On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, Frank London, a trumpeter, composer and the bandleader of Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars, presented a Klezmer-Bhangra Extravaganza as part of the diverse lineup of the Washington Jewish Music Festival at the Washington DCJCC. London invited his pals Bombay Dreams‘ vet Manu Narayan, master percussionist Deep Singh, Yiddish Poet/Klezmer Singer Sarah Gordon and Guitarist/Singer Jeremiah Lockwood, who along with Aaron Alexander (Drum set), Ron Caswell (Tuba), Brian Drye (Trombone); Patrick Farrell (Accordion), and Michael Winograd, (Clarinet), of Londons’ Klezmer Brass All-Stars’ krewe, played for a full capacity, enthusiastic and appreciative crowd, who leapt to their feet for standing ovations and to dance.
Sitting: Deep Singh, Sarah Gordon, Frank London; Standing: Jeremiah Lockwood, Aaron Alexander, Michael Winograd, Ron Caswell, Patty Farrell, Brian Drye and Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
Frank London (trumpeter, composer, bandleader) is a member of the Klezmatics, Hasidic New Wave, has performed with John Zorn, LL Cool J, Mel Torme, Lester Bowieπs Brass Fantasy, LaMonte Young, They Might Be Giants, David Byrne, Jane Siberry, Ben Folds 5, Mark Ribot, Maurice El Medioni and Gal Costa, and is featured on over 100 cds. His own recordings include INVOCATIONS (cantorial music); Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars’ DI SHIKERE KAPELYE and BROTHERHOOD OF BRASS; NIGUNIM and THE ZMIROS PROJECT (Jewish mystical songs, with Klezmatics vocalist Lorin Sklamberg); THE DEBT (film and theater music); THE SHEKHINA BIG BAND; the soundtrack to THE SHVITZ; the soundtrack to Perl Gluck’s THE DIVAHN and four releases with the Hasidic New Wave.
Ron Caswell, Patty Farrell, Michael Winograd and Frank London during the sound check at the Washington DCJCC on May 7, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang
His projects include the folk-opera A NIGHT IN THE OLD MARKETPLACE (based on Y.L. Peretz’s Bay nakht oyfn altn mark), DAVENEN for Pilobolus and the Klezmatics, Great Small Works’ THE MEMOIRS OF GLUCKEL OF HAMELN and Min Tanaka’s ROMANCE. He composed music for John Sayles’ THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET and MEN WITH GUNS, Yvonne Rainer’s MURDER AND MURDER, the Czech-American Marionette Theaterπs GOLEM and Tamar Rogoff’s IVYE PROJECT.
Frank London, Michael Winograd and Brian Drye. Photo by Lia Chang
He was music director for David Byrne and Robert Wilson’s THE KNEE PLAYS, collaborated with Palestinian violinist Simon Shaheen, taught Jewish music in Canada, Crimea and the Catskills, and produced CD’s for Gypsy Ledgend Esma Redzepova, and Algerian Pianist Maurice el Medioni.
Jeremiah Lockwood, Sarah Gordon, Aaron Alexander, Manu Narayan, Ron Caswell, Frank London, Michael Winograd and Brian Drye. Photo by Lia Chang
He has been featured on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” at the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Lincoln Center Summer Festival, and was a co-founder of Les Miserables Brass Band and the Klezmer Conservatory Band.
Manu Narayan and Frank London. Photo by Lia Chang
Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
Manu Narayan, an actor, singer, songwriter and classical saxophonist, has collaborated with Grammy winner Frank London numerous times around the world, most recently recording and performing for his Soundbrush records’ Klezmer concept album A Night in the Old Marketplace, in which he sang the part of the Badkhn. He made his Broadway debut as Akaash in Bombay Dreams, for which he received a Drama League award nomination, and co-starred in Mike Myers’ The Love Guru as Rajneesh alongside Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, and Justin Timberlake. Narayan recently starred as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s critically acclaimed revival of Glengarry Glen Ross and was nominated for a San Diego Critics Circle 2012 Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play. Multimedia: Manu Narayan Dazzles as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s Revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross
Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
In 2003, he was invited to sing at a small state dinner for the first official visit of President George W. Bush to the UK. Narayan sang for and met the Queen of England, The Royal Family, President Bush and Colin Powell. He has had the privilege to sing for then Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign sponsored by Hillary Clinton as well as elsewhere with Cyndi Lauper, Garth Hudson and Martha Wainwright.
Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
As a recording artist, Narayan has collaborated on and recorded original and cover tracks for feature film soundtracks including The Love Guru, Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, Hiding Divya, Good Night|Good Morning, Walkaway and Vanessa Williams’ And Then Came Love. As the lead vocalist, Narayan has performed the concert version of the album throughout Europe and North America. In addition to solo work, Narayan is lead singer of the band Darunam with Radovan Jovicevic, founding member of Yugoslavia’s Grupa Zana. The band brings together the melodies and rhythms from three homelands: America, India, and Serbia. He recorded with D A R U N A M band mate Radovan Jovicevic the single Have Me for the 2007 film And Then Came Love starring Vanessa Williams. Narayan and Jovicevic released the EP All That’s Beautiful Must Die and the title track’s video featuring Janina Gavankar. Their album of Electronic Lounge/World Gypsy music with Canadian Clarinetist Milan Milosevic entitled The Last Angel on Earth was released live on CBC national radio in Canada in 2010. Click here for Manu Narayan’s Website.
Deep Singh. Photo by Lia Chang
Master indian percussionist Deep Singh has performed with everyone from the legendary Punjab singer, Malkit Singh, to the legendary British singer, Sting. A renowned percussionist/composer/studio musician, Deep Singh was born in London, England, and is currently based in NYC.
Deep Singh. Photo by Lia Chang
Singh began to play the Tabla at the age three, and at the age of seven became the youngest disciple of Ustad Allah Rakha. Singh’s professional career started at the age of nine, and since has performed at prestigious venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, London; The Royal Festival Hall, London; The Waldorf Astoria, NYC, Carnegie Hall, NYC, among many others. Singh has accompanied the finest musicians from India such as Dr. Aruna Sharma, Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, Ustad Sultan Khan, Hariharan, Ghulam Ali and many more. He is currently touring a concert of Indian classical music and working with other percussion bands. He has produced R&B dance tracks for Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
After many years of playing in the NYC downtown club scene and merging Indian sounds with rock/pop, he is now coming out with his own unique style of music. With his years of experience as an Indian classical musician and playing with western bands, Singh is revered as a master in blending music from the East and West.
Deep Singh, Frank London and Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
Sarah Gordon. Photo by Lia Chang
Sarah Gordon is the lead singer of the prog-ethnic band, Yiddish Princess. A third generation Yiddish singer and composer of new Yiddish song, she composed and sang on FLKBAS’ Carnival Conspiracy (Rolling Stones’ #1 non-English recording).
Jeremiah Lockwood. Photo by Lia Chang
Jeremiah Lockwood, leader and singer of the Sway Machinery, guitarist with Balkan Beat Box, and co-collaborator with Frank on Songs of Zebulon, a project reinventing the music of the great Cantor Zebulon ‘Zawel’ Kwartin.
Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. She is a Signature Theatre alumni who was in the cast of Sam Shepard’s Chicago, during his Signature 1996-1997 Playwright-in-Residence Season.
Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang
Congratulations to 2013 Drama Desk nominee Joel de la Fuente, who has been nominated in the category of Outstanding Solo Performance for his tour-de-force turn in Jeanne Sakata’s critically-acclaimed Off-Broadway one-man show Hold These Truths, inspired by the true story of second generation Japanese-American Gordon Hirabayashi. Under the brilliant direction of Lisa Rothe, Hold These Truths had it’s New York premiere last October in a production by Epic Theatre Ensemble at the Theatre at the 14th Street Y.
Mr. de la Fuente, who can currently be seen on Netflix’s “Hemlock Grove” and recently appeared in an episode of “Hawaii Five-O,” will reprise his portrayal as Gordon Hirabayashi and 36 other characters in Hold These Truths as one of the headliner events at the 10th Annual soloNOVA Arts Festival, the award-winning and longest-running solo performance festival in New York City.
Joel de la Fuente as Dr. Johann Pryce in Netflix’s Hemlock Grove. Photo: Netflix
Hold These Truths will have performances at the Culture Project, Tuesday, June 4 at 7pm, Monday, June 10 at 7pm and Tuesday, June 11 at 7pm at the Culture Project (45 Bleecker Street, NYC).
The design team for Hold These Truths includes set design by Mikiko Suzuki McAdams, sound designer and compositions by Daniel Kluger, lighting design by Cat Tate Starmer and costume design by Meg Weeden.
Joel de la Fuente as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths. Photo by Lia Chang
Inspired by a true story, Hold These Truths takes place in Seattle during World War II, where University of Washington student Gordon Hirabayashi is agonizing over U.S. government orders to forcibly remove and mass incarcerate all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast. As he fights to reconcile his country’s betrayal with his passionate belief in the U.S. Constitution, Hirabayashi journeys toward a greater understanding of America’s triumphs – and a confrontation with its failures.
In the dressing room with Joel de la Fuente, who stars as Gordon Hirabayashi in Jeanne Sakata’s Hold These Truths at The Theatre at the 14th Street Y in New York on November 24, 2012. Joel is holding a photo of Esther Schmoe and Gordon Hirabayashi on their wedding day. Photo by Lia Chang
Gordon Kiyoshi Hirabayashi (1918-2012) was an American sociologist best known for his resistance to the Japanese-American internment during World War II. He was one of the only three to openly defy it. After being convicted for curfew violation he was sentenced to 90 days in prison. The verdict was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in the case Hirabayashi v. United States (1943). They unanimously ruled against him. He later spent a year in federal prison for refusing induction into the armed forces after they had sent out a racially discriminatory survey to Japanese-Americans demanding renunciation of allegiance to the emperor of Japan. In 1987, the U.S. Court of Appeals Ninth Circuit overturned his conviction from 1943. In 2012, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Hirabayashi for his principled stand against Japanese-American internment.
“One of the stunning things about Joel de la Fuente’s performance in Jeanne Sakata’s gripping one-man show is how completely he embodies the real-life character of Gordon Hirabayashi….de la Fuente, under the direction of Lisa Rothe, also plays many other characters—but his portrayal of Hirabayashi, whom President Obama just this year posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, feels eerily true to life.” The New Yorker, October 2012
“Jeanne Sakata’s eloquent one-man drama about civil rights giant Gordon Hirabayashi provides a concise examination of a fascinating chapter in American history….Joel de la Fuente plays Hirabayashi wtih buoyant, magnetic enthusiasm, under the direction of Lisa Rothe.” The Washington Post/API, October 2012
“The astounding performance that Joel de la Fuente delivers as Gordon Hirabayashi is reason enough to recommend Hold These Truths…with Jeanne Sakata at the helm, we are treated to a dazzling, literary script that’s full of humor.” New York Times Readers’ Review, October 2012
“Moving, instructive, thrilling….Travel downtown to be inspired by script, actor, and history in equal measure….Culled to its human and emotional essence, we hold Hirabayashi’s story as we must all ‘hold these truths.’” Urban Excavations, October 2012
“Resonates with vitality and power….This is what living, breathing theater is about. Unforgettable.” Technorati, October 2012
Joel de la Fuente (Photo by Lia Chang)
Joel de la Fuente’s (Gordon Hirabayashi) NY theatre credits include: Ivanov in Ivanov; The Downtown Plays; Claudio in Beatrice and Benedict, with the NY Philharmonic; The Square; America Dreaming and Valentine in The Two Gentlemen of Verona. In 2005, Joel served as the Artistic Associate of the National Asian American Theater Company and also appeared in their world premiere of Cowboy v. Samurai, among others. Other theatrical credits include Vershinin in The Three Sisters; Ariel in The Tempest; Florizel in The Winter’s Tale; Chay Yew’s Red and Liu Mengmei in The Peony Pavilion. On television, Joel has spent ten seasons in “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” He was a series regular on the Fox drama, “Space: Above & Beyond;” and is recurring in the upcoming series “Hemlock Grove,” exclusively available on Netflix. On screen, he stars in Brief Reunion (Audience Choice Award Winner) and in the upcoming film, Forgetting The Girl. Additional film credits include: Personal Velocity; The Adjustment Bureau; The Happening; Heights; Return to Paradise and From Other Worlds. Joel’s essay on his experiences as an Asian American actor is published in Pyong Gap Min’s “Struggle for Ethnic Identity.”
Lisa Rothe
Lisa Rothe (Director). Recent Credits: Penelope (Playmakers Repertory Theatre); Ada (Center for Contemporary Opera). Directed and/or developed in NY: The Foundry, New Georges, Epic Theatre Ensemble, Lark Play Development Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST), 52nd Street Project, Naked Angels, New York Theatre Workshop, The Public Theater, BAM, Summer Play Festival (SPF), NYMF, Midtown InterNational Theatre Festival (Best Director), The Women’s Project, National Actors Theater, Keen Company (Keen Teens), Orchard Project, Voice & Vision, HERE, Dixon Place. Regionally: Synchronicity Theatre, Chautauqua Theatre, Vermont Stage Company, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Milwaukee Shakespeare Theatre, The New Harmony Project, Riverside Theatre, Seaside Shakespeare (Nantucket), among others. Director of Offsite Programs and Partnerships at the Lark Play Development Center.
Jeanne Sakata (Photo by Lia Chang)
Jeanne Sakata’s HOLD THESE TRUTHS has its world premiere in 2007 at East West Players under the title of DAWN’S LIGHT: THE JOURNEY OF GORDON HIRABAYASHI, co-presented by the Japanese American National Museum, UCLA Department of Asian American Studies, and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and was subsequently chosen by the Epic Theatre Ensemble and the Lark Play Development Center for their first joint presentation, as well as by the New York Theatre Workshop to be showcased at their 2009 Dartmouth Residency. In its New York premiere with the Epic in October 2012, HOLD THESE TRUTHS opened to unanimous rave reviews from The New Yorker, The Washington Post/API, and many other critics. It has also been performed at Chicago’s Pritzker Pavilion with Silk Road Rising/Millennium Park as part of the Park’s 2011 IN THE WORKS New Plays Series; the Epic’s 2010 Passion Play Festival with the John Jay College of Criminal Justice; the University of California at Riverside; the 16th Annual Conference of the Japan Studies Association in Honolulu; at Japanese American Citizens League Day of Remembrance events in Sacramento and Salinas, California; and the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where it served as the inspiration and theatrical centerpiece of the civil rights symposium “Civil Liberties, National Security and the Legacies of the Japanese Removal and Incarceration.” With the East West Players Theatre For Youth program in 2008 and 2010, the play has twice toured high schools and junior high schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. HOLD THESE TRUTHS is now part of the Library of Congress Playwrights Archive in the Asian American Pacific Islander Collection in Washington DC, where Sakata’s working script was recently on view in the Thomas Jefferson Building in conjunction with the Library of Congress celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. (www.facebook.com/holdthesetruths, www.holdthesetruths.info)
Jeanne is also a renowned actress whose many accolades include an LA Ovation Award for Best Lead Actress for Chay Yew’s RED at East West Players in Los Angeles. In the 2011-2012 season she performed in A CAGE OF FIREFLIES at the 2012 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, in the title role of George Bernard Shaw’s MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION at the Antaeus Company’s Classics Fest, SEVEN at USC, THE LANGUAGE ARCHIVE at East West Players, and RED FLAMBOYANT at Ojai Playwrights Festival. Regionally, she has performed with The Public Theater, Lincoln Center Theater, Kennedy Center, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, South Coast Rep, American Conservatory Theater, Northlight Theatre, Intiman Theatre, Berkeley Rep, A Contemporary Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Syracuse Stage and the Arizona Theatre Company. Screen credits include playing Mom Wanda to Olivia Munn in the recent feature film comedy THE BABYMAKERS, “NCIS LOS ANGELES,” “TYLER PERRY’S MEET THE BROWNS,” “DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES,” “ER,” “THREAT MATRIX,” “LINE OF FIRE,” “PRESIDIO MED,” “AMERICAN FAMILY,” “NUMB3RS,” John Ridley’s “I GOT YOU,” the MOW’s “THE READING ROOM,” “HIROSHIMA,” “CONSENSUAL RELATIONS,” and the feature films XXX2: STATE OF THE UNION and AMERICAN FUSION.
In December 2011, Jeanne was honored with an Outstanding Artist Award for her career achievements by Los Angeles’ Asian Pacific American Friends of the Theatre. (www.jeannesakata.com)
Below are interviews with Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata, star Joel de la Fuente and director Lisa Rothe.
Hold These Truths‘ playwright Jeanne Sakata talks about her inspiration to write Gordon Hirabayashi’s life story, how she did her research, why she chose the solo show format and what she hopes audiences will take away from de la Fuente’s performance.
Hold These Truths‘ star Joel de la Fuente talks about the challenges of playing 30+ characters and the impact playing Gordon Hirabayashi has had for him.
Director Lisa Rothe discusses how she first became involved with Hold These Truths, her history with Joel de la Fuente, how attending a Quaker meeting influenced her design and concept of the set, her prior knowledge of Gordon Hirabayashi, and her exposure to the internment camps.
For more information and tickets, visit www.terranovacollective.org. Tickets are $30 and may also be purchased in-person at the box office ½ hour in advance of the performances.
In celebration of Asian Heritage month, the Equal Employment Opportunity Committee of Actors’ Equity Association and ReImagined World Entertainment will present the debut of “The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project”, an evening of works created and sung by Asian American theatre artists. The free 90-minute concert will take place on Sunday, May 19 at 8 p.m. at The Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center, 480 West 42 St. in New York.
Featuring original words and music by Adam Gwon, Timothy Huang, Christine Toy Johnson, Leon Ko, Felice Kuan, Robert Lee, Yan Li, and Jason Ma, the event will be directed by Alan Muraoka and emceed by Ann Harada (CINDERELLA).
Singers will include Jose Llana (HERE LIES LOVE, SPELLING BEE), Ali Ewoldt (THE FANTASTICKS, LES MISERABLES), Telly Leung (GODSPELL, RENT), Christine Toy Johnson (THE MUSIC MAN, HELLO, DOLLY!), Thom Sesma (THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’, THE LION KING), Joshua dela Cruz (HERE LIES LOVE), Ann Sanders (AVENUE Q), Daniel J. Edwards (ANYTHING GOES), Raymond J. Lee (ANYTHING GOES), Cindy Cheung, Brooke Ishibashi, Brian Jose, Karl Josef Co, Jaygee Macapugay, Marc de la Cruz, Joanne Javien, Gyu Jin Lim, Helen Park, Diane Phelan and Hansel Tan.
Tickets are free, but seating is limited. Please RSVP to EEO@actorsequity.org before Friday, May 17.
The Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project was founded by librettist/lyricist/actor Christine Toy Johnson in 2012 as an ongoing initiative to increase the visibility of Asian American theatre artists, putting to rest the misconception that we do not exist. The artists taking part in this event have collectively performed in over 40 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, have had their works produced around the world, and have been participants in The BMI Musical Theatre Writing Workshop, The Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, and the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program at NYU.
This performance of the Asian American Composers and Lyricists Project is made possible in part with public funds from the Manhattan Community Arts Fund, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
On Tuesday, May 7, 2013, Bombay Dreams‘ vet Manu Narayan and master percussionist Deep Singh will perform with Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars’ Klezmer-Bhangra Extravaganza at the Washington DCJCC, at 1529 Q Street Northwest, Washington, DC at 7:30pm. The concert also features special guests Sarah Gordon and Jeremiah Lockwood. Click here for tickets.
Indian and Jewish musics collide. Trumpeter Frank London of the Klezmatics joins master percussionist Deep Singh in presenting a new look at some old traditions.
Back Row (l to r) Manu Narayan, Aaron Alexander, Frank London, Ron Caswell, Deep Singh. Front Row (l to r) Sarah Gordon, Patrick Farrell, Jeremiah Lockwood on 5/2/13 at Rivington Studios, NYC. Photo by Lia Chang.
India was host to one of the oldest living Jewish communities in the world, with roots stretching back to biblical times. The country of India is called Hodu in Hebrew, most commonly recognized from the opening lines of the Megilla Esther on Purim, when King Achashverosh is depicted as ruling a kingdom that stretched “me’hodu v’ad kush” from India (Hodu) to Ethiopia (Kush). The contemporary Jewish community in Calcutta dates back to 1784 when Shalom Cohen arrived from Aleppo, Syria to be the court jeweler of the Nawab of Oudh. The connection between Jewish and Indian culture is a long one.
Deep Singh. photo by Lia Chang
The roots of this Klezmer-Bhangra Extravaganza concert have little to do with these historical antecedents, and spring from a more personal source. Frank London and Deep Singh are neighbors in New York’s Lower East Side. The pair have played together for both traditional Jewish and Punjabi Sikh weddings, playing bhangra and klezmer music for baraats and khuppah processions. They toured Europe performing Jewish sacred mystical music with Judith Berkson, recorde tsuker-zis with Lorin Skleamberg, and collaborated with writer Glen Berger (Spiderman, A Night in the Old Marketplace) on the apocalyptic psychedelic Bollywood musical, On Words and Onwards. Their dinner parties (replete with massive amounts of overly spicy food, early morning alcohol and ghee fueled percussion jams, and stunt ping pong tricks) are legendary. A benefit for the HONK! Festival of Brass Bands gave them the opportunity to bring together the worlds of klezmer and bhangra party music, and that experience is the impetus for this collaboration. The concert will explore both the ecstatic and the meditative aspects of Jewish and Indian music, and will feature songs by Malkit Singh and Moyshe Oysher. Songs will be sung in multiple languages: Yiddish, Punjabi, Hebrew, Hindi, and English.
Frank London. Photo by Lia Chang
The Cast:
Member of the Klezmatics, leader of many bands (including the new Shekhinah Big Band that has been rocking John Zorn’s venue, The Stone); Grammy award winner, composer and trumpeter, Frank London remains on the cutting edge of Jewish music.
Manu Narayan. Photo by Lia Chang
Manu Narayan, an actor, singer, songwriter and classical saxophonist, has collaborated with Grammy winner Frank London numerous times around the world, most recently recording and performing for his Soundbrush records’ Klezmer concept album A Night in the Old Marketplace, in which he sang the part of the Badkhn. He made his Broadway debut as Akaash in Bombay Dreams, for which he received a Drama League award nomination, and co-starred in Mike Myers’ The Love Guru as Rajneesh alongside Mike Myers, Jessica Alba, and Justin Timberlake. Narayan recently starred as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s critically acclaimed revival of Glengarry Glen Ross and was nominated for a San Diego Critics Circle 2012 Craig Noel Award for Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play. Multimedia: Manu Narayan Dazzles as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s Revival of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross In 2003, he was invited to sing at a small state dinner for the first official visit of President George W. Bush to the UK. Narayan sang for and met the Queen of England, The Royal Family, President Bush and Colin Powell. He has had the privilege to sing for then Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign sponsored by Hillary Clinton as well as elsewhere with Cyndi Lauper, Garth Hudson and Martha Wainwright.
Frank London and Manu Narayan in rehearsal at Rivington Studios in New York on May 2, 2013. Photo by Lia Chang
As a recording artist, Narayan has collaborated on and recorded original and cover tracks for feature film soundtracks including The Love Guru, Cinderella Story: Once Upon a Song, Hiding Divya, Good Night|Good Morning, Walkaway and Vanessa Williams’ And Then Came Love. As the lead vocalist, Narayan has performed the concert version of the album throughout Europe and North America. In addition to solo work, Narayan is lead singer of the band Darunam with Radovan Jovicevic, founding member of Yugoslavia’s Grupa Zana. The band brings together the melodies and rhythms from three homelands: America, India, and Serbia. He recorded with D A R U N A M band mate Radovan Jovicevic the single Have Me for the 2007 film And Then Came Love starring Vanessa Williams. Narayan and Jovicevic released the EP All That’s Beautiful Must Die and the title track’s video featuring Janina Gavankar. Their album of Electronic Lounge/World Gypsy music with Canadian Clarinetist Milan Milosevic entitled The Last Angel on Earth was released live on CBC national radio in Canada in 2010. Click here for Manu Narayan’s Website.
Deep Singh. Photo by Lia Chang
Master indian percussionist Deep Singh has played with everyone from the legendary Punjab singer, Malkit Singh, to the legendary British singer, Sting. He has performed Indian classical music internationally since beginning tabla at age 4, and has produced r&b dance tracks for Rihanna and Justin Bieber.
Sarah Gordon. Photo by Lia Chang
Sarah Gordon is the lead singer of the prog-ethnic band, Yiddish Princess. A third generation Yiddish singer and composer of new Yiddish song, she composed and sang on FLKBAS’ Carnival Conspiracy (Rolling Stones’ #1 non-English
recording).
Jeremiah Lockwood. Photo by Lia Chang
Jeremiah Lockwood, leader and singer of the Sway Machinery, guitarist with Balkan Beat Box, and co-collaborator with Frank on Songs of Zebulon, a project reinventing the music of the great Cantor Zebulon ‘Zawel’ Kwartin.
At the core of this special project is London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars krewe – Ron Caswell, Aaron Alexander, Brian Drye, Patty Farrell and Michael Winograd.
Patty Farrell. Photo by Lia Chang
Aaron Alexander. Photo by Lia Chang
Ron Caswell. Photo by Lia Chang
Back Row (l to r) Manu Narayan, Aaron Alexander, Frank London, Deep Singh, Ron Caswell. Front Row (l to r) Patrick Farrell,Sarah Gordon, Jeremiah Lockwood on 5/2/13 at Rivington Studios, NYC. Photo by Lia Chang.
Click below for a slideshow of Manu Narayan and Deep Singh with Frank London’s Klezmer Brass Allstars’ in rehearsal at the Rivington Studios in New York.
Lia Chang is an actor, a performance and fine art botanical photographer, and an award-winning multi-platform journalist. She is a Signature Theatre alumni who was in the cast of Sam Shepard’s Chicago, during his Signature 1996-1997 Playwright-in-Residence Season.
On Saturday, April 27, 2013 at 9:30 p.m. in Zankel Hall, critically acclaimed and Grammy Award-nominated jazz pianist and composer Vijay Iyer performs solo piano works and leads both his jazz trio and sextet for an evening of original music from his celebrated recordings. The pianist, noted by The New Yorker as one of “today’s most important pianists… extravagantly gifted… brilliantly eclectic,” performs alongside bassist Stephan Crump, drummer Tyshawn Sorey, trumpeter Graham Haynes, tenor saxophonist Mark Shim, and soprano and alto saxophonist Steve Lehman. This concert is presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC.
Iyer’s many collaborators include other forward-thinking musicians of his generation, such as Rudresh Mahanthappa, Craig Taborn, Ambrose Akinmusire, and Liberty Ellman; elder creative music pioneers, including Steve Coleman, Roscoe Mitchell, Wadada Leo Smith, George Lewis, and Amina Claudine Myers; and new-music experimenters ranging from Miya Masaoka and John Zorn to hip-hop innovators Dead Prez, Das Racist, and DJ Spooky, among others. His compositions have been commissioned or performed by the Silk Road Ensemble, Ethel, Brentano String Quartet, JACK Quartet, American Composers Orchestra, Hermès Ensemble, and Imani Winds. A polymath whose career has spanned the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, Iyer received an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the cognitive science of music from the University of California, Berkeley, and has published articles in Journal of Consciousness Studies, Wire, Music Perception, JazzTimes, and The Best Writing on Mathematics: 2010.
Prior to this performance, starting at 8:00 p.m., ticketholders are invited to enjoy Late Nights at Zankel Hall, a laid-back pre-concert experience. The first 200 ticketholders to arrive will receive a complimentary drink courtesy of Carnegie Hall. For more information, please visit carnegiehall.org/latenights.
About The Artist
Composer and pianist Vijay Iyer was described by Pitchfork as “one of the most interesting and vital young pianists in jazz today,” and by the Los Angeles Weekly as “a boundless and deeply important young star.” His most recent honors include an unprecedented “quintuple crown” in the Downbeat International Critics Poll (winning the Jazz Artist of the Year, Pianist of the Year, Jazz Album of the Year, Jazz Group of the Year, and Rising Star Composer categories) as well as the $275,000 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and the $30,000 Greenfield Prize, all awarded in 2012. He was voted the 2010 Musician of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and named one of the “50 Most Influential Global Indians” by GQ India.
Iyer has released sixteen albums as a leader—his most recent, Accelerando (2012), an “early front-runner for jazz album of the year” (The New York Times), is an intense, visceral, and widely acclaimed follow-up to the multiple award-winning Historicity (2009), both featuring the Vijay Iyer Trio. Historicity was a 2010 Grammy Award nominee for Best Instrumental Jazz Album and was named the number one jazz album of the year by outlets including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, National Public Radio, and the Village Voice Jazz and Downbeat International Critics polls. Iyer is the recipient of the Alpert Award in the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, among other honors, in addition to receiving numerous composer commissions. In 2013, Iyer takes on the role of Director of Banff Centre’s International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music—an annual three-week program in Alberta, Canada, founded by piano legend Oscar Peterson.
Program Information
Saturday, April 27 at 9:30 p.m.
Zankel Hall
VIJAY IYER: SOLO, TRIO, SEXTET
Vijay Iyer, Piano
Stephan Crump, Bass
Tyshawn Sorey, Drums
Steve Lehman, Soprano and Alto Saxophones
Mark Shim, Tenor Saxophone
Graham Haynes, Trumpet
This concert and the Shape of Jazz series are made possible by The Joyce and George Wein Foundation in memory of Joyce Wein.
Presented by Carnegie Hall in partnership with Absolutely Live Entertainment LLC.
Carnegie Hall’s presentation of the Vijay Iyer Sextet is supported by Presenting Jazz, a program of Chamber Music America funded through the generosity of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Ticket Information
Single tickets, priced at $40 and $50, are available at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, 154 West 57th Street, or can be charged to major credit cards by calling CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7800, or online by visiting carnegiehall.org.
For more information on discount ticket programs, including those for students, Notables members, and Bank of America customers, visit carnegiehall.org/discounts.
Lia Chang
