Showing 26 - 50 of 56
Artist: Psamim
Based in Belgium, Psamim is an ensemble of accordion with strings that performs a musical blend of original tunes and klezmer classics. Psamim includes renowned singer Zahava Seewald and musicians Martin Weinberg (accordion), Renaud Lhonest (violin), and Joanna Samek (viola). Formed in 1992, the first distributed recording of Psamim came out in... [+] Read More
Artist: LaDonna Smith
LaDonna Smith has performed improvised music internationally since the 1970s as violinist, violist and vocalist, while also teaching music in Birmingham, Alabama. With long-time collaborator, guitarist Davey Williams, Smith has toured North America and Europe, and Russia, appearing at every major improvisation festival, and many new music... [+] Read More
Artist: Cassatt String Quartet
Named for American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt, the Cassatt String Quartet has earned critical praise throughout North America, the Far East, and Europe. The musicians are violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violist Michiko Oshima, and cellist Kelley Mikkelsen. Cassatt won fellowships at Tanglewood and Yale, took top prizes at... [+] Read More
Artist: The Sharp Things
Vocalist/pianist Perry Serpa left his beloved New York City behind for a brief vacation in late 1995, escaping to the Pennsylvanian countryside with drummer Steven Gonzales. The two planned to record some indie pop songs for fun, recording under the fictitious moniker the Sharp Things. What came from those sessions was a good-natured, theatrical... [+] Read More
Artist: Harold Moses
Harold Moses is a New Age composer and violist who resides in a community of healing and performing artists in the mountains of Boulder, Colorado. His recordings, strong in classical structure yet with an obvious and appealing spiritual expression, have garnered highest accolades from those in the self-help and healing field.
An alumnus of the... [+] Read More
Artist: Jessica Pavone
New York-based violinist and violist Jessica Pavone makes music that combines improvisation and composition and is inspired by both classical music and avant-garde jazz. Pavone studied classical music and music education at the Hartt School of Music, then briefly taught public school in Hartford, CT. Along the way, she met a number of... [+] Read More
Artist: Joseph Lanner
Joseph Lanner was a dance composer and violinist who was essentially self-taught. At the age of twelve he joined Pamer's dance orchestra who was already known as a composer of the `landler' -- the predecessor to the Viennese Waltzes of Lanner and Strauss. Lanner's early dances were composed much in the same style as those of Pamer with a slow... [+] Read More
Artist: Randy Peterson
Randy Peterson is best known for his drumming in various contexts with free jazz saxophonist/clarinetist Joe Maneri and his son Mat, a violist. Peterson's style is often rather relaxed and episodic, in that his drum hits come in flurries. It's as if he conceives his playing in terms of sets of phrases with clear beginnings and ends, even though... [+] Read More
Artist: Willard Grant Conspiracy
Loose-knit folk-noir confederation the Willard Grant Conspiracy was formed in Boston in 1995 by singer Robert Fisher and guitarist Paul Austin, longtime collaborators who previously teamed in the noise-rock outfit the Flower Tamers. Asked to test-drive a friend's new home recording studio, the duo recruited guitarist Sean O'Brien and within days... [+] Read More
Artist: Mary Janes
Bloomington, IN, band the Mary Janes sports a disparate range of influences, from country legends like Hank Williams and the Carter Family to indie rock godfathers the Velvet Underground. Singer/guitarist Janas Hoyt, who was born and raised in Indianapolis, leads the Mary Janes. After a stint in New York in the '80s, Hoyt returned to Indiana and... [+] Read More
Artist: Robert L. Martin
Not to be confused with the contemporary classical composer of the same name, Robert Martin is a cellist whose affiliations have included the Bard Festival String Quartet and the Sequoia String Quartet. Although Martin has shown up on a few recording dates of pop and vocal music, his main interest is the classical repertoire; one of his obvious... [+] Read More
Artist: The Polyphonic Spree
Dallas symphonic pop group the Polyphonic Spree is less a band than a happening, in the 1960s sense of the word. When the group takes to the stage for a live performance, its two dozen members are costumed in flowing robes of snowy white, an appropriate backdrop for their happy and uplifting musical message that's catchy pop minimally laced by... [+] Read More
Artist: Robin Holcomb
Drawing inspiration from her childhood in Georgia, her work among avant-garde musicians in New York, and her stints in both California and New York, Robin Holcomb developed into a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter showcased by the Nonesuch label. After attending the University of Santa Cruz, she moved to New York with her husband, Wayne... [+] Read More
Artist: Alexander Balanescu
Violinist and violist Alexander Balanescu leads the Balanescu String Quartet, a group that is a crossover between classical and popular music. Classically trained himself, Balanescu performed 20th century composers for three years, then decided to create a music addressed to more people than just music specialists.
Alexander Balanescu was born... [+] Read More
Artist: Väsen
Väsen is a group of four of Sweden's best musicians who have, between them, been featured with dozens of Swedish and international groups, ranging from nyckelharpa orchestras and Swedish traditional bands to the Kronos Quartet and the chart-topping folk-rock band Nordman. Väsen's music is a uniquely beautiful combination of the traditional... [+] Read More
Artist: Anthony Collins
Anthony Collins was a well known British conductor, especially known for his performances of Sibelius compositions.
He learned violin and viola as a boy, and at age seventeen became a member of the Hastings Municipal Orchestra, playing viola. He entered the Royal College of Music and studied violin with Rivarde. Beginning in 1920 he was a... [+] Read More
Artist: ICP Orchestra
The ICP, or Instant Composers Pool, Orchestra recorded relatively little, but achieved international acclaim for its sophisticated improvisations, ingenious interpretations of landmark composers such as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk and for the band members' extraordinary level of musicianship. The Amsterdam-based group is a blend of... [+] Read More
Artist: Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux had one of the longest active careers as a conductor, probably exceeded among famous musicians by Pablo Casals and Leopold Stokowski. He retained a youthful appearance with black hair (although his mustache was white), and was expressed by any suggestion that the color was not natural. He said anyone who said otherwise was welcome... [+] Read More
Artist: String Planet
String Planet is the duo of violist Novi Novog and Larry Tuttle, whose favored instrument is the guitar/bass hybrid the Chapman Stick. Both are veterans of numerous previous bands and session work.
Novog, a native of Pittsburgh, PA, was playing piano at four and violin at eight before moving to viola. She was a member of the American Youth... [+] Read More
Artist: Univers Zero
Formed in 1974, Belgium-based chamber rock band Univers Zero initially featured co-composers drummer Daniel Denis and guitarist Roger Trigaux joined by bassoonist Michel Berckmans, violinist Marcel Dufrane, bassist Christian Genet, violinist/violist Patrick Hanappier, and harmonium/spinet player Emmanuel Nicaise. The avant-prog group, one of the... [+] Read More
Artist: Joan Jeanrenaud
Even though Joan Jeanrenaud's name may not sound all that familiar, she is a world-renowned cellist, surely the best known in the avant-garde classical field. But for many music lovers, she remains "the girl in Kronos Quartet." Jeanrenaud spent 20 years with the groundbreaking string quartet, recording with it over 30 albums and performing more... [+] Read More
Artist: Gerald Cleaver
Although jazz drummer Gerald Cleaver has been known in the Detroit area as a great musician and educator since the early '90s, he was not so well-known to listeners outside of the Midwest until an explosion of recordings released starting in 1999 brought his powerful and tasteful drumming to the attention of jazz listeners everywhere.
Born and... [+] Read More
Artist: Hermann Scherchen
Scherchen was one of the leading conductors in the middle part of the 20th Century, especially valued for his pioneering performances of the contemporary music of his time.
He was essentially self-taught as a musician, and became a violist in the BlĂĽthner Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic when he was sixteen. In 1911 he was an assistant to... [+] Read More
Artist: The Revolution Ensemble
Peter Saltzman is the founder, artistic director, composer, and pianist for the Revolution Ensemble. Since he began composing at age ten, Peter Saltzman has written in almost every major musical medium, including song, solo piano, chamber, orchestral, choral, opera, jazz combo, big band, film, and dance. His music has been performed throughout... [+] Read More
Artist: Nathaniel Rosen
Nathaniel Kent Rosen was born in the Los Angeles Area and was brought up in Pasadena, one of the many suburbs that make up greater Los Angeles. There were no professional musicians in his family, but they were music-loving: He father was an amateur violist and his brother plays violin.
He was taken for music lessons as a matter of course and at... [+] Read More
