CELLIST, SINGER, SONGWRITER/COMPOSER, CREATOR
Working with others is where it’s at…
The entire cast and band from the production at St. Ann’s Warehouse is going to Broadway in the spring. I’m excited to share the stage again with all of these fantastic actors and musicians. Cain’t wait to see what they do with plywood and guns on set.
I am delighted and honored to have been chosen to be a part of the HERE Artist Residency Program. I will be developing a multi-media theatrical piece exploring the themes present in my most recent collection of songs called ThisTree. ThisTree as a performance piece will sew together song, family stories, animation, home movies and handmade objects to explore identity, memory, legacy and loss, propelled by the question – “What do we leave behind when our family tree has died?”
HERE commissions and develops new hybrid works over a 1- to 3-year period. As part of the HERE community of artists and audiences, the 15 resident artists show works-in-progress, develop workshop productions, and mount full–scale productions. Through the residency programs, HERE seeks to not only grow innovative artistic work, but also give artists the awareness and skills—in areas such as audience relations, budgeting, grantwriting, and touring—they need to continue to grow their careers.
HERE has developed such acclaimed works as Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues; Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique; Basil Twist and Joey Arias’ Arias with a Twist; Hazelle Goodman’s On Edge; Young Jean Lee’s Songs of The Dragons Flying To Heaven; Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle’s all wear bowlers; Faye Driscoll’s837 Venice Boulevard; Taylor Mac’s The Lily’s Revenge and original musical and dance works created and directed by HERE Co-Founder and Artistic Director Kristin Marting.
I’m a big fan of Soundcloud! It’s truly for and about music and connection through music. My favorite connection has been with Debs McCoy a lovely, haunting songwriter from England. I had the pleasure of collaborating with her on a track she wrote called The Weight. I recorded many, many tracks of cello which she arranged beautifully. Its a melancholy yearning for sure…
It was chosen to be on http://freshonthenet.co.uk/2014/11/faves130/
Fresh Faves – chosen by our readers over the weekend and reviewed by Team Freshnet moderator Jim Craigen from AlternativeFriday.com. You can hear all these tracks in a singleSoundcloud playlist here.
It will also be played on the BBC!
The BBC Introducing Mixtape is a 60 minute radio show and podcast broadcast on BBC Radio 6 Music from 2-3am every Sunday night/Monday morning and available as a free download for 30 days at the BBC 6 Music downloads page. Since April 2013 the tracklists and timings for each mixtape have been posted here at Fresh On The Net with links & info for all the artists. For earlier tracklists see the BBC Website.
Chamber 16 FREE concert at Lincoln Center!
Brahms’s Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Piano and the Second String Sextet in G Major.
Thursday November 13, 6pm Bruno Walter Auditorium at Lincoln Center
111 Amsterdam Avenue NYC 10023
Another opportunity to play the lovely Brahms Trio with Mary Bopp and Eric Umble .
Damon Albarn is a fantastic songwriter. Everyday Robots is his first Solo record, but he’s known for his band Gorillaz and if you go back even further, BLUR. Yes.
A little side story: I play with The Secret City most months and we played the Blur song Girls and Boys as one of the Prelude songs for the March? service. I didn’t listened to Blur back in the day (or Oasis…) or to Gorillaz in more recent times. Anyway, the song seemed rather simple upon first look. But it turns out that it was the most fun to play, sounded the best, and I decided that it was actually a great song, as simple songs often are. (I have yet to master this- always getting too complicated…)
A month later, Martha Mooke from Scorchio told me we were going to be the string quartet for some sessions with Damon Albarn who was promoting his new record, Everyday Robots on radio shows for WFUV and Sirius. Oh! Turns out it’s that guy who wrote that great song! Turns out he’s written many great songs!
I just love the synchronicity of that. I never would have thought I would be playing with the guy from Blur. And he’s still as cute as he was in the video for Boys and Girls, just slightly more mellow. Only slightly. He and his band were good humored and friendly. And his music director, Mike Smith writes a very nice string arrangement.
Scorchio playing with Damon Albarn at WFUV
We were asked to play with them again on The Tonight Show and at Bonnaroo! Ah….we accepted.
“You’re The One” written and arranged by Leah Coloff
Scorchio Quintet: In Real Time at New Jersey City University – Ingalls Recital Hall
Sunday, October 27 at 3:00pm
Last month, I had the pleasure to be a part of Milwaukee’s Present Music ensemble for their Season Finale concert, MULTITUDE.
It was not just a concert, but truly an event with the evening ending in the audience dancing! The founder, artistic director, and conductor, Kevin Stalheim has created an anomaly and phenomenon; Present Music manages to regularly bring to their concerts audiences of 600 and they commission pieces that go on to be established repertoire for new music groups around the world.
“Hearne’s “Warning Song” (2006), “Snowball” (2008) and three postmodern cabaret/art songs from his Delusion Story (2011) completed the program. All are mind-bending, transcendent mash-ups of genres. The greatest, most unforgettable performances of the night were by Leah Coloff, who sang Hearne’s most searing songs while ferociously playing the cello part.” ~ John Schneider, Shepherd Express
Buy tickects!!
https://www.ticketfly.com/
I am feeling privileged to be a very small part of this show.
I played cello on several compositions by Christopher Tignor (Slow Six) really beautiful pieces~
recorded specifically for i luminate ARTIST OF LIGHT
at The Duke Theater on 42nd streeet 11.23.12 to 01.05.13
It’s some kind of crazy wireless lighting program that is attached to the performers outfits and linked to the music. A light show through dance… kind of like the those laser light shows only it’s actual people dancing with cool choreography.
They were on American’s got Talent. I don’t think they won,which is probably for the best as those things go.
I’m definitely going to go see them- and not just so I can hear myself.
This is their blurb:
INTRODUCINGiLUMINATE™, THE LEADERS IN LIGHT SUIT DESIGN + CONTROL!
iLuminate enables performers, choreographers, technicians and artistic directors to produce explosive performances with customized wireless lighting programs. The results take viewers on exhilarating ride: extraordinary effects choreographed with phenomenal dance moves. Since launching in 2009, iLuminate’s patent-pending technology has been used in numerous performances by Grammy-winning superstars such as Chris Brown, Christina Aguilera and The Black Eyed Peas.
Sunday, November 20
“Fortunately art is a community effort – a small but select community living in a
spiritualized world endeavoring to interpret the wars and the solitudes of the flesh.” — Allen Ginsberg
Reaching back into my classical past, I performed The Swan from Carnival of The Animals by Saint-Saens.
The Secret City takes place at Dixon Place;161A Chrystie St(between Rivington & Delancey)
