City of the World

City of the World
A series of concerts celebrating
the musical diversity of New York
365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street)
Baisley Powell Elebash Recital Hall
***PRESS RELEASE***
We are delighted to announce our third season with a more diverse line-up of concerts
than ever before. We thank The Baisley Powell Elebash Endowment for their continued
support and look forward to seeing you all and celebrating the dazzling diversity of our
city’s musical culture.
Sundar Shor
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
The confluence of Western Jazz and Indian
Classical Music is one of the most fertile
and vibrant movements in contemporary
music. Sundar Shor (Hindi for "Beautiful
Noise") is a group comprised of Western
and Indian musicians versed both in Jazz
and the Indian tradition. The group consists
of Carl Clements (saxophones and bamboo
flute), Russ Spiegel (guitar), Gary Wang
(bass), Willard Dyson (drums), and Naren
Budhakar (tabla and percussion).
Sundar Shor draws from a broad musical palette with original compositions by
Clements and Spiegel that meld jazz and Indian music, along with sounds of various
musical styles of the world. The repertoire for this evening’s concert will include
compositions that incorporate Indian ragas and talas, jazz harmonies and rhythms, and
broader compositional and improvisatory structures that explore commonalities
between Indian and jazz conceptions. Each of the musicians has been shaped by the
intercultural diversity of the New York environment, which has served as an important
inspiration for their eclectic musical expressions.
Carl Clements (saxophones and bansuri) received a BM in Jazz Composition and
Arranging from the Berklee College of Music and an MFA in Jazz Performance from the
California Institute of the Arts. He has played saxophone for thirty-five years, and has
been studying North Indian classical music on the bansuri (North Indian bamboo flute)
since 1989. Over the course of his career, Carl has played close to 1000 professional
musical performances in a wide range of styles. He is featured on numerous recordings
including his own CD of his original compositions for jazz quartet entitled Forth and
Back, four CDs with the eclectic jazz group Crosscurrent, and many recordings as a
sideman. He has performed at jazz festivals in Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Dubai,
and Boston, including performances with James Newton, Natraj, Divya, and
March 17
India / NYC
April 20
Korea
New York City
Spring 2009
May 14
Mexico
Crosscurrent. Currently living in New York, Carl is an active performer in the jazz and
world music scenes, and is working on his dissertation in ethnomusicology at the
CUNY Graduate Center. In January of 2008, he performed with Sundar Shor in India at
the Mood Indigo Festival and the Mumbai Festival.
Russ Spiegel (electric and acoustic guitar) was born in Los Angeles, California. While
in high school he traversed back and forth between Germany and the US for a number
of years. In Europe, Russ established himself as an award-winning, in-demand
musician, touring the Continent with various ensembles, performing at well-known
jazz festivals, and appearing on numerous television and radio shows. In 2001, he
returned to the US, and quickly found himself busy in the New York music scene. His
performances range from solo guitar to his 17-piece Russ Spiegel Jazz Orchestra,
featuring his compositions and arrangements. Russ is also a commissioned composer,
and has released several CDs, written music for film, TV, and musicals, as well as
touring Europe and Asia. He has also taught college-level courses, run workshops &
seminars, given private instruction, and has copied music for Broadway shows and
major-label recordings. He has also appeared in a number of feature films as both a
musician and actor. Russ received his Bachelor’s Degree at the University of Michigan
in Philosophy, studied Composition, Arranging and Guitar Performance at the Berklee
College of Music in Boston, and got his Masters degree in Jazz Performance at the City
College of New York, under the aegis of world-renowned bassist, composer and
educator John Pattitucci.
Willard Dyson (drums) came to New York City in 1986 from Oakland California. A
versatile musician, Willard is at home in a myriad of musical genres including jazz,
R&B, African, Latin and Brazilian music. Willard has worked regularly with a diverse
group of musicians including Michael Franks, Joe Sample, Charlie Hunter, Regina Belle,
Grady Tate, The Boy’s Choir of Harlem, Jimmy Scott, The New York Voices, Dakota
Staton and Cassandra Wilson. He has toured North Africa, the Middle East and South
Asia as part of the U.S. Department of State and Kennedy Center’s Jazz Ambassador
Program. In 2000 Willard was a featured percussion soloist with the Brooklyn
Philharmonic Orchestra for the U.S. premier of Takashi Yoshimatsu’s saxophone
concerto ‘Cyber-Bird’. Willard has also appeared on many national television shows
including The Tonight Show, Soul Train, The Arsenio Hall Show, Good Morning
America, The Today Show and BET. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in
Percussion Performance from California State Hayward University and a Master of
Music degree in Jazz and Commercial Music from the Manhattan School of Music in
New York City.
Gary Wang (bass) has been living and playing professionally in New York for the past
eight years. Gary has worked with in the bands of T.S. Monk, Don Braden, Stanley
Turrentine, Willie Williams, Dena DeRose, David Hazeltine, Jon Gordon, Matt Wilson,
Anat Fort, Vinson Valega, and the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Ambassadors
band, among many others. He has also worked with or played alongside many of the
great musicians in jazz such as, Steve Wilson, Eddie Henderson, Vincent Herring, Geri
Allen, Mark Turner, Kenny Werner, Roy Hargrove, Nnenna Freelon, Dianne Reeves,
Ben Monder, Patricia Barber, Jane Monheit, Eric Alexander, Bobby Watson, Howard
Johnson, Ronnie Mathews, and Don Sickler, among others. Gary has appeared in many
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of the major venues in New York City and other cities in the U.S., and has toured
extensively in Europe, India, Canada, Japan, South America and the Middle East. He
has played many of the major festivals in the world, including among others,
Newport/JVC, Texaco, North Sea, Umbria, Montreal, Cork, Atlanta, Litchfield, Jazz
Yatra in India and Montreux.
Naren Budhakar (tabla and percussion) was born in Pune, the cultural capital of
western India, and his hometown provided him with many opportunities to listen to
great musicians. As a young artist, Naren represented his school and college in cultural
festivals, performed on the Voice of Youth program on Pune radio, wrote articles about
music that were published in such reputed newspapers as The Times of India and
Loksatta. Since coming to America, has further studied with Samir Chatterji and Shabbir
Nissar. Naren’s aesthetic sense allows him to adapt his percussion style to compliment
many different musical forms. He has performed with artists such as vocalists Pundit
Jasraj, Dr.Alka Deo Marulkar, Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, Anup Jalota, Terry Riley, La
Monte Young; instrumentalists Pundit Tulsidas Borkar, Krishna Bhatt, Barun Kumar
Pal, Ustad Ashish Khan, Pundit Ramesh Mishra, Ulhas Bapat; and dancers Pundit
Pratap Pawar, Pundit Satya Narayan Charka, Janaki Patrik, Parul Shah, Uma Dogra.
His world-music performances include appearances with Flamenco and Latin
percussionists Paulette Beauchamp and Carlos Bedoya and their DanzActiva dance
company in Puerto Rico; modern ghazal interpreter Kiran Ahluwalia; the celebrated
Irish band De Dannen; the New York-based eclectic funk band Wyld Olde Souls; Jazz
singers Reverend Kim Leslie and Warren Rosenstein; and the rock band Alms for
Shanti. He has performed at numerous venues in New York, Pennsylvania,
Connecticut, Canada Puerto Rico, and elsewhere.
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Korean Traditional Music and
“Change”
Monday, April 20, 2009
featuring
Sounds of Korea
The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association
Recently Korean traditional musicians have become involved in seeking "new" artistic
sounds and forms and this musical output is represented by terms such as sin gugak
(new Korean traditional music), changjak gugak (newly composed Korean traditional
music), and pujeon gugak (fusion Korean traditional music). Such "newness" has not
abandoned the old, but continues to embrace Korea's musical tradition and its musical
heritage. To find the path that connects between the old and the new and that
communicates with the modern audience, many Korean musicians have dedicated
themselves to the reinterpretation and modification of existing traditional forms and
idioms to create a fresh sound that is intertwined with more familiar sounds. They have
used elements from Western European musical traditions and stylistic idioms, as well
as Jazz, and modern Korean instruments representative of Korea's contemporary
culture.
This concert promises to present some of the most exciting repertory heard today.
Korean traditional music is represented by sanjo, an improvisational solo instrumental
genre, and sinawi, an improvisational instrumental ensemble genre. These are the
quintessential genres, among many others, that are at the heart of the Korean traditional
musical arts and are still embraced by performers and audiences throughout Korea.
Representing “change” in Korean music, there are new compositions that are based on
Korean traditional elements and instruments but utilize stylistic influences from
western classical music and jazz traditions. There are compositions for daegeum and
danso with piano that demonstrated strong ties to the world of jazz. One of the most
popular “new instruments” is the 25-string gayageum, a modern version of the
traditional 12-string gayageum, which sounds very much like the western concert harp.
Bringing traditional and new music together in this concert format provides the
audience a rare opportunity to hear firsthand now traditional music and musicians
have evolved in their art. They maintain the richness of their cultural heritage while at
the same time they incorporate the contemporary musical world. This gives their music
a new vitality and meaning for all who hear it.
Sounds of Korea, established in 2000 in New York City, is an instrumental ensemble of
Korean traditional music based on the Korean Traditional Performing Arts Association
(KTPAA). Korean performance art spans a wide range of styles and settings, from
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classical court music and theatrical masked dance, to popular story-telling songs, drama
and folk percussion and dance. Under the direction of composer and ethnomusicologist
Ju-Yong Ha, the organization has performed and hosted performances of nearly all of
these forms at major concert venues including Lincoln Center and national festival
stages, introducing Korean music and dance to a wide array of audiences of diverse
cultural backgrounds. Its members consist of professionals from the Korean community
who are dedicated to promoting intercultural understanding and appreciation of
Korea's artistic heritage and history.
Ju-Yong Ha, born in Seoul, South Korea, is a prolific composer whose compositions
have been performed in concerts to critical acclaim and enthusiastic acceptance in Seoul,
New York, Tokyo, Boston, San Francisco, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Hartford,
Connecticut, where his music won the New World Chamber Ensemble composition
competition sponsored by the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. Ha is also dedicated to
scholarly work in music theory, especially the music of Mozart and Strauss, and in
ethnomusicology, specializing in Korean music, and has published articles in the
journals Music and Culture, and Toyang Umak (Asian Music Research). In 2001 he
made his debut performance on gayageum (the Korean 12-string zither) at Alice Tully
Hall, Lincoln Center and he continues to perform with the Korean Traditional
Performing Arts Association in New York, where he serves as Executive/Artistic
Director. He has taught music as an adjunct professor at City College of New York and
New York College of Technology, and most recently, he has been a faculty member of
the music department of Baruch College in New York. Currently, Mr. Ha is completing
his doctoral degree in composition at the Graduate Center of the City University of
New York.
Young Sub Lee, one of the newest members of the KTPAA performing group, Sounds
of Korea, is a vigorous and talented artist of Korean traditional music who specializes in
wind instruments, such as daegeum (bamboo flute) and taepyeongso (the double-reed
Korean oboe), as well as some of the most popular percussion instruments, janggo
(hour-glass drum) and buk (barrel drum). Mr. Lee has studied daegeum in both the
undergraduate and graduate programs at Chugye University of Arts, and received
several first prizes at many of the prestigious Korean music competitions such as DongA (Korean Central News) Music Competition, Nangye Korean Music Competition, and
the NCKTPA's Director's Award. Before immigrating to the U.S., Mr. Lee had been an
active, full time orchestral member at the National Center for Korean Traditional
Performing Arts, Seoul. Recently Mr. Lee has released a commercial CD recording of
danso (small flute) music, Gajeun Hoesang. Currently Mr. Lee serves as an instrumental
ensemble member of the World Music Group, VinaLog.
Seungwhan Yang is an award-winning composer, arranger of Korean music and Jazz,
and is a renowned pianist, who studied at Seoul National University and the Korean
National University of Arts. Mr. Yang's body of works includes a series of recordings
such as his collaboration with the Korean gayageum artist, Gilsun Jung and his
"Collection of Orchestral Works." He has received numerous awards including the First
Prize in the 41st Dong-A Music Competition and is regularly commissioned for original
works, which are performed, by the KBS Traditional Music Orchestra and the Orchestra
of the National Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts in Seoul, Korea.
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Currently he serves as the president/artistic director of the world music ensemble,
VinaLog.
Gee Sook Baek, born in Seoul, Korea, is a professional gayageum player (the gayageum is
a traditional Korean string instrument related to the zither). Upon graduating from
college, she performed with numerous traditional orchestras and ensembles such as the
Korean Traditional Youth Orchestra and Seoul City Traditional Orchestra. In 1996 Ms.
Baek came to America to perform and develop new programs with the Korean
Traditional Performing Arts Association (KTPAA) in New York City. She has quickly
become one of the most influential performers at the KTPAA, organizing the
instrumental chamber ensemble and actively performing at various venues. Ms. Baek
also teaches the gayageum, continuing in the tradition of passing down Korean
traditional music to future generations. Currently, Ms. Baek is one of the few musicians
who preserves gayageum sanjo, an improvisational solo piece, in the performance lineage
of Master Yu Dae-bong, an esoteric style inherited through her father, Master Baek InYoung.
Ra Mi Seo is a professional gayageum player who has performed throughout America,
Japan, China, and Korea with many of the great orchestras and chamber ensembles
such as the Korean Traditional Orchestra of Seoul, the Orchestra of the National Center
for Korean Traditional Performing Arts, and the Ureuk Symphony Orchestra. Recently,
she participated in performances as part of "The Silk Road Project" produced and
directed by Yo Yo Ma. She graduated with highest honors from the College of Korean
Music, Chung Ang University in Korea, and has received numerous awards, winning
prestigious competitions such as the National Competition of Korean Music and the
KBS Competition for Traditional Music. She has released several commercial recordings
of solo and chamber music with titles The First Morning and The Fallen Leaves.
Bok Eum Kim is a professional geomungo (six-string zither) artist, and holds an
undergraduate music degree from Chung Ang University and her master's degree from
Ewha Woman's University in Korean music and geomungo performance. Before she
immigrated to the U.S., she performed as an active orchestral member at the National
Center for Korean Traditional Performing Arts (NCKTPA) and with the Chamber
Ensemble, Eoulim. She also taught geomungo as a lecturer at the Korean National Gugak
High School.
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Mariachi Real De Mexico and The Mariachi Academy of New York
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Our final concert this season builds on the
success of our very first presentation. Once again
we will present the future of immigrant music in
New York along with the very best of the current
professional groups. We are sure to have people
dancing in the aisles again!
Mariachi Real De Mexico was founded in 1991
by trumpet player Ramon Ponce Sr. and is
currently co-directed by his son Ramon Ponce Jr.
In addition to playing at weddings, baptisms, quinceañeras (debut celebration for 15-year
old girl) and birthdays for families within the Mexican community, the group also
performs annual Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) ritual celebrations, religious and
secular holiday events (Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day, etc…) and at larger
festivals and concert events. The Jamaica, Queens-based group has also been selected to
perform with top Mexican stars such as Marco Antonio Solis (formerly of Los Bukis)
and Thalia in Madison Square Gardens and they have entertained at private parties for
television star Cristina and at the annual “Univision” gala. The group’s musical
repertoire includes traditional folk songs (sones) from various cultural regions of Mexico
as well as heroic ballads (corridos), rustic pastoral songs (rancheras) and classic and
contemporary love songs. Founder and arranger Ramón Ponce Sr. is originally from the
state of Puebla, Mexico. His son Ramón Jr., is the group’s director, co-arranger, guitarist
and sometime singer. Ramon is also the artistic director of the Mariachi Academy of
New York where his father is an instructor. The six-member ensemble also includes
Ramon’s younger brother Miguel on guitarrón. Mariachi Real de Mexico is one of the
most visible and most “in demand” groups. Unlike most local mariachis, Real de
Mexico have appeared on both English and Spanish-language television programs such
as: “The Late Show with David Letterman,” ”Late Night with Conan O'Brien,” “The
Martha Stewart Show,” “ESPN Cold Pizza,” “Sabado Gigante,” “Despierta America,”
“Aqui y Ahora,” and “Al Despertar.”
The Mariachi Academy of New York is a community-based cultural initiative of the
Center for Traditional Music & Dance (CTMD).
The idea for the Academy came from Queensbased father-son musicians Ramon Ponce Sr.
and Jr. of the popular Mariachi Real de
Mexico. With outreach support from The
Mexican Cultural Institute of New York and
the Consulate General of Mexico ( New York),
donated classroom space from the Union
Settlement Association in East Harlem and the
sponsorship of the Mariachi Association of
New York, the Mariachi Academy opened its
doors in July of 2002. Featuring an exemplary
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teaching staff of experienced performers, there are 70 students enrolled in the Academy,
with a rapidly growing waiting list. Classes meet weekly, after school and on Saturdays.
Commitment to the Mariachi Academy has extended from the students to their families
and embraces the larger community.
The mariachi – a hundred-year tradition – has been widely considered the
quintessential Mexican folk-derived musical ensemble. Its components include
passionate vocals and full chorus of flowing violins, complemented by the guitar, a
high-pitched, round-backed guitar called the vihuela and a deep-voiced bass guitar
called the guitarrón. Brilliant trumpets punctuate the emotional harmonic repertoire of
classic rancheras and romantic boleros. Featuring stylistic elements from many cultural
periods and regions of Mexico, mariachi has pre-Colombian and Spanish roots, and
evolved in the central western states of Jalisco and Colima. Today, the mariachi is a
powerful symbol of Mexican and Mexican American cultural identity.
Musicians immigrating to Los Angeles in the late ’50s created a U.S. hub for Mexican
mariachi activity. Since then, mariachi education programs and festivals have
flourished throughout the Southwest and West Coast – and have even influenced
traditions back in Mexico. The Mariachi Academy of New York is proud to be the first
representative of this tradition on the East Coast!
For more information on The Mariachi Academy of New York see their website at:
http://www.mariachiacademyny.org/
All of the concerts begin at 7:30pm and are presented free of charge.
For further information please contact our Concert Office at:
[email protected]
212-817-8607
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