An evening of music & conversation exploring how inner feelings, visions and sensations are translated into sound through the act of improvisation, composition and performance.
Watch excerpts from the evening
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Featured Artists
Karna Mendonca, Piano
Karna Mendonca is an emerging composer based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended summer programs at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Interlochen Arts academy, and currently studies both piano and composition with Eric Zivian.Karna participated in both the Stay-at-home Symposium and the Musaics of the Bay Winter Residency, and also helps organize Musaics’ artist gatherings. Currently, Karna is interested in the intersection between visual art and music, improvisation in the classical tradition, and synthesizing concert music with ideas from jazz, flamenco, and other musical traditions. When he is not writing music, Karna also does research in artificial intelligence at UC Berkeley and plays oboe and English horn in the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra.
Khatchadour Khatchadourian, duduk
Khatchadour is an Armenian vocalist and a duduk woodwind musician based out of the San Francisco Bay Area. He grew up singing in the Armenian children's choir, Karoun, and credits his focus on meditative genres to his early years singing in Orthodox Armenian church. He began playing the Armenian woodwind Duduk in 2006, and sings in Armenian, Arabic and Farsi languages. He holds Bachelor's degrees in both Anthropology & Middle Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley.
Christos Vayenas, Piano
A pianist/composer, writer and impresario, Christos is a autodidactic learner who draws inspiration from the romantic and symbolist eras of the past, as well as various improvisational musical traditions of the world.
As a curator, presenter and filmmaker, he works to innovate the way people perform, share and encounter the arts. Honoring the timeless rituals and art forms of the past, he aspires to help define a universal artistic culture for the future.
Jeremy Goldwasser, flute
Jeremy Goldwasser is a flutist from Tiburon, CA. He has performed in ensembles such as the Yale Symphony Orchestra, Young Person’s Symphony Orchestra, and Brevard Music Center Orchestra. Currently, Jeremy is a PhD student at UC Berkeley researching statistics and machine learning, and playing with the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra.