Tibet House US 32nd Anniversary Benefit Concert Celebrating The Year of the Earth Dog,

This was a fun one!

Featuring Philip Glass, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, Jon Batiste, Tenzin Choegyal, Stephen Colbert, Jason Isbell, Chris Robinson Brotherhood, New Order’s Bernard Sumner, Nathaniel Rateliff, featuring the Scorchio Quartet and Patti Smith Band.

Silver Sun Foundation Residency

The Woods Await!

The mission of the Silver Sun Residence program is to offer creative professionals and change makers an opportunity to develop new work in a tranquil environment. Located in Woodstock, NY it certainly was a respite to the business of an 8 show Broadway week. I was at the Residency under the umbrella of The Secret City. One of my favorite organizations, The Secret City presents ecstatic community art celebrations featuring storytelling, visual art, guest performers, a live band, a community choir, and playful interaction. I ended my residency week participating in the annual Secret City Woodstock Revival- A town wide festival celebrating art, community and the unique creative spirit of Woodstock. Below, I’m singing and playing in the woods on the beautiful Comeau trail….please watch.

NBC TODAY SHOW!

The cast and band of Oklahoma! performed this morning a medley of Cain’t Say No and Oklahoma! live in Bryant Park for the NBC Today Show! It was an early morning, but tons of fun to play outside for the Ok! fans.

The cast and band of Oklahoma! on NBC Today!
Waiting to perform… Damon and those chaps!
Silly antics in the bass clef.

TONY award WINS for OKLAHOMA!

Oklahoma! took home best revival of a musical at the 2019 TONY Awards! We played a medley of Cain’t Say No and Oklahoma for a packed Radio City Music Hall. So exciting to be backstage waiting to go on with all the other shows…And Ali Stroker rightly took home the TONY for best featured actress in a musical! Woohoo! Ali has become a major role model for us all!

‘ThisTree’ Premiere at the  Prototype Festival

‘ThisTree’ is happening NOW at the Prototype Festival
at HERE arts in New York City, January 6-12, 2019
directed by Ellie Heyman

ThisTree, Culture Mart, 2017 Photo by Paula Court

ThisTree….Dappled late-afternoon light bathes a clearing in the hand crafted forest. Sounds of nature gently reverberate. Radical cellist/singer Leah Coloff emerges, trailing a 25 ft. cape of tattered denim. Tracing the secrets of her family history, Coloff, a cross pollination between Laura Ingalls Wilder and Patti Smith, glides between idyllic childhood memories, unanswered questions and her wild ride through fertility treatments. ThisTree weaves autobiographical storytelling, Regular 8 home movies, and Coloff’s signature blend of blues, rock and non-traditional cello playing, supported by an all-female band, to investigate the vantage point of being the last branch on the family tree.

Produced for PROTOTYPE by HERE, a co-production of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE. Commissioned and developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program and a developmental residency at Bethany Arts Community. It is being supported by HERE’s Fund for Women Artists, generously created by Jennifer Suh Whitfield and Benjamin Whitfield.

Read more about the PROTOTYPE Festivalhttps://nyti.ms/2SC3F7q

Oklahoma! Going to Broadway!

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.

Oklahoma! at St. Ann’s Warehouse!

Directed by Daniel Fish this dark version breaks open this classic musical to reveal  how current and relevant its themes are in present times. The band, led by Nathan Koci, who also plays accordion and drums, is Eleonore Oppenheim on bass, Sarah Goldfeather on violin, Joseph Brent on mandolin, Hilary Hawke on banjo and Brett Parnell on guitars, and I’m playing cello.
Read the NY Times review!

The Source- best classical recordings of 2015

“it does what great art should: It pushes you to think and feel about the world in new ways.” -ZACHARY WOOLFE

Delighted to have played in the ensemble for The Source, Ted Hearne’s modern-day oratorio,  about Chelsea Manning, the US Army Private who infamously leaked hundreds of thousands of classified military documents to WikiLeaks in 2010.  A truly innovative piece worthy of the accolades.

 | The New York Times | “The Best Classical Recordings of 2015”

| The New Yorker | “Alex Ross: Notable Performances and Recordings of 2015″

THE SOURCE – ALBUM RELEASED OCTOBER 2015
produced by Nick Tipp, Jesse Lewis and Ted Hearne
recorded by Jesse Lewis at Avatar Studios (Manhattan) and Systems Two Studios (Brooklyn)

Nathan Koci, music director
Ted Hearne, Mellissa Hughes, Samia Mounts, Isaiah Robinson, Jonathan Woody, vocalists
Courtney Orlando, violin
Anne Lanzilotti, viola
Leah Coloff, cello
Taylor Levine, electric guitar
Greg Chudzik, electric bass
Ron Wiltrout, drums

HERE Artist Residency Program

 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.

BBC: collaboration with Debs McCoy

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 McCoa 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

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.

The Source: 2014 Next Wave Festival

Fishman Space Oct 22-Oct 25, 7:30 pm

A huge wall-projection from “The Source,” with a correspondingly tiny live performer in the foreground.
KIRSTEN LUCE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

In this multimedia oratorio by composer Ted Hearne, four singers inhabit a fever-dream assemblage of media to explore the hysteria surrounding Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning.
The primary-source libretto was culled from Iraq/Afghanistan War Logs.  One of the most intense,beautiful and terrifying pieces I have been a part of.  The  NY Times review describes the power and simplicity of this multi-media experience. http://nyti.ms/1tAjjQb

Composed by Ted Hearne
Libretto by Mark Doten
Directed by Daniel Fish

Vocalists:

Mellissa Hughes     Soprano
Samia Mounts         Soprano
Isaiah Robinson     Tenor
Jonathan Woody    Bass-Baritone

Ensemble:

Nathan Koci                Music Director/ Conductor/ Keyboards
Courtney Orlando     Violin
Anne Lanzilotti          Viola
Leah Coloff                  Cello
Greg Chudzik              Bass
Ron Wiltrout              Drums

Produced by Beth Morrison Projects

 

Brahms with Chamber 16

Mary Bopp – piano
Sam Hutcheson – baritone
Sharon Gunderson, Claire Smith – violin
Julie Goodale, Katherine Sinsabaugh – viola
Scott Ballantyne, Clay Ruede, Leah Coloff – cello

St. Peter’s Church
619 Lexington NYC 10022
$20.00

Damon Albarn: Everyday Robots

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.

Backstage at the Highline: Martha Mooke, Damon Albarn, Leah Coloff

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.

Ready for Bonnaroo time! Rachel Golub, Lorenza Ponce, Martha Mooke and Leah Coloff.
The Tonight Show: Amy Kimball, Martha Mooke, Leah Coloff, Rachel Golub.

ThisTree available on bandcamp!!

These songs stretch tall like pines dark with sweet prickly needles. Shades of cabaret, horns and old timey stylings create a fearless album about family legacy and finding your place in the world.

recorded by Marc Urselli at East Side Sound
mixed by Bryce Goggin at Trout Studios
mastered by Fred Kevorkian
horn arrangements by Andy Green
featuring Mathias Kunzli on drums
Dan Willis on Tenor sax/clarinet
Kenny Berger on Alto Flute, Baritone Sax
Mike Fahie on Trombone
Sarth Calhoun on bass
Tony Diodore on banjo

Present Music “Multitude” Concert: Milwaukee

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

Nurse Jackie Finale on Showtime

I love the show Nurse Jackie, so I was thrilled that Scorchio was asked to record on the song, “One For My Baby” for the closing credits of the season finale.

I want to enjoy hearing it as the last moment of the season without prior knowledge of what’s going to happen… so, don’t worry, there’s no spoiler alert…

Matt Ray is playing piano. Pat Irwin was the  composer and producer of the session. Patrick Derivaz the recording engineer par excellence. Michael Hill was the music supervisor. I don’t know who is singing, but they’re great!

Tibet House US Benefit Concert at Carnegie Hall

Patti Smith, Jim James Top Tibet Benefit in New York
Rolling Stone

Feb 22, 2013 · … and the Scorchio String Quartet amplified every performance by balancing elaborate orchestral swirls with unsettling moments of staccato thunder.”

Scorchio played with Philip Glass, Patti Smith, Jesse Smith, Jim James, Tuneyards, Ariel Pink, Rahzel, Tenzin Choegyal, and all the monks in the grand finale!

And fun review of the night by Pitchfork calling Scorchio  “endearingly game”.

 http://m.pitchfork.com/news/49664-report-tibet-house-benefit-at-carnegie-hall-featuring-ariel-pink-tune-yards-jim-james-more/