KMC AiR Bios: '19-'20 Season

ARTISTS–IN–RESIDENCE BIOS ABOUT JACK QUARTET http://jackquartet.com/quartet Hailed by The New York Times as the “nation’s most important quartet,” the JACK Quartet is one of the most acclaimed, renowned, and respected groups performing today.

JACK has maintained an unwavering commitment to their mission of performing and commissioning new works, giving voice to underheard composers, and cultivating an ever-greater sense of openness toward contemporary classical music. Over the past season, they have been selected as Musical America’s 2018 “Ensemble of the Year.” named one of WQXR’s “19 for 19 Artists to Watch,” and awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Through intimate relationships with today’s most creative voices, JACK embraces close collaboration with the composers they perform, leading to a radical embodiment of the technical, musical, and emotional aspects of their work. The quartet has worked with artists such as Julia Wolfe, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Helmut Lachenmann, Caroline Shaw, and Simon Steen-Andersen, with upcoming and recent premieres including works by Tyshawn Sorey, Sabrina Schroeder, John Luther Adams, Clara Iannotta, Philip Glass, Catherine Lamb, Lester St. Louis, and John Zorn.

ABOUT NATHALIE JOACHIM https://www.nathaliejoachim.com/about/ Nathalie Joachim is “an edgy multi-genre performance artist who has long been pushing boundaries with her flute” (The Washington Post). Critics hail the Brooklyn born HaitianAmerican for creating “a unique blend of classical music, hip-hop, electronic programming and soulful vocals reminiscent of neo- R&B stars like Erykah Badu” (The Wall Street Journal). Ms. Joachim regularly combines her exceptional performance skill as a flutist with her creative talents as a composer, producer and singer, navigating genres ranging from classical and jazz to indie-rock and electronic. She is co-artistic director and flutist of the four-time Grammy winning contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and co-founder of the critically-acclaimed urban art pop duo Flutronix, known best for “redefining the flute and modernizing its sound by hauling it squarely into the world of popular music.” (MTV) Ms. Joachim has performed and recorded with an impressive range of today’s most exciting artists and ensembles including Miguel Zenón, Vampire Weekend, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Bryce Dessner, Richard Reed Parry, Dan Deacon and Bonnie “Prince” Billy. Her original compositions have been broadcast on NPR, WNYC, WQXR, Q2, J-Wave, Tokyo FM, FM Yokohama and more. In addition, Ms. Joachim has been featured in television segments on SNL, Late Show with David Letterman, Telemundo, BK Live and The Daily Buzz, as well as an internationally broadcast ESPN super bowl commercial.

ABOUT ROB KAPILOW https://www.robkapilow.com/biography For over 20 years, Rob Kapilow has brought the joy and wonder of classical music – and unraveled some of its mysteries – to audiences of all ages and backgrounds.

Characterized by his unique ability to create an “aha” moment for his audiences and collaborators, whatever their level of musical sophistication or naiveté, Kapilow’s work brings music into people’s lives: opening new ears to musical experiences and helping people to listen actively rather than just hear. As the Boston Globe said, “It’s a cheering thought that this kind of missionary enterprise did not pass from this earth with Leonard Bernstein. Rob Kapilow is awfully good at what he does. We need him.”

Kapilow’s range of activities is astonishingly broad, including his What Makes It Great?® presentations (now for over twenty seasons, most recently at Merkin Hall), his family compositions and Family Musik® events, his “Citypieces,” and residencies with institutions as diverse as the National Gallery of Canada and Stanford University. The reach of his interactive events and activities is wide, both geographically and culturally: from Native American tribal communities in Montana and inner-city high school students in Louisiana to audiences in Kyoto and Kuala Lumpur, and from tots barely out of diapers to musicologists in Ivy League programs, his audiences are diverse and unexpected, but invariably rapt and keen to come back for more. His new book, Listening for America: Inside the Great American Songbook from Gershwin to Sondheim (W.W. Norton & Company) will be released this October.