People
< class="people-type-title"> LOUD Weekend 2024
Multi-instrumentalist and instrument designer Mark Stewart, founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars, and also a curator at MASS MoCA of the immersive Gunnar Schonbeck exhibit of musical instruments, leads the 30+ musicians of the Bang on a Can Summer Festival on customized orchestral instruments that everyone can play.
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, song leader, composer and instrument designer Mark Stewart has been heard around the world performing old and new music. As musical director for Paul Simon’s band, he has recorded and toured with Simon since 1998. A founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the duo Polygraph Lounge with keyboard & theremin wizard Rob Schwimmer, Mark has also worked with Steve Reich, Sting, Anthony Braxton, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Meredith Monk, Stevie Wonder, Phillip Glass, Iva Bittova, Bruce Springsteen, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman, Edie Brickell, Don Byron, Joan Baez, Hugh Masakela, Paul McCartney, Cecil Taylor, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Cliff, Charles Wourinen, the Everly Brothers, Steve Gadd, Fred Frith, Alison Krauss, David Krakauer & Klezmer Madness, Bobby McFerrin, David Byrne, James Taylor, The Roches, Aaron Neville, Bette Midler, and Marc Ribot. He has worked extensively with composer Elliot Goldenthal on music for the films The Glorias, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Across the Universe, Titus, The Butcher Boy, The Good Thief, In Dreams and Heat. He has designed instruments for Julie Taymor’s Midsummer Nights Dream & Theater For A New Audience’s production of King Lear. He is the inventor of the WhirlyCopter, a bicycle-powered Pythagorean choir of singing tubes and the Big Boing, a 24 ft. sonic banquet table Mbira that seats 30 children playing 490 found objects, and he is a Visiting Lecturer in musical instrument design & performance practice at MIT. Mark is also a curator at MASS MoCA of the immersive Gunnar Schonbeck exhibit of musical instruments and co-founder of SoundstewArt, a company that designs immersive sound environments & community music making experiences. Since 2012, he has been the Artistic Director of Guitar Mash, leading the participatory communal Urban Campfires together with renowned artists sharing their favorite songs and life stories. Mark can be heard on Blue Note, Warner Bros., Sony, Sony Classical, Point/Polygram, Nonesuch, Label Bleu, Resonance Magnetique, Cantaloupe and CRI recordings. He lives in Brooklyn, NY & North Adams, MA, playing, singing & writing popular music, semi-popular music and unpopular music, whilst designing instruments that everyone can play.
Nick Photinos, cello and conductor
Internationally acclaimed Canadian cellist ARLEN HLUSKO is a dynamic, versatile young artist who has performed extensively as soloist and chamber musician across North America, Asia, and Europe. A laureate of numerous competitions, Grammy-award winner for her collaboration with The Crossing, and recent graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music, Arlen is currently a member of Ensemble Connect (the resident ensemble of Carnegie Hall), and regularly performs with several ensembles based on the East Coast, including the Bang on a Can All Stars and Dolce Suono Ensemble. She has recently been featured performer with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, among others. Arlen has also been on the roster of preeminent summer festivals including Music from Angel Fire, Tippet Rise, Spoleto USA, and Bay Chamber Concerts. As a teacher, she has served on faculty of Curtis Summerfest, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia Orchestra Teaching Artists, and given masterclasses in USA, Canada, and Germany. Committed to using her music to serve her community, Arlen founded her own interactive chamber music concert series, Philadelphia Performances for Autism, and is involved with several communities in Philadelphia & NYC, including Carnegie Hall’s “Musical Connections” at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. arlenhlusko.com
David Cossin was born and raised in Queens, NY, and studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. His interest in classical percussion, drum set, non-western hand drumming, composition, and improvisation has led to performances across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms. David has recorded and performed internationally with Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet, and the trio Real Quiet, as well as with Sting on his Symphonicity world tour. Theater work includes Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and projects with the director Peter Sellars. David was featured as the solo percussionist in Tan Dun’s award-winning score to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras throughout the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France, and more. His sonic installations have been presented in New York, Italy and Germany, and he is also an active producer, composer, and instrument inventor, expanding the limits of traditional percussion. David teaches percussion at the Aaron Copland School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program.
Hong Kong/Canadian pianist Vicky Chow (she/her) has been described as “brilliant” (New York Times) and “one of our era’s most brilliant pianists” (Pitchfork). Since joining the Bang on a Can All-Stars in 2009, she has collaborated and worked with artists/ensembles such as the Tania León, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, George Lewis, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Sasha Waltz Dance Company, BBC Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, International Contemporary Ensemble, Tyshawn Sorey, John Zorn, Kronos Quartet, to name a few. She has toured to over 40 countries and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms in London, Teatro Colón in Argentina and many others. In 2023, her recording of Canadian composer Vince Ho’s Supervillain Etudes were nominated for a JUNO award. In 2022, she released Philip Glass: Piano Etudes Book 1 which Mr. Glass says, “”It’s a highly dynamic and expressive performance. There’s a certain energy that is uniquely hers.” The New Yorker wrote about her 2018 recording of Michael Gordon’s Sonatra: “Sonatra is a milestone of composition, and Vicky Chow’s recording of it is a milestone of pianism.” Her album Tristan Perich: Surface Image on New Amsterdam Records was among the top 10 Avant Music albums in Rolling Stone in 2013. Her other recordings can be found on Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Cantaloupe, Tzadik, among others. Originally from Vancouver, Canada, she is based in Brooklyn, NY. She serves as faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Institute, Nief-Norf summer festival, and has been on faculty at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. She is on the Board of Advisors for Composers Now, and is also a mentor at The Juilliard School. A graduate of The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music, Ms. Chow is a Yamaha Artist. www.vickychow.com
Ken Thomson (conductor, clarinet and bass clarinet), a staple of New York City’s contemporary music and jazz communities, is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. Thomson has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of differing sizes, and has toured with and released a number of albums with groups that he has created. His latest project combining the sounds of jazz and contemporary music, Sextet, has toured across the US and Europe and garnered Top Recordings of 2018 placement from websites Second Inversion and AnEarful. He released two albums with his previous project, a five-piece group called Slow/Fast, that were praised by The New York Times for their “intricate long-form compositions,” and garnered a five-star review in All About Jazz. He has two full-length CDs available of his chamber music compositions: in 2013 with JACK Quartet (Thaw) and in 2016 with cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson (Restless). He is also active as a freelance clarinetist and saxophonist, performing with Ensemble Signal, International Contemporary Ensemble, Novus, and more. He is on faculty on the Bang on a Can Summer Institute; he is a D’Addario Woodwinds artist. www.ktonline.net.
In line with their upbringing, Kebra-Seyoun is able to give prominence to the dance qualities in all forms of music. Exhibiting their versatility, Kebra-Seyoun has performed alongside esteemed improvisers and composers such as Jon Batiste, at Carnegie Hall, and Tyshawn Sorey, at the New England Conservatory. Kebra-Seyoun was also featured in “Slugs’ Saloon” at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, an interactive installation created by famed jazz musician and composer Jason Moran.
Currently, in addition to their solo career, Kebra-Seyoun Charles is a passionate chamber musician. Playing with groups like East Coast Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, and the Sphinx Virtuosi afford Kebra the opportunity to showcase their musicianship while still playing within an ensemble. A prime example of this is their tenure on the 2019 Emmy award-winning Broadway production “Hadestown”.
As if this weren’t enough, they also have 32 piercings.
Maya Stone (bassoon) is a faith-filled, Black female classical musician, creator, performer and educator. Her creative output is filtered through that personal and professional lens.
As a performer and creator, Maya Stone is the tenured 2nd bassoonist of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and a bassoonist with the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra. She regularly gives recitals and leads masterclasses around the U.S. each year. Maya Stone is frequently engaged as a freelance musician based in the Nashville, TN and upstate New York regions. Some of her freelance activities include studio (recording) musician, and serving as a member of Nashville alternative classical ensembles (Chatterbird and Intersection). Dr. Stone received her D.M.A. in bassoon performance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2010, an M.M. in bassoon performance and woodwind specialty from Michigan State University in 2003, and a B.M. in music education from SUNY Potsdam in 2001. She has held multiple teaching positions, including visiting professorships at the University of Missouri in Columbia and Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Dr. Stone was the Assistant Professor of Bassoon at Middle Tennessee State University, and in 2004, she held a visiting professorship in Double Reeds at Austin Peay State University. She currently maintains an active teaching schedule in both private and academic settings, where she focuses on developing the musicianship and life skills of young people. As a musical entrepreneur, she founded and now manages the Negus (nēɡəs) Bassoon Ensemble, an ensemble of all-Black bassoonists dedicated to presenting Classical works by Black composers from the present and 100+ years back. She also performs with the Rushes Ensemble, a group of seven bassoonists which premiered, and tours, composer Michael Gordon’s hour- long work Rushes.
Other creative and entrepreneurial collaborations include working with spoken word artist, Stephanie Pruitt-Gaines. Together, they created a set of pieces titled Peace Like a River. A previous collaboration, Solo Bassoon in Black Gospel Music, features the bassoon as gospel soloist with piano. For this project, she engaged composers Raymond Wise, Mark Lomax II and William Menefield. Stone has commissioned and premiered several works by living composers, including, Molly Herron, John Steinmetz, Shannon Sea, Gary Nash, Paul Osterfield, Spencer Lambright, and Stephen Gorbos.
Dr. Stone is a public speaker and educator. Her voice projects from a personal connection of mental, spiritual and physical healing and health. These three focal points are all connected, and benefit from alignment. Her discourse is filled with experience, persistence, hopefulness and a desire for growth. Through her development over the years, Maya has cultivated a flexible perspective. This perspective continues to challenge and be challenged by the world we live in. This informs her approach to speaking and pedagogy.
Active behind the scenes with several musical organizations, Maya previously served on the Regional Orchestra Players Association (ROPA) Executive Board as a Member At Large from 2015 to 2019. She also as the ROPA Delegate and Alternate Delegate for the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra Players Association. Maya enjoys exploring matters of health and wellness. She loves walking other peoples dogs and dancing out loud.
Maya Stone, bassoon
photo by Peter Serling
