Dan Blacksberg Encounters Mikel Patrick Avery and Sonali Singh

Come celebrate 40 years of Dan Blacksberg being Dan Blacksberg! This is the first night of a rotunda mini residency.

Duet with Mikel Patrick Avery 

Duet with Sonali Singh 

Bios-

Mikel Patrick Avery:

Established  as a jazz drummer, he is commonly recognized for his orchestral and  melodic style of drumming that often involves the use of unconventional  "non-musical" objects. As well as being a performing musician, Mikel is a  dedicated composer, photographer, producer, and educator. In recent  years, Avery has become an integral voice in varying ensembles,  including Rob Mazurek's Moon Cycles, Joshua Abrams' Natural Information  Society, The Chicago Jazz Philharmonic, and Theaster Gates's Black Monks  of Mississippi; as well as leading several of his own projects,  including 1/2 Size Piano Trio, Rats+Star, and Mikel Patrick Avery PLAY.  Mikel has had the privilege to perform at Pritzker Pavilion at  Millennium Park, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Documenta  13 (in Kassel Germany), Kepler Studio (Berlin), Guelph Jazz Festival,  White Cube (London), MCA Chicago, and for President Barack Obama.

Sonali Singh:

From  busking on Broad street to drumming in a darkened cemetery, Sonali lets  themselves be swept into the madness and passion of Philadelphia's  creative and improvisation scene with handsome bassoon sidekick in tow.  They ache to soothe hurt souls, much like theirs, on this shared  journey. Through foundations of music therapy and the power of  improvisation, Sonali hopes to foster a sense of community, nurturing  and .. aaand.. aaand you get it. Make music with me. Make joy with me.  Make space for grief, anger, loss, and pain with me. Or let's scream for  no reason!

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Dan Blacksberg is a leading voice in Philadelphia's music community and a living master of klezmer trombone. Through performance, composition, and improvisation, he creates new territories to explore inside and across genres, forging new pathways between tradition and innovation. As a teacher and community music leader, he builds up all generations of musicians to become empowered and joyous rabble-rousers.

Dan is dedicated to creating great music with people from all levels and backgrounds. This includes his work at Kol Tzedek Synagogue, where he leads the Simcha Band with musicians from 8 to 80 years old in ecstatic performances, communitarian celebrations. His 4-day, Creative Music concert event Encounters @ The Mothership (2019) joined newer voices with established masters like Susan Alcorn and Marshall Allen in intimate groups and overwhelming spectacles. He’s been honored as an Artist in Residence at the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts (2019) for which he composed the jazz-klezmer suite Name of the Sea, and as a Pew Fellow in the Arts (2012). He received critical acclaim for his jazz trio albums Bit Heads (NoBusiness Records, 2008), Perilous Architecture (2013), and groundbreaking Hasidic Doom Metal band Deveykus (Tzadik Records, 2013). In 2017 he released Radiant Others, the first klezmer album to feature the trombone as the lead instrument.

He has played with artists Anthony Braxton, George Lewis, Joe Maneri, and Joe Morris and with rock bands The Body and Liturgy. In Yiddish Music he has worked with Frank London, Adrienne Cooper, Elaine Hoffman Watts, Daniel Kahn, Theodore Bikel, and was a founding member of Alan Bern’s klezmer/lautari supergroup, The Other Europeans. He currently records and tours with Michael Winograd and the Honorable Mentshn. As a teacher and culture bearer of klezmer trombone, Dan has been recognized as a Master Artist by the Canada Arts Council (2022). He has been on faculty at Temple University, Klezkanada, KlezKamp, and was an organizer of Yiddish New York. His students in trombone and improvisation can be found in leading roles across Philadelphia’s jazz, hip-hop, world music, and experimental music scenes. Presently, Dan is at work on an album of experimental solo trombone, rebooting his Radiant Others Klezmer Podcast, and forming the world’s largest, most formidable Philadelphia Klezmer Orchestra. He is dedicated to blasting exuberant Freylekhs for a better world.