Artist - Moab Music Festival

Composer, cellist, vocalist, educator and GRAMMY and NAMA nominated performer Dawn Avery has worked with musical luminaries Luciano Pavarotti, Sting, John Cale, John Cage, R. Carlos Nakai and Joanne Shenandoah. Of Mohawk descent, she participates in Longhouse ceremonies and is dedicated to language preservation, archival recordings and future generations of Indigenous composers and scholars.
Her chamber music often employs elements of sacred and world music. Avery has had her music performed in such places as the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian, North Dakota Contemporary Museum of Art, University of Maryland, Memorial University, Juilliard School, Colorado College, UCLA, Merkin Hall, Lincoln and Kennedy Centers, and in Canada, Italy and Germany.

Her works for wind quintet EngleWinds can be heard on the recording Tulpe. Avery recorded the North American Indian Cello Project, Vol. I (band camp) featuring works by Native composers, commissioned by the Ford Foundation and the American Composer’s Forum. She has also composed music for award-winning films with Rich/Heape Productions, Miramax, Smithsonian and PBS. Avery’s theatre works include Spiderwoman Theatre and Heather Henson’s (of the Jim Henson legacy) production of Ajijaak on Turtle Island. The latter Indigenous based project led to a short run at the New Victory Theatre on Broadway. Most recently, she wrote two short operas on Indigenous themes: Trials and Tears commissioned by the New Music Alliance Theatre with Ojibwe librettist Ty Defoe for the Phillips Gallery Bicentennial and Sacajawea: Woman of Many Names, music for Imagining The Indian (Ciesla Fdn film documentary). The recording for her vln/pno duo that is about the symbiotic relationship between women and the water is dedicated to the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women is coming out this March (Duo Concertante). Dr. Avery holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology with research on the application of Indigenous Theory to Native Classical Composers and their compositions.

Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, is a classical composer, citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma and is dedicated to the development of American Indian classical composition. His Washington Post review states that “Tate is rare as an American Indian composer of classical music. Rarer still is his ability to effectively infuse classical music with American Indian nationalism.”

Tate is Guest Composer/Conductor/Pianist for San Francisco Symphony Currents program Thunder Song: American Indian Musical Cultures and was recently Guest Composer for Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar program Home with ETHEL and Friends, featuring his commissioned work Pisachi (Reveal) for String Quartet.

Recent commissions include Shell Shaker: A Chickasaw Opera for Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra, Ghost of the White Deer, Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra for Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Hózhó (Navajo Strong) and Ithánali (I Know) for White Snake Opera Company. His music was recently featured on the HBO series Westworld.

Over the last four decades, Béla has made a point of boldly going where no banjo player has gone before, a musical journey that has earned him 15 GRAMMYs in nine different fields, including Country, Pop, Jazz, Instrumental, Classical and World Music. But his roots are in bluegrass, and that’s where he returns with his first bluegrass tour in 24 years, My Bluegrass Heart.

My Bluegrass Heart is the third chapter of a trilogy which began with the 1988 album, Drive, and continued in 1991 with The Bluegrass Sessions. The project features a who’s who of some of the greatest instrumentalists in bluegrass music’s history alongside some of the best of the new generation of players mandolinists Sam Bush, Sierra Hull, and Chris Thile; fiddlers Michael Cleveland and Stuart Duncan; celebrated multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, bassists Edgar Meyer and Mark Schatz, and the amazing Bryan Sutton and Molly Tuttle on guitar.

Tyler Jackson, bass

By Adrian RosasPosted on September 1, 2021Posted in Artist

Tyler Jackson is a world-renowned tenor banjoist and upright bassist. When he was just twelve Buddy Griffin noticed his talent on ukulele immediately and approached Tyler about learning the tenor banjo. Griffin spent the next year pouring decades of banjo experience and wisdom into Tyler. After just one year he was already playing gigs and being used as […]

Ella Jordan, violin/vocals

By Adrian RosasPosted on September 1, 2021September 1, 2021Posted in Artist

Ella Jordan is a fiddler and singer from central Texas. She graduated from Berklee while still in her teens and is creating a sound all her own in acoustic music. While at Berklee she was awarded the Fletcher Bright endowed scholarship. She is the youngest ever winner of the old settlers youth competition, and was […]

The artistry of violinist Liana Bérubé is inextricably intertwined with self-knowledge and self-compassion. Her openly expressive aesthetic, described as “searching mastery” (Charleston Gazette-Mail), has been heard in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She is co-founder and violinist of the Delphi Trio. Concerto performances include appearances with Thirteen Strings Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Toronto, Bear Valley Music Festival Orchestra, Oakland Symphony, Eureka Symphony, San Jose Chamber Orchestra, and San Francisco Chamber Orchestra. She has been heard on NPR, CBC, VH1, WFMT Chicago, and Dutch Radio 4, and has collaborated with artists such as Emmanuel Ax, Toby Appel, Anthony Marwood, Elizabeth Blumenstock, Monica Huggett, and the Alexander String Quartet. Concert appearances include Chamber Music Concerts Ashland, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Orlando Festival, Artist Series of Sarasota, Kronos Festival, Morrison Artist Series, Harry Jacobs Chamber Music Society, Valley of the Moon Music Festival, the Verbier Festival, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival. Liana is concertmaster of the San José Chamber Orchestra and the Magik*Magik Orchestra, and is on faculty at Sonoma State University and St Mary’s College of California. She strongly believes in listening to intuition, subconscious, and instinct in order to express the innate knowledge of personal truth through art.

Described as an “excellent soloist” of “great virtuosity” (NY Concert Review), delivering “thrilling” performances (Boston Globe), Venezuelan violinist Rubén Rengel is quickly gaining recognition as a remarkably gifted artist. Rubén has appeared as a soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Houston Symphony, New Jersey Symphony, Venezuela Symphony, among others. This season he appears with the Dallas Symphony and the New York String Orchestra. Rubén was the winner of the Robert F. Smith Prize at the 2018 Sphinx Competition and has been featured at Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Library of Congress. As a passionate chamber musician, he has performed with artists such as Joseph Silverstein, Pamela Frank, Peter Wiley, David Shifrin, Joel Krosnick, Timothy Eddy, and Gilbert Kalish. He has appeared at the Brevard Music Festival, the Evnin Rising Stars at the Caramoor Center, Music@Menlo, and the Perlman Music Program.

In addition to classical music, Rubén enjoys performing other genres such as Venezuelan folk music, Latin American music, and Jazz. He also has an interest in conducting and enjoys performing as a violist. Rubén’s teachers and mentors include Iván Pérez Núñez, Jaime Laredo, Paul Kantor, and Mark Steinberg. Currently, Rubén is a Fellow at Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect.

Cellist Alice Yoo has warmly been hailed for her sensitive musicianship, expressive nuance, and passionate commitment to chamber music and teaching. Co- Artistic Director of Denver Chamber Music Festival, she is a sought after chamber musicians and has collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Mitsuko Uchida, Pamela Frank, Kim Kashkashian, Midori Goto, Miriam Fried, Jonathan Biss, and members of the Cleveland, Guarneri, and Juilliard Quartets. Festival appearances include tours with Musicians from Marlboro and Marlboro Music Festival, Caramoor, Ravinia, Yellow Barn, Moab, and Olympic Music Festivals. She frequently performs with ensembles The Knights, East Coast Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Connect, and New York Classical Players. Passionate for new music, Alice has worked closely with the esteemed composers Sophia Gubaidulina, Jennifer Hidgon, Paul Wiancko, Andy Akiho, Samuel Carl Adams, and John Harbison. Top prize wins include the Holland-America Music Society, Schadt, and Klein International String Competition . Solo appearances with orchestra include USC Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Philharmonic, New York Classical Players, Billings Symphony, and the Bozeman Symphony. Alice’s teachers include Dr. Ilse-Mari Lee, Richard Aaron, Ralph Kirshbaum, and Paul Katz. She holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and USC’s Thornton School of Music. Alice is currently on the chamber music faculty of University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music and has been guest cello professor at the University of Colorado-Boulder from 2018-2019. She is on faculty at the Boulder Cello Festival, Green Mountain Music Festival, and others. She resides in Denver, CO with her husband, cellist Matthew Zalkind, and plays on a cello made for her by Ryan Soltis.

Kenji Bunch is one of America’s most engaging, influential, and prolific composers.
Through an expansive blend of classical and vernacular styles, Bunch makes music that the Washington Post called “clearly modern but deeply respectful of tradition and instantly enjoyable.”

Cited by Alex Ross in his seminal book The Rest Is Noise, Bunch’s wit, lyricism, unpredictability, and exquisite craftsmanship have earned acclaim from audiences, performers, and critics alike. His interests in history, social justice, and cross-cultural connections mirror the diversity of global influence on American culture.

His music has been performed on six continents and by over sixty American orchestras and has been recorded numerous times. Recent commissions include premieres from the Seattle Symphony, the Oregon Symphony, the Lark Quartet, the Britt Festival, Music From Angel Fire, Chamber Music Northwest, the Eugene Ballet, and the Grant Park Music Festival.

Also an outstanding violist, Bunch was the first student ever to receive dual Master of Music degrees in viola and composition from The Juilliard School and was a founding member of the highly acclaimed ensembles Flux Quartet and Ne(x)tworks. Bunch currently serves as Artistic Director of Fear No Music, and teaches viola, composition, and music theory at Portland State University, Reed College, and for the Portland Youth Philharmonic.

Cheryl Bentyne, Trist Curless, Alan Paul, Janis Siegel, vocals
with
Ross Pederson, drums
Boris Koslov, acoustic, electric bass
Yaron Gershovsky, piano, electric keyboard

Founded in the early 1970’s in New York City, and garnering international popularity soon after, legendary ensemble The Manhattan Transfer  are known for their amazing harmony and versatility, incorporating pop, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, swing, symphonic, and a cappella music. The multi-GRAMMY winners have recorded over 30 albums and worked with countless musical greats including Tony Bennett, Smokey Robinson, Bette Midler, Phil Collins, B.B. King, Chaka Khan, James Taylor, Frankie Valli of The Four Seasons, Laura Nyro, Dizzy Gillespie, Ron Carter, and the Count Basie Orchestra.

Their newest release The Junction, is dedicated to the memory of founder Tim Hauser who passed away in 2014. On it, the ensemble embraces a new dynamic and fresh possibilities for their legendary sound that artfully incorporates new member Trist Curliss’ low range into their established blend. Well-renowned for their spectacular re-imaginings of classics The Junction draws inspiration in part from The Transfer’s classic 1975 version of Glenn Miller’s “Tuxedo Junction”. A much anticipated national tour and PBS special with Take 6,“The Summit”, coincided with the album’s 2018 release. Of the album, The Transfer’s soprano Cheryl Bentyne said “As…the theme of the album reflects, democracy is the fabric of the group, and has been from the beginning, We all have a different take on music and appreciate different styles, so each member brings something to the table that is unique. We have tremendous faith in that process. This album is completely us, a true snapshot of who we are right now, having survived so many hardships, but looking forward to exciting new chapters in the band’s story.”

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