Symphony Space to Host Two Concerts Benefitting ACLU

Table Pounding Music is proud to present two benefit concerts for the American Civil Liberties Union, produced by Grammy-nominated clarinetist David Krakauer, pianist-composer Kathleen Tagg and Table Pounding Music on Saturday, April 15th at 7:30pm and Sunday, September 24th at 6pm. This all-star group of virtuosic, boundary-pushing New York City musicians share two common attributes: a quest for pushing outside the box in their respective genres, exploring what it means to be a musician from multiple different angles; and a desire to use their artistic voices to raise funds for the protection of civil liberties. One hundred percent of the artist fees will be donated to the ACLU. The concerts will take place at Symphony Space. Please see the lineup and further details below. A selection of tracks will be available to download for purchase and these revenues will also benefit the ACLU.

About the ACLU

The ACLU is a nonpartisan, non-profit organization whose mission is to defend and individual rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

CONCERT 1: MUSICAL MAVERICKS
Saturday, April 15, 2017 at 7:30pm

Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theatre, Symphony Space
2537 Broadway, New York, NY, 10025

http://www.symphonyspace.org
http://www.symphonyspace.org/event/9650/Music/aclu-benefit-concert-musical-mavericks

Featuring:
Burton & Musto (Amy Burton, soprano & John Musto, piano)
Krakauer & Tagg (David Krakauer, clarinet & Kathleen Tagg, piano)
Lara St. John violin
Alicia Svigals & William Schimmel klezmer violin & accordion

Todd Reynolds violin
9 Horses (Joe Brent, acoustic & electric mandolin; Sara Caswell,

violin & Hardanger d'amore; Andrew Ryan, bass;

Kevin Garcia, drums)

CONCERT 2: ABRAHAM INC. & FRIENDS
Sunday, September 24, 2017 at 6pm
Peter Jay Sharp Theatre, Symphony Space
2537 Broadway, New York, NY, 10025
http://www.symphonyspace.org

Featuring:

ABRAHAM INC.

David Krakauer clarinet

Fred Wesley trombone

Socalled producer and beat architect
with

Allen Watsky guitar

Brandon Wright tenor sax

Jerome Harris bass

Michael Sarin drums

Sheryl Bailey guitar

Taron Benson vocals

Tagg-Petersen South African Piano Duo

Kathleen Tagg & Andre Petersen pianos

Additional Guests TBA

About the Artists: APRIL 15, 2017

David Krakauer, Clarinetist/Producer

Considered to be among the world's most singular clarinetists, Grammy-nominated artist David Krakauer is recognized internationally as a key innovator in modern klezmer as well as a major voice in classical music. Only a select few performers have the ability to convey their message to the back row, to galvanize an audience with a visceral power that connects on a universal level. He has performed as a soloist with some of the top orchestras in the world including the American Symphony, Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Detroit Symphony, Dresdener Philharmonie, Komische Oper Berlin, New Jersey Symphony, l'Orchestre National de Lyon, Phoenix Symphony, Seattle Symphony, Weimar Staatskapelle, among many others. In a myriad of multi-genre projects has shared the stage with a wide array of artists such as The Klezmatics, Fred Wesley, Itzhak Perlman, Socalled, Eiko and Koma and Leonard Slatkin. In addition, he has performed with many of the worlds' most renowned string quartets including the Kronos, Tokyo, Orion and Emerson. www.davidkrakauer.com

Kathleen Tagg, Pianist/Composer/Producer

South African-born pianist, composer and producer Kathleen Tagg is known for her explorations in sound color in both standard repertoire and her own creations utilizing the full range of sound of the piano using extended techniques and loops. She has performed on four continents in leading venues such as Carnegie Hall, had her original music performed in venues such as New York's Lincoln Center, appeared on and produced a host of classical, world music and multi-genre recordings in New York, Cape Town, London, Kolkata and LA. Her work has been released on record labels NAXOS, Ossia, Table Pounding Records and Gallo Africa. A 2014 South African Music Awards nominee for best classical album, her musical Erika's Wall, created with Sophie Jaff, received its premiere run in Chicago in 2010 by The Music Theater Company, and she was a fellow of the Dramatist Guild of America in 2014/15. She is a 2017 Con Edison Exploring The Metropolis Composer in Residence. www.kathleentagg.com

Amy Burton, Soprano

Amy Burton has sung with the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, at the White House, and with major opera companies and orchestras throughout the US, Europe, UK, Japan and Israel, as well as on recital and cabaret stages from New York to Barcelona. A frequent interpreter of 20th and 21st-Century music, she has premiered pieces by John Musto, Paul Moravec, Lee Hoiby, John Harbison, Richard Festinger, and Richard Danielpour, to name a few. New York City Opera, with whom she was a soprano for twelve seasons, honored her with the Christopher Keene Award, the Kolosvar Award, and the Diva Award. www.amyburton.com

John Musto, Composer/Pianist

Composer and pianist John Musto is regarded as one of the most versatile musicians before the public today. Mr. Musto was a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his orchestral song cycle Dove Sta Amore, and is a recipient of two Emmy awards, two CINE Awards, a Rockefeller Fellowship at Bellagio, an American Academy of Arts and Letters award, and a Distinguished Alumnus award from the Manhattan School of Music. His activities encompass virtually every genre: orchestral and operatic, solo, chamber and vocal music, concerti, and music for film and television. www.johnmusto.com

Lara St. John, Violinist

Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John has been described as "something of a phenomenon" by The Strad and a "high-powered soloist" by the New York Times. She has performed as soloist with the orchestras of Cleveland, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and with the Boston Pops, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, NDR Symphony, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, Camerata Ireland, Amsterdam Symphony, Brazilian Symphony, Sao Paulo Symphony, China Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, and the orchestras of Brisbane, Adelaide and Auckland among many others. www.larastjohn.com

Alicia Svigals, Klezmer Violinist

Alicia Svigals is the world's leading klezmer fiddler, a founder of the Grammy-winning Klezmatics who she co-led for seventeen years, and a composer who was selected to be a 2014 MacDowell Fellow. She has played with and composed for violinist Itzhak Perlman, the Kronos Quartet, playwrights Tony Kushner and Eve Ensler, the late poet Allen Ginsburg, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, singer/songwriter Debbie Friedman, Avraham Fried, singer/songwriters Diane Birch, Gary Lucas and Najma Akhtar, and many others. She has appeared on David Letterman, MTV, PBS' Great Performances, NPR's Prairie Home Companion, Weekend Edition and New Sounds, and on the soundtrack for the L-Word. www.aliciasvigals.com

Todd Reynolds, Violinist/Composer

Todd Reynolds, violinist, composer, educator and technologist is known as a founding father of the hybrid-musician movement and one of the most active and versatile proponents of what he calls 'present music.' The violinist of choice for Steve Reich, Meredith Monk, Bang on a Can, and a founder of the string quartet known as Ethel, his compositional and performance style is a hybrid of old and new technology, multi-disciplinary aesthetic and pan-genre composition and improvisation. Reynolds' music has been called "a charming, multi-mood extravaganza, playful like Milhaud, but hard-edged like Hendrix" (Strings Magazine), and his countless premieres and performances of everything from classical music to Jazz to Rock'n'Roll seem to redefine the concert hall and underground club as undeniably and unavoidably intertwined. He released his double CD set, Outerborough on Innova Recordings. www.toddreynolds.com

9 Horses feat. Kevin Garcia

9 Horses (Joe Brent, Sara Caswell, Andrew Ryan) released its debut album Perfectest Herald (Sunnyside Records) in 2015. Budd Kopman wrote in All About Jazz: "This highly emotive music touches and communicates the essence of what it means to be an alive, feeling human being." Following the album's release, 9 Horses has performed and given workshops across the USA and internationally, and was most recently named the winning ensemble in the 21CM LAUNCH: Emerging Artists competition. Through this association, and its exploration of the bending and blending of musical genres, 9 Horses looks to be on the forefront of 21st century creative thinking. www.josephbrent.com/9horses

ABOUT THE ARTISTS: SEPTEMBER 24, 2017

Abraham Inc.

Abraham Inc. is an unprecedented collaboration between three cultural visionaries: DAVID KRAKAUER, champion of klezmer music and world-class clarinetist; legendary funk trombonist and arranger FRED WESLEY, celebrated for his work with James Brown and George Clinton; and hip-hop renegade and beat architect SOCALLED. The band has performed at The Apollo Theater and Symphony Space in New York, The Krannert Center in Illinois, Hancher Auditorium in Iowa, The Miller Outdoor Theater in Houston, The Strathmore in Maryland, Cal Performances, The Heineken Open'r Festival in Poland, The Cracow Jewish Culture Festival, the Transmusicales de Rennes, and Jazz a la Villette in Paris. Abraham Inc. released the album Tweet Tweet in 2009 on Krakauer's own Table Pounding Records label. The album peaked at No. 1 in Funk and No. 1 in Jewish and Yiddish Music, and at No. 35 in music sales on Amazon. www.abrahamincmusic.com

Tagg-Petersen Piano Duo

Called the "Sonic Essence of Africa" and praised for their "Technical virtuosity and perfectly synchronized rhythmical complexity" (CUE Magazine), the Tagg-Petersen Piano Duo brings together two of South Africa's most celebrated pianists, Kathleen Tagg and Andre Petersen - one eclectic classical and one jazz artist - in a unique collaboration. They draw on the rich sonic tapestries of classical music, South African jazz and indigenous musics from southern Africa. www.taggpetersenduo.com

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