November 21st ZALON Program!

1. Singer/songwriter/pianist Joy Ike will present hopeful melodies for hard times from her studio in Philadelphia

2. Cellist Jeffrey Solow will play two short solo works by J. S. Bach (Prelude in C Minor and Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring) from Jeffrey’s home studio in Elkins Park, PA

3. Maria Dell’Orefice, pianist, will perform a selection from Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus by Olivier Messiaen from her home in Strafford, PA

4. Janis Brenner will perform 2 excerpts from her one-woman show, Inheritance:A Litany (billed as personal narrative/dance-opera-play/comic drama) from her living room on the Upper Westside, NYC

5. Krish Raghav, in Beijing China, will present excerpts from his graphic novel 'Open All the Buddha Boxes', a radical history of underground music in Beijing between 1999-2019 and a song ‘Estivation’ by the band Chui Wan (吹万)

6. Larisa Vrhunc will present her 2020 saxophone quartet Time Crumbs, performed by ROYA Quartet, from her home in Ljubljana, Slovenia

7. Juhi Bansal will share Waves of Change - a musical project inspired by the story of the Bangladesh Girl's Surf Club from Los Angeles, CA

8. Composer and pianist Sheridan Seyfried will perform an original piano translation of a movement from the standard symphonic repertoire from his home in Oreland, PA.

9. Suzy Sureck, in upstate NY, will present Shape of Light, a multi-media immersive installation involving sound, spoken word, movement and video projection in collaboration with Andrea Clearfield

10. Singer/songwriters Tom Begich and Sarah Sledge are back at the Salon to perform their heartfelt original music, joining from Lakeland, Florida

Performer Bios, Program Information, and Link for Donations

Below you will find links that some of the performers have included where you can buy music and other merchandise, find additional content, or make a donation. Please consider supporting these musicians for donating their time and artistry this evening!

During these trying times for performers, your contributions are greatly appreciated.

For donations please click here, where you could contribute to the most current performance. To donate to specific performers, please see the links under their bios for the SZALON in which they performed.

Donations for the current SZALON will be collected on behalf of all performers by our fiscal sponsor, Crossroads Music. For questions about donations, please contact Gerardo Razumney at Zalon.Donations@AOL.com.

The SZALON is a labor of love. All team members are volunteering their time, including Andrea, who is also covering expenses. You may contribute to cover part of the SZALON expenses, by indicating this on the PayPal donation form.

Joy Ike

Polished and precise, yet buoyed with an airy grace, Joy Ike paints with a broad palette that defies easy categorization. Born to Nigerian immigrants, the singer/songwriter’s music, voice, and writing have drawn comparisons to female musicians such as Nina Simone, Laura Nyro, and Regina Spektor. But her percussive piano-playing and soaring vocals give homage to her African upbringing. Leaving her career as a publicist in 2008, Joy has spent the last 13 years playing thousands of shows across the country.  A write-up on NPR's All Things Considered says "The depth of subjects she tackles in her poetic lyrics are perfectly complemented by a unique blend of neo-soul, with just the right dash of pop...a truly compelling act to watch in person, with the ability to create an intimate setting in locations big and small." 

Links 

Website: www.joyike.com  

Instagram: @joyikemusic

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyikemusic/

Video: 

Jeffrey Solow

Cellist Jeffrey Solow has performed more than 40 different solo works with orchestras worldwide and has been a guest artist at many national and international festivals. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he earned a degree in Philosophy magna cum laude from UCLA while studying with and assisting the legendary Gregor Piatigorsky at USC. He has recorded for numerous record labels and received two Grammy Award nominations, and his editions are published by Henle Urtext, the International Music Company, Ovation Online editions, and Theodore Presser. A noted teacher, Jeffrey has been professor of cello at Temple University
since 1989 and last year received the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. He is also a past president of the Violoncello Society of NY and of the American String Teachers Association.

Videos:

Maria Dell’Orefice

Born and raised in Strafford, Pennsylvania, Maria Dell’Orefice began her musical studies at a young age. With the influence and support of her jazz pianist father, James Dell’Orefice, she began piano lessons at age 5 and violin lessons at age 7. While piano eventually became her primary instrument, Maria has been an active orchestral violinist since the age of 8 in ensembles such as the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, in which she became principal second violinist, and the Waco Symphony Orchestra. Maria is the pianist of Ensō New Music, a chamber ensemble made up of Baylor students and alum that plays music composed by living composers. She has also performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall five times as a result of winning various competitions. Maria holds a B.M. in Piano Performance from Baylor University and is completing her M.M. in Piano Performance and M.M. in Collaborative Piano at Temple University with Dr. Charles Abramovic and Lambert Orkis.

Links: mariadellorefice.com

https://www.facebook.com/mariadelloreficemusic

ensonewmusic.com

personal YouTube account https://www.youtube.com/user/musicluvr416/videos

Ensō YouTube account https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjFEdBJGWxxGSNrTNwqJ4Ww

Venmo @Maria-DellOrefice, PayPal paypal.me/mariadellorefice

Videos:

Janis Brenner

Janis Brenner is a multi-award-winning dancer/choreographer/singer/teacher and is Artistic Director of Janis Brenner & Dancers in NYC. Known for her “meticulous artistry” (The Village Voice), she has toured in 36 countries and is recognized as a “singular performer” with a multifaceted artistic range. Honors/grants include: 2018 “Best Production” and 2019 Critics’ Choice awards for Inheritance: A Litany-United Solo Theatre Festival, NY Dance & Performance Award (group "Bessie") for her performance in Meredith Monk’s The Politics of Quiet, Lester Horton Award for Choreography in L.A., Copperfoot Award for Lost, Found, Lost at Wayne State, NY Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, The Fund for US Artists at International Festivals, U.S. State Department, Asian Cultural Council, The Trust for Mutual Understanding, O'Donnell Green Music & Dance Foundation (2 grant awards), Harkness Foundation for Dance (10 grants) UNESCO, US Embassies in Moscow, Bosnia, Jakarta, and Dakar, and a commission for the interdisciplinary work, The Memory Project from the Whitney Museum of American Art. Her work has been commissioned/restaged on more than 50 companies and colleges worldwide and she performed with Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble from 1990 - 2005, 2014 (recording on ECM Records). Ms. Brenner was with the Murray Louis Dance Company from 1977-84, working with Rudolf Nureyev, Placido Domingo, Dave Brubeck Quartet, Joseph Papp, Bat Sheva Dance Company, and Alwin Nikolais. Janis Brenner & Dancers has performed throughout the U.S., Asia, Russia and Europe since 1989 and has been presented by leading NY organizations. Ms. Brenner joined the faculty at The Juilliard School in 2009, mentoring Choreographers and Composers Collaborations. 

Links:

Website: www.janisbrenner.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/janisbrenner/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/janis.brenner

Donations at Fractured Atlas: https://fundraising.fracturedatlas.org/janis-brenner-dancers

Video: 

Krish Raghav

Krish Raghav is a comic book artist based in Beijing. He's one of the co-founders of the Chaoyang Trap newsletter. He's been involved withthe city's indie music scene for a decade, and currently works at the Jing-A craft brewery.

Krish was a 2019 Macdowell fellow and 2020 Yaddo fellow. His comics have appeared in the New Yorker, Al-Jazeera, Washington Post, BBC, Buzzfeed, Quartz, and GQ. He is currently working on a graphic novel with the writer Josh Feola about underground music in Beijing.

His work centers on the creative life of Asian mega-cities, the connected histories of alternative music around the Asian continent, and the tension between stated goals and undeclared dispositions in the history of contemporary culture.

Links:

Website: https://krishcat.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/krishraghav
Newsletter: chaoyang.substack.com

People can follow him on twitter @krishraghav, or subscribe to the
newsletter he’s part of at chaoyang.substack.com

Larisa Vrhunc

Larisa Vrhunc is a composer living in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Her music is performed by renowned artists mostly in Europe. She has received important commissions and awards for her compositions. Vrhunc currently collaborates with director/puppet maker Silvan Omerzu on a puppet theatre piece for adults, and is involved in a Creative Europe project with the Radio symphony orchestra and scientists doing research on how human brain reacts to music/sound at a very early age. Upcoming works also include a string quartet with electronics commissioned by the Zagreb Music Biennale. She has a PhD in musicology and is full professor at the University of Ljubjana. Together with composer Nina Šenk and musicologist Gregor Pompe, Vrhunc is the founder and artistic director of New Music Forum Ljubljana, a new festival that aims at presenting the most relevant music of the post-war period.

https://www.facebook.com/larisa.vrhunc/

https://soundcloud.com/larisa-vrhunc

https://ljnmf.org/en/

Juhi Bansal

“Radiant and transcendent”, the music of Juhi Bansal weaves together themes celebrating musical and cultural diversity, nature and the environment, and strong female role models. Her music draws upon elements as disparate as progressive metal, Hindustani music, spectralism, musical theatre and choral traditions to create deeply expressive, evocative sound-worlds. As an Indian composer brought up in Hong Kong, her work draws subtly upon both those traditions, entwining them closely and intricately with the gestures of western classical music. Recent projects include Waves of Change, a digital experience on womanhood, identity and clash of cultures inspired by the story of the Bangladesh Girls Surf Club; and Edge of a Dream, an opera about Ada Lovelace, daughter of infamous poet Lord Byron and a 19th Century pioneer in computing commissioned by Los Angeles Opera. Recent seasons have included commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, Beth Morrison Projects, New York Virtuoso Singers, Heidi Duckler Dance Theatre, the Oakland East Bay Symphony, AIDS Quilt Songbook 20th Anniversary project and more. Her music is regularly performed throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia and available on the Naxos, Albany and Roven Records labels. A conductor as well as composer, she has been awarded fellowships by the Douglas Moore Fund for American Opera, the Atlantic Music Center, Seasons Music Festival, Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Symposium, and the Pacific Music Festival. She frequently premieres the work of other composers and accompanies singers at the piano. 

Website: www.juhibansal.com; Instagram: @juhibansalmusic

Blogpost on Waves of Change: https://juhibansal.com/waves-of-change-bringing-together-opera-surfing-music-identity/

Video:

20 second teaser video for Waves of Change

Sheridan Seyfried

Composer Sheridan Seyfried is a native of Philadelphia. Educated in composition at the Curtis Institute and the Manhattan School of Music, he worked with composers including Richard Danielpour, Jennifer Higdon and Ned Rorem. His music has been performed by musicians including Ray Chen, Ida and Ani Kavafian, Jonah Kim, Anne-Marie McDermott, David Shifrin, Steven Tenenbom, and Peter Wiley. His 2013 Violin Concerto was written for and premiered by violinist Dennis Kim with the Tampere Philharmonic (Finland). In 2017, the Lake George Music Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Roger Kalia, premiered his Double Concerto with Nikki and Timmy Chooi as violin soloists. His catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal music includes a Bass Trombone Concerto (written for soloist Zachary Bond), a concert length choral arrangement of folk music from the Holocaust (Voices of the Holocaust), and a Sextet for clarinet, piano and string quartet which has recently been championed by Belgian clarinetist Roeland Hendrikx. Sheridan previously served on the music theory faculties of both the Curtis Institute (2008-2012) and Mannes College (2010-2014) and taught composition at the Atlantic Music Festival (2009-2015). He currently directs the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra’s annual Young Composers Competition, and is active as a music educator, choir director, concert producer and arranger.

Website: sheridanseyfried.com

Suzy Sureck

SUZY SURECK is an internationally recognized multi-media artist whose sculptural installations, videos and drawings involve physical and metaphoric qualities of wind, water, light, shadow and the poetics of luminosity. Fluidly cross-pollinating disciplines, she merges technology and traditional media drawing with light through projection and spatial layering of form and image. Suzy’s works have been exhibited in galleries, museums, sculpture parks, biennials, art foundations and performance spaces in the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Korea, Australia, and India. She has been awarded residencies at MassMOCA, Yaddo, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Art Omi and Arts, Letters Numbers. Her works have been reviewed in the New York Times, Hyperallergic, Sculpture Magazine, World Art, Flash Art and. New Observations. Suzy received a Masters’ Degree in Sculpture from Cranbrook Academy in Michigan and a BFA from the Cooper Union, as well as studying at The Slade School of Art in London. She lives and works in New York City and the Hudson Valley.

Additional works can be seen on www.suzysureck.com and on Instagram @suzysureck

Andrea Clearfield

Andrea Clearfield is an award-winning composer of music for opera, orchestra, chorus, chamber ensemble, dance, and multimedia collaborations. She creates deep, emotive musical languages that build cultural and artistic bridges. She has been praised by the New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing”, the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “compositional wizardry” and “mastery with large choral and instrumental forces”, the L.A. Times for her “fluid and glistening orchestration” and by Opera News for her “vivid and galvanizing” music of “timeless beauty”. Her catalog of 160 works includes fifteen large-scale cantatas including one for The Philadelphia Orchestra. She was appointed 2020-2023 Composer-in-Residence with National Concerts at Carnegie Hall. She is also the founder, curator and host of the renowned Philadelphia Salon concert series featuring contemporary, classical, jazz, electronic, dance, and world music now celebrating its 35th Year Season. www.andreaclearfield.com

Tom Begich and Sarah Sledge

TOM BEGICH is a traveling musician and poet who performs his original music and the occasional poem around the country with his wife, SARAH SLEDGE. An evening with Tom and Sarah features rich songwriting, storytelling, superb harmony, and a journey down the many roads we have all travelled. Tom has released five CDs of his original music, a compilation CD of original spoken word and music with Santa Fe- and Boston-based poet and performer Tim Mason, and has published a book of sonnets: Six Truths. He has recently completed a new book length poem entitled “Constitution”, parts of which were first heard at Andrea’s Salon. Tom also serves as Minority Leader of the Alaska State Senate, runs a small communications and strategic planning agency, and has been a licensed private detective, while Sarah is the executive director of an education non-profit focused on improving education outcomes for Alaska’s school districts, and has developed SeraVino, a popup restaurant that she hopes will be back post COVID! Tom has built his Fall tour around performance at the Salon since 2009.

CDS and poetry books can be found at: www.tombegich.com/shop. Some music is also available on iTunes: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/tom-begich/265729960 

Video: Live at the Salon