installations and performances of his
work at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Stuttgart Ballet, MoMA, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Centre
Pompidou, MASS MoCA, Spoleto Festival USA, United Nations, American
Academy in Rome, Sundance Film Festival, American Film Institute Film
Festival, and screenings at film festivals throughout the world. He has
collaborated or performed with filmmaker Bill Morrison, Roomful of
Teeth, Bang on a Can, Kronos Quartet, JACK Quartet, Young People’s
Chorus of NYC, Contemporaneous, and his mentors, composers La Monte
Young and Terry Riley. Time Loops (Cantaloupe Music), his CD with cellist
Maya Beiser, was selected by NPR as one of the Top 10 Classical Albums
of 2012. Revelation: Music in Pure Intonation (Cantaloupe Music), was
chosen by The New York Times, Boston Globe and Time Out New York as
one of the Best Classical Recordings of 2007. Harrison is the co-founder
and president of the American Academy of Indian Classical Music and a
disciple of the late Pandit Pran Nath, and Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, with whom he performs regularly.
JONATHAN HESS has performed with Monadnock Music Festival,
Boston Musica Viva, Dinosaur Annex, Alea III, AxialAge Ensemble and
the Boston Percussion Group. As an orchestral musician, he free-lances
with the Portland Symphony (ME), South Dakota Symphony, Boston
Modern Orchestra Project, Opera Boston and the Marsh Chapel
Collegium. He is also active in the field of historical performance,
having performed with Boston’s Handel and Haydn Society, Harvard
Baroque, Cambridge Concentus and Grand Harmonie. Equally in
demand behind a drum kit, he has shared the stage with artists such as Lady Antebellum, Nickel Creek and
Indigenous and can be heard on local and national broadcasts on WBUR, NPR, Minnesota Public Radio and
Drive105 (Clear Channel). Jonathan recently traveled to Ghana for intensive study with xylophone masters
Bernard Woma and Edmond Tijon. Jonathan is a teaching artist for the Community Music Center of Boston
and is the percussion instructor at Lynnfield High School. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and the
Boston Conservatory.
Young and talented AMIT KAVTHEKAR has rhythm running
in his veins. At the early age of six, when most the children
of his age were playing about, he was being groomed in the
art of tabla playing by Maestro Ustad Allarakha. Since 1991,
he was fortunate to be taught tabla intricacies by Ustad
Zakir Hussain, a master maestro in tabla, whos loyal fan
base extends far beyond India and includes music lovers
worldwide. Recently awarded the "Taal Mani" by Sur Singar Sansad, Amit is presently learning intricacies
of Delhi Gharana from Guru Pandit Sudhir Mainkar.
Ustad MASHKOOR ALI KHAN comes from a distinguished musical line that includes some of the foremost
figures in Indian Classical music. A direct descendant of the family of the great Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and
the legendary Sartaj-e-Mousiqui Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan who were luminaries of the Kirana Gharana,
Maskhoor Ali Khan is the son of the great Sarangi-nawaz, Padmashree Ustad Shakoor Khan, who was the
grandnephew of Ustad Bande Ali Khan Beenkar, composer of
numerous bandishes under the pseudonym Sabras. Mashkoor Ali,
as a true heir of his renowned forefathers and a scholar of music,
continues to passionately collect rare compositions to build an
elaborate vocabulary for his mellifluous vocal approach. He is
credited as having one of the richest collection of melodies in the
khayal genre of Indian classical music in the country. Initiated and
trained by his father for fifteen years, young Mashkoor Ali had
secured a place for himself in the world of music even before his
father breathed his last. Since the late 1980’s he has been nurturing students under his able wings as a
Guru of the I.T.C. Sangeet Research Academy, India’s premier institute of Hindustani classical music in
Kolkata, some of whom are established musicians already. He has represented and performed for the SRA
numerous times in prestigious venues in India and abroad and also done recordings of over 250 rare
compositions for the archives. Numerous titles and awards have been given to him honoring his talent and
unparalleled musicianship.
SHIRISH KORDE is celebrated for “integrating and
synthesizing music of diverse cultures into breathtaking works
of complex expressive layers.” His works have been performed
by orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, The New
Zealand Symphony, Boston Philharmonic, the National Polish
Radio Orchestra; and ensembles such as The Boston Musica
Viva, Da Capo Chamber Players, The Ensemble Modern and
others. He has received many grants and awards including the
National Endowment for the Arts, The Fromm Foundation, and
The Siemens Foundation. Phoolan Devi – The Bandit Queen is his 6th music theater work which will feature
soprano Zorana Sadiq. His works can be heard on Chandos, Neuma, Centaur, and Mode. For more
information, please visit his website at: www.shirishkorde.com
PAYTON MACDONALD is a composer/improviser/
percussionist/singer/educator. He has created a unique
body of work that draws upon his extensive experience with
East Indian tabla drumming and Dhrupad singing, Jazz,
European classical music, and the American experimental
tradition. MacDonald studied music at the University of
Michigan and the Eastman School of Music. His composition
teachers include Sydney Hodkinson, Robert Morris, Dave
Rivello, Bright Sheng, and Augusta Read Thomas. MacDonald has toured the world with Alarm Will Sound
and performed many improvised concerts with artists such as Elliott Sharp, Aakash Mittal, Tim Feeney, and
others. His percussion teachers include John Beck and Michael Udow. Further studies include tabla with
Bob Becker and Pandit Sharda Sahai, and Dhrupad vocal with Ramakant Gundecha. The New York Times
described him as an "energetic soloist" and The Los Angeles Times described him as an ". . . inventive,
stylistically omnivorous composer and gifted performer . . ." MacDonald is an Associate Professor of Music
at William Paterson University.
Exponent of the Benares gharana, and disciple of the legendary Pandit
Sharda Sahai, SHAWN MATIVETSKY is a highly sought-after tabla
performer and educator. He is active in the promotion of the tabla and
North Indian classical music through lectures, workshops, and
performances across Canada and internationally. Based in Montreal,
Shawn teaches tabla and percussion at McGill University. Shawn has
performed solo recitals in Canada, the United States, the UK, and India. As
an ensemble musician, Shawn performs regularly with violinist Parmela
Attariwala's cross-cultural Attar Project, Indo-fusion group
Ragleela, Indian-folk group Galitcha, and the improv trio Of Sound, Mind
and Body, with Tim Brady and Helmut Lipsky, and has performed with a number of symphony orchestras in
Canada. His performances have been recorded for radio and television, including CBC, Radio Canada, Bravo,
CH Montreal, and Zee Music (UK/India). In 2000, his recording with Ramasutra won an ADISQ Felix award,
and was nominated for a Juno. In addition to his tabla studies, Shawn Mativetsky studied Western classical
percussion with Pierre Béluse, D’Arcy Gray, Andrei Malashenko, and Robert Slapcoff, and the percussion
of kathakali dance-theatre with Bruno Paquet. Shawn holds a Master’s degree in music from McGill
University and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian
Heritage, and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
Hailed as “A fiery alto saxophonist and prolific composer” by the Star
Tribune (Minneapolis), AAKASH MITTAL is sculpting a dynamic
voice that embraces American and Indian traditions. His selfreleased album, Videsh, was regarded as, "point[ing] toward new
possibilities in improvised music." (Denver Post) As a composer and
improviser, Mittal employs colorful dissonances, meditative silences,
and angular rhythms expressing environments and spaces ranging
from the American west to the dense streets of Kolkata. As a
composer, Aakash Mittal has written extensively for jazz quartet
composing over fifty new works. Other commissions include, Urban
Raga (2011), Transitions (2011), and Questions of Identity (2012) for
the Playground Ensemble; Octet on Raga Yaman (2009) for the Ethos
West Chamber Orchestra. In 2012 Mittal wrote Meditation for Pictures on Silence saxophone and harp duo.
American University Creative Ensemble commissioned the work Pooja, in 2013. As a leader, Mittal has selfreleased four recordings, Possible Beginnings, Videsh, Thumbs Up EP, and Ocean to rave reviews. Mittal’s
awards and honors include the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming of
Contemporary Music (2012) and the Herb Albert/ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award (2013). Aakash
Mittal is a 2013 American Institute of Indian Studies Creative and Performing Arts Fellow.
Cellist JAN MÜLLER-SZERAWS musical journey has taken him over three
continents as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Since his early debut
with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Concepción he has performed frequently as a
soloist with orchestras in Chile, Germany and the United States. He has been
a guest artist at many festivals including the Cape & Islands, Rockport, El Paso
Pro-Musica, Strings in the Mountains (Steamboat Springs, CO), Delaware,
Music at Gretna, Florida Arts, Sebago Long Lake and Kingston Chamber Music
Festivals, the Garth Newel Music Center and the European Chamber Music
Association. Other recent projects include the release of "Anusvara", a disc
with music by Shirish Korde for cello, tabla and carnatic soprano, the
premiere of "Mutations" for solo cello and computer by Chris Arrell, written for him, as well as a recording
of sonatas for piano and cello by Brahms and Chopin with pianist Adam Golka for Hammond Performing
Arts.Starting in September 2014, Müller-Szeraws has been appointed Artist-in-Residence and Chamber
Music Coordinator at the College of the Holy Cross. He is also artistic director of the Chamber Music Institute
at Holy Cross, an intensive chamber music summer immersion program for gifted high school and college
students on campus of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA.
Indian-American composer, ASHA SRINIVASAN draws from her Western
musical training and Indian heritage to create her compositional language. Her
music has been presented at various national and international venues including
SEAMUS, ICMC, June in Buffalo, SCI, and the National Flute Convention. Recent
awards include the Flute New Music Consortium competition and the Ruam
Samai award at the 2011 Thailand International Composition Festival. In 2012,
she participated in the Mizzou International Composers Festival with Alarm Will
Sound. Several of her works have been released on CD by Ablaze Records, Mark
Records, Beauport Classical, and SEAMUS CD Series (vol. 22). Graduate studies include: D.M.A. at University
of Maryland, College Park; M.Mus. at the Peabody Conservatory. Ms. Srinivasan is currently an Associate
Professor of Music at Lawrence University. More details at www.twocomposers.org.
SHASTRA FESTIVAL 2015 STRING QUARTET:
MÉLANIE CLAPIÈS has studied at the National Conservatory of Lyon and the
Guildhall School of Music & Drama, London. Born into a family of teachers,
the transmission of music has always been one of her ideals, and in parallel
to her career as a violin player, she studied for a graduate diploma in violin
teaching. She has taught successively at the conservatoires of Toulon and
Bordeaux, as well as at the Paris École Normale de Musique. Clapiès is
currently studying at the Yale School of Music under Syoko Aki and receiving
guidance from the Tokyo Quartet, the Brentano Quartet, the Artis Quartet and the Emerson Quartet, as well
as from Rainer Schmidt and Vera Beths. Her priority being to garner as wide a range of experiences as
possible, she is also drawn to conducting and composition. With her predilection for chamber music, she
has founded a festival in Burgundy in collaboration with cellist Yan Levionnois. A winner of an award
granted by the Zonta Club, Clapiès plays a 1781 Joseph Gagliano.
Violinist JESSICA ODDIE is a versatile soloist, chamber musician, and
orchestral player. She made her solo debut with the Colorado Symphony
Orchestra, playing the Sibelius Violin Concerto. She has also soloed with
orchestras such as the Yale Symphony Orchestra and the Denver Young Artists
Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Jessica has performed 20th century works at
La Fenice in Venice, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Le Poisson Rouge, and has been
in residence Banff Centre, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and Toronto
Summer Music Festival. Jessica has released chamber music recordings under
the Naxos and Tactus labels. With Idil Biret, Jessica recorded Hindemith’s
Kammermusik for Piano and Chamber Ensemble. Jessica is currently a Master
of Music student at the Yale School of Music, studying with Syoko Aki. An honors graduate in English from
Yale University, Jessica was concertmaster of the Yale Symphony, two-time prizewinner in Yale’s Concerto
Competition, and three-time winner of Yale’s Friends of Music Competition. She has also studied at the
Juilliard School.
LUCY CAPLAN is a violist who is also pursuing a career as a
historian of American music. She graduated from Harvard
University, where she was a student of Michelle LaCourse. While at
Harvard, she performed as soloist with the Mozart Society
Orchestra and Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra as winner of
their respective concerto competitions and served as principal
violist of the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra, including during the
orchestra's 2011 tour of Cuba. Lucy has collaborated with artists
including Yo-Yo Ma and Simon Rattle, and performed new music
in Walt Disney Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Green Umbrella series. She has attended
numerous summer festivals, including Kneisel Hall, Orford Arts Center, and the Castleman Quartet
Programs. In 2012, she was awarded a Music Fellowship at the Dekeyser and Friends Academy, and spent
three months in Hamburg, Germany studying music and social entrepreneurship with musicians from
around the world. Active as a performer in Boston, New Haven, and New York, she is currently studying for
a PhD in American Studies and African American Studies at Yale University.
YAN LEVIONNOIS obtained the first prize at the André Navarra and In
Memoriam Rostropovitch international competitions, and was awarded two
special prizes at the last Rostropovitch Competition, including that for the
most remarkable personality. He is the Adami 2013 classical revelation, and
the prize winner of the Banque Populaire and Safran Foundations. He has
given solo performances with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the
Sinfonia Varsovia, the Orchestre National de France and the Orchestre
National du Capitole de Toulouse. His first solo cd, "Cello Solo", was released
in February 2013 for Fondamenta, and obtained the prestigious ffff of
Télérama magazine. His discography also includes a recording of
Rachmaninov's second Elegiac Trio with Renaud Capuçon and Denis Kozhukhin, live in Lugano, for EMI
classics, and "Pierrots Lunaires", a violin and cello duets cd with violinist Mélanie Clapiès, released in 2014
for Fondamenta. Yan Levionnois began studying the cello with his father before continuing with Marc
Coppey, Philippe Muller, and Truls Mørk, and attended master-classes with Gary Hoffman, Heinrich Schiff,
Natalia Gutman, Frans Helmerson, Steven Isserlis, and Natalia Shakhovskaïa. He is currently studying at the
Juilliard School with Timothy Eddy.
RAJNA SWAMINATHAN is an accomplished young artist in the field of
South Indian classical percussion – mrudangam. She is a disciple and
protégé of mrudangam maestro Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman. She has
accompanied many renowned musicians widely in the US, Canada, and
India. She has also performed extensively in the December Music Festival in
Chennai. She frequently presents workshops on South Indian rhythm, most
notably at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music and
the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. Over the past few
years, she has been collaborating with distinguished artists in New York's
jazz and creative music scene, including Steve Coleman and Vijay Iyer. Rajna is active as a composerperformer for dance and theatre works. Most notably, she has toured widely with the acclaimed Ragamala
Dance (Minneapolis). Rajna's most recent engagement as a composer is RAJAS, a project that brings
together contemporary musicians to explore new directions for composition and improvisation rooted in
Indian musical concepts. She holds degrees in Anthropology and French from the University of Maryland,
College Park.
DAN WEISS began playing the drums at the age of 6. He received his
bachelor's degree at Manhattan School of Music with a major in jazz
percussion and minor in classical composition. Soon after getting his formal
education, he began touring the world and recording with musicians such as
David Binney, Lee Konitz, Rudresh Mahantthapa, Miguel Zenon, Kenny
Werner and many others. In addition to the drums, Weiss has been studying
the tabla under his guru Pandit Samir Chatterjee for almost 20 years. This
apprenticeship has been a major influence in his musical aesthetic,
exemplified in two of his records where he performs classical Indian repertoire
on drum set. David Adler (All About Jazz ) wrote, "Weiss is arguably unique among today's jazz drummers,
transposing ideas from his tabla study to the drum kit, as heard most clearly on Tintal Drum Set Solo
(Chhandayan , 2005) and Jhaptal Drum Set Solo.” Weiss was also named 'The Top Up and Coming
Percussionist' 2 years in a row in the 60th and 61st annual Downbeat's Critic's Poll and was featured in the
New York Times as 'One of the 5 Most Promising Drummers of the New Generation'. Weiss has led his trio,
which includes Jacob Sacks on piano and Thomas Morgan on bass, for over a decade. Their two releases,
"Now Yes When" and "Timshel" have been critically acclaimed for their unique approach to song structure
and endlessly creative improvisation. In addition to the trio, Weiss leads his unique large ensemble that
features some of NYC's most gifted musicians. The album '14' released on the Pi record label has received a
lot of attention and even made it into New York Time's top ten records of 2014. There is another large
ensemble record slated to come out end of 2015. It is a through composed piece based on 6 of history's
greatest jazz drummers. Weiss currently lives in Brooklyn, NY where he continues to study, practice, teach,
perform and record.
Kaufman Music Center’s FACE THE MUSIC is the only
youth ensemble in the country solely devoted to the
music of living composers. Under the direction of Dr.
Jenny Undercofler, Face the Music has performed at
venues such as Merkin Hall, Roulette, Lincoln Center Out
of Doors, and the Bang On A Can Marathon, and has been
featured in the New York Times and the Wall Street
Journal. Face the Music performs music for orchestra, jazz
band, and improvisation ensemble; performs music of all
genres, written by its own member-composers; and partners with the Kronos Quartet in a one-of-a-kind
string quartet program.
DONORS
Shastra would like to thank the following individuals for their generous support:
Friends of Shastra ($500+)
Anonymous (1) Ismail Degani Ozair & Alda Esmail
Sofi Kasubhai Karen & Phil MacDonald
Supporters of Shastra (up to $499)
Anonymous (5) Suzana Bartal John Beck David Benner Maya Chadda
Roni Chasin Nan Guptill Crane Bernadette D’Souza Dominic D’Souza
Jaimee and Steve Dahl Rachel Garcia Nancy and Nick Garcia Pradeep Haldar
David Herszenson Dave Kerzner Steve Marcone Alan Pierson Crystal Rivette
Peter Robles Priya Sawant Micah Storer Thu Tran
Kurt VanGilder Christine Weatherup
Shastra is a registered non-profit 501c3 -- to make a donation, please visit
http://www.shastramusic.com/support, or scan the image to the right with
your phone’s QR code reader. Thank you for your support!
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