CRS presents Crossing Boundaries Concert Series Vol. 19, curated by Maya Keren. Careful In The Sun traverses a verdant landscape of collective improvisation grounded in loops and songs by Maya Keren. The collective (Eliza Salem on drums, Anna Abondolo on fretless bass and voice, Emmanuel Michael on electric guitar, Eden Girma on voice and electronics, and Maya Keren on piano and voice) find their center in lush harmonies and cathartic hooks underlaid with the strange and spontaneous logic of dreams. In this concert, they will inhabit the space together to let their songs bloom and breathe, offering an opportunity for connection, healing, and joyfulness.

Tickets are available on eventbrite.com for $20 ($10 for students) or for cash at the door.

Proof of vaccination is NOT required but we encourage (but don’t require) you to wear masks, and if you are feeling sick, please play it safe and stay home.

ABOUT CROSSING BOUNDARIES CONCERT SERIES

CROSSING BOUNDARIES is a concert series devoted to dissolving boundaries between performers and audiences, the traditional and contemporary, classical and experimental, and the culturally specific and the global. Series curators are given the opportunity to create unique performance events in collaboration with musical, visual, and/or movement artists of their choosing. The series was conceived in 2018 by the Korean traditional wind player and composer gamin, who has continued to help curate the series each year. https://crsny.org/crossing-boundaries-concert-series/

Crossing Boundaries is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and administered by LMCC. LMCC empowers artists by providing them with networks, resources, and support, to create vibrant, sustainable communities in Manhattan and beyond.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Anna Abondolo is a bassist and composer from Los Angeles, California. She is currently based in Brooklyn developing an interdisciplinary collective entitled, “Rainbow Princess.” https://www.facebook.com/people/Anna-Abondolo/100008127379473/

Eden Girma is a multi-instrumental musician and vocalist hailing from Madison, WI. Through a genre-bending compositional ear and a poetic lyricism, Eden aspires to create music that not only resonates with individual hearts, but brings people closer together in a spirit of intimacy and empathy. https://edengirma.me/

Eliza Salem is a drummer currently based in Brooklyn. She is a Metro DC native who learned her craft in the Washington area’s vibrant musical scene under the guidance of mentors Paul Carr and Chris Allen. In the spring of 2021, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan where she had the privilege of studying with professors including Michael Gould, Sean Dobbins, Ellen Rowe, Dennis Wilson, Robert Hurst, and Benny Green, among others. In the summer of 2019, she studied at Brooklyn’s School for Improvisational Music, where she worked closely with Ralph Alessi, Andy Milne, Gerald Cleaver, Kris Davis, Tim Berne, and other distinguished improvisers. In 2021, Eliza was one of 15 fellows selected to take part in the Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s renowned jazz program where she had the opportunity to learn from and workshop original compositions with masters Rufus Reid, Billy Childs and Steve Wilson. Over the last several years she has worked professionally as a bandleader and side person in the greater Detroit and D.C. areas at renowned venues such as Cliff Bell’s, the Blue Llama Jazz Club, Columbia Station, An Die Musik, the Keystone Korner, Twins, and Jojo’s. Since moving to New York City in 2021, she has performed at acclaimed performance spaces such as Dizzy’s, Smalls Jazz Club, the Django, Ornithology Jazz Club, the Harlem Museum of Jazz, 55 Bar, the McKittrick Hotel, and more. In the summer of 2022 Eliza had the opportunity to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival as a part of the Michael Dudley trio. Currently, Eliza is enjoying working full-time as a freelance musician and drum teacher, and can be found playing in the band Careful In the Sun led by pianist and composer Maya Keren, crocheting, and hanging out with her roommate’s cat Azula. https://metropolisensemble.org/artists-collection/eliza-salem

Emmanuel Michael has been a part of various diverse ensembles and has had the honor to work with a wide variety of artists such as Rufus Reid, Wycliff Gordon, Matt Wilson, Keyon Harrold, and Immanuel Wilkins. Michael was also a member of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Peer-to-Peer All-Star Sextet of 2019, giving him the honor of touring and holding workshops through several schools within the state of Oklahoma with jazz icons Steve Wilson and Lisa Henry, under the direction of Dr. J.B Dyas and Bart Marantz. Michael also toured throughout parts of China and Taiwan under Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz 2019 with Sean Jones and Kurt Elling, allotting him the honor of working for two weeks in New York with artists such as Shammie Royston, Obed Calvaire, Erika Von Kleist, and Mathew Stevens. Michael now attends the Manhattan School of Music and works as a professional musician in New York City. https://www.sfjb.org/emmanuel-michael

Maya Keren is a Brooklyn-based pianist, vocalist, composer, and songwriter from Philadelphia. They are interested in the process of environing people, voices, instruments, and sounds in ways that invite connection with one’s erotic instinct, embody compassionate and queer relations with the self and the collective, and destabilize learned systems of domination. Sites of learning include the Creative Music Program in Philly, Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, Mutual Mentorship for Musicians and the Ida B. Wells JUST Data Lab. Maya graduated from Princeton University in 2022 with a Bachelor’s degree in Music and a certificate in African American Studies. They currently live in Brooklyn where they teach at Brooklyn Conservatory and write songs, loops, and words for their band Careful In The Sun, drawing inspiration from Gwendolyn Brooks, Clarice Lispector, Pinegrove, and the Wissahickon. https://www.mayakerenmusic.com/

ABOUT THE PRESENTER

CRS (CENTER FOR REMEMBERING & SHARING) is a spiritual healing and art center founded in 2004 by the writer/lecturer/spiritual counselor Yasuko Kasaki and artist Christopher Pelham. Our mission is guided by A Course in Miracles (ACIM). ACIM says that recognizing that you and your brother are actually one is the only way to experience peace. The mission of CRS is to promote the awareness that limitless creativity lives within each of us. We train minds to recognize the light in themselves and others and provide them opportunities to share their inner vision through the healing and creative arts. Since its founding CRS has provided numerous residencies and performance and exhibition opportunities to artists from all over the world. Currently, CRS is a multi-year sponsor of M³ (Mutual Mentorship for Musicians), a platform created to empower, elevate, normalize and give visibility to women, non-binary musicians and those of other historically underrepresented gender identities in intersection with race, sexuality, or ability across generations in the US and worldwide, through a radical model of mentorship and musical collaborative commissions. https://crsny.org