Artists

La Mandragore distinguishes itself in two ways: its energic and contagious dynamism and its approach to the music, equal parts musicological rigour and modern creativity. The group presents unique arrangements of ancient melodies and of world folk music on a panoply of heterogeneous instruments, from the crumhorn to the nay, from the ud to the bouzouki and the gaida, and a whole range of percussion instruments.

Pianist Laura Loewen is a long-time colleague and collaborator at the University of Manitoba's Desautels Faculty of Music in Winnipeg. Loewen is one of Canada's most expressive collaborative pianists, performing with leading singers and instrumentalists across the country. Her ongoing work with saxophonist Allen Harrington led to the recent Ravello Records release of METROPOLIS, a recording of new compositions for saxophone and piano. Loewen teaches collaborative piano and coaches singers at the Desautels Faculty of Music, where her "Passionate Diction" approach to language has inspired a whole new generation of language enthusiasts. Together, Mel Braun and Loewen have toured Canada and commissioned numerous works, always evolving as recitalists and collaborators.

Baritone Mel Braun is a long-time colleague and collaborator at the University of Manitoba's Desautels Faculty of Music in Winnipeg. Braun is well known for his Bach singing, with performances and broadcasts that have taken him all across Canada.

Jean-Philippe Grégoire began his classical studies at the Conservatory of Marseille, under Régis Campo, receiving top awards there including the Henri Tomasi's Composition prize and the SACEM prize. In 2008, he went to the Paris Conservatory to study Jazz Performance. Breaking onto the Paris jazz scene, Grégoire began performing in groups including the Julian Getreau 4tet at some of the finest clubs and festivals in Paris, including Duc des Lombards, Le Basier Salé, and Jazz Festival of Flavors.

Christina Rusnak (b. 1959) is a multifaceted composer whose work reflects a diversity of styles. Actively seeking to integrate artistic and geographic elements into her work, her goal is to compose music that engages the performers as well as the audience.

Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. Oxley, a self-taught pianist by the age of eight, first began playing the drums at age seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music theory and improved upon his drumming technique.

The Oscuro Quintet is an international group of 5 accomplished musicians of diverse disciplines pursuing their collective passion for tango and contemporary music.

Peggo in Love ñ singer Peggo Hodes' debut solo recording ñ is a striking collection of timeless love songs picked from the Great American Songbook. Peggo, whose previous outings include her work with award-winning childrenís music group Peggosus and folk duo Peggo and Paul (featuring her husband Paul Hodes), looked to her past for inspiration on Peggo in Love.

Composer and double bass player Adriano Orrù was born in Nuoro, Italy in 1958 and currently lives in Cagliari, Italy. He devotes his time to jazz, radical improvisation, chamber music. He also works as a music teacher.

Andy Jaffe is the Lyell B. Clay Artist in Residence and Director of Jazz Activities at Williams College, as well as Artistic Director of the Williamstown Jazz Festival. An active jazz composer, performer, and recording artist, Jaffe has been a leader in jazz pedagogy for over twenty-five years, having taught at the Berklee College of Music (1977-81), The University of Massachusetts Amherst graduate program in Afro-American Music and Jazz (1994-98), the Institut Musical deformation Professionelle in Nimes, France (1984), Amherst College (1987-99), Tufts University(1992-93), Smith College(1997-99), and Williams (since 1989). He runs the jazz ensembles and teaches courses in jazz theory and improvisation, jazz arranging and composition, and on the music of Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.

Svjetlana Bukvich first came to the attention of the European music world following her appearances as featured soloist with the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, performing Beethoven’s 1st Piano Concerto at the age of 16, and the following year with Edinburgh George Heriot’s Symphony Orchestra with the 2nd Concerto. Driven by a need to express beyond interpretation, Bukvich studied at the Music Academy – University of Sarajevo, where she earned degrees in Composition and Musicology. During this period she was invited to participate in the Intensive Composition Workshop in Groznjan, Istria, where she worked with some of the leading lights in European contemporary music.

Tony R. Clef was born in Bellows Falls VT and grew up in nearby Springfield, VT. He has spent most of his adult life in the Boston, MA area. He studied classical guitar primarily with Richard Layman in Brookline, MA and also for a time with Adam Holzman in Austin, TX.

Jazz pianist and composer Bunny Beck comes from a long line of musicians. Her dad, Larry Sideman had a band that played hotels, her aunt was a vaudeville violinist, and her grandmother sang opera.

The sights and sounds of nature. Literature. Film. The many languages of the world. These are the Muses of the group known as Ecco La Musica. From its inception in 2006, this ensemble has been dedicated to the performance of original material created by its members and uniquely arranged to highlight the instrumentation and artistic perspective of the composers' collective.

A native of Chicago, composer, multi-instrumentalist, author, and educator Alex Lubet has lived in Minnesota since 1979.  While having written works in many idioms, he has long devoted himself principally to performing his own music, as a solo acoustic guitarist and in collaboration with artists including Maja Radovanlija, Swiss free jazz pianist Guerino Mazzola, and his wife, taiko and fue (Japanese drums and horizontal flute) player Iris Shiraishi. 

A trombonist and prolific, highly diverse composer who recently retired from The University of Utah's School of Music after nearly 40 years as Director Of Jazz Studies, Henry Wolking has found creative inspiration in writing for almost every imaginable type of large and small ensemble in classical and jazz music. His prodigious orchestral output includes symphonies, fantasies, and an overture as well as eight concertos featuring various soloists such as jazz quartet, trombone, flute, heckelphone, bassoon, contrabassoon, two pianos and horn.

Sebastiano Meloni lives in Cagliari, Italy, where he teaches literature and history. He graduated from the Conservatory in Cagliari with a degree in jazz music. While at the Conservatory, he also studied classical music, contemporary music, composition, and music theory. In 2002, he recorded Libere Forme, a CD of free jazz-contemporary music, with drummer Alessandro Garau and double bassist Nicola Cossu. He continues to play free and mainstream jazz throughout Italy.

Gay Pearson received a B.M. in applied piano from Lawrence University in '65 and a B.S. in Meteorology from Purdue University in '83. During her twelve years of employment in air quality evaluation with New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection in Trenton, she also studied jazz harmony, theory and improvisation. Since relocating to Maine, she is finishing her eighth year of studying advanced improvisation and composition with Vardan Ovsepian, first in her home town of Newburyport MA, then via skype.

Margaret Herlehy was born into a musical family in New Rochelle, NY in 1959. Growing up, she recalls an attic filled with her grandfather’s instruments as her experimental playground where she would spend hours figuring out popular tunes on them. At the suggestion of her middle school band director, she started playing the oboe and began playing professionally alongside her teacher Lois Wann at the age of 16.

Pianist, electric bassist, composer, and arranger, Ron Paley has composed works for solo piano, big band, and symphony orchestra. He formed the Ron Paley Big Band in 1976 after playing electric bass with the big bands of Buddy Rich, and Woody Herman, with whom he recorded two album’s.