Founders
David Cossin
Co-founder
David Cossin is a specialist in new and experimental music, working across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms to incorporate new media with percussion.
David has an extensive background in music, theatre, art and film. He has recorded and performed internationally with composers and ensembles including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and Bo Didley. He has performed as a soloist with orchestras throughout the world, including The Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sao Paulo State Symphony, Sydney Symphony, Gothenburg Symphony, Hong Kong Symphony, and the Singapore Symphony. Numerous theater projects include collaborations with Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines and director Peter Sellars. He was also featured as the percussion soloist in Tan Dun’s Grammy and Oscar winning score to Ang Lee’s film “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Most recently, David played percussion for the motion picture soundtrack “Where the Wild Things Are.” David has also been selected as the percussionist for Sting’s 2010 tour.
David ventures into other art forms as well, including sonic installations which have been presented in New York, Italy and Germany. He is also an active composer and has invented several new instruments which expand the limits of traditional percussion. David is the curator for the Sound Res Festival (www.soundres.org), an experimental music festival in southern Italy, which is in its fifth year. He also works with various children’s organizations, including Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concert Series, CarnegieKids Program, Long Island Children’s Museum Installation, and Lincoln Center Meet the Artists Series. David also teaches percussion at Queens College in New York.
Last but not least, David is the proud father of a 4 year old girl.
Alessandra Pomarico
Co-Founder
Alessandra Pomarico holds a PhD in Sociology of Migrations and Cultures from the University of Salento, Italy. There she conducted an ethnographic research study on contemporary artists who have experienced the process of migration and relocation. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanities Studies from the University La Sapienza of Rome, with a specialization in Theater and Performing Arts. She holds a second Bachelor’s Degree in History and Criticism of Performing Arts and Arts Administration from the Institute of Theater Studies, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris.
Alessandra is the founder and artistic director of Loop House, a non-profit association in Southern Italy. Since 2000 she has co-curated an international and multidisciplinary residency program for artists that has become the catalyst for a number of art exhibitions, intercultural exchanges and educational projects. Within this frame, Sound Res, a music residency program, festival and summer school, became a successfully attended event, where composers and musicians of different traditions were invited to create and premiere new works (www.soundres.org).
Alessandra is a teacher of Italian Literature and History, permanently enrolled in the Italian Public School, where she has been teaching since 2001. She is also a journalist recognized by the Italian Associations of Journalists. She has been a cultural correspondent for the daily newspaper La Repubblica. She has published a number of essays and articles on contemporary theatre and art in magazines and various festival catalogs. Alessandra contributed to the volume “Peter Sellars” dedicated to the American opera and theater director, published by Rubettino Editore, Cosenza, Italy.
Most importantly, Alessandra is the proud mother of a 4 year old girl.
Pamela Scherr
Co-Founder
Pamela Scherr grew up in New Orleans, where she studied the performing arts from an early age. After graduating college with a BFA in Theater she moved to New York City where she furthered her involvement in the arts, working backstage at Blue Man Group and volunteering as a dance teacher at Groove With Me, a non-profit organization offering free dance classes to girls in Harlem. This inspired her to work with children in other creative and therapeutic ways. In 2006 she helped launch a puppetry and theater arts program at the Blue School, where she has been the drama teacher since its inception 6 years ago. She also works at Moomah, a creative arts center for kids in Tribeca, NY, where she is a teaching artist and puppeteer. Pam also works at Chelsea Day as a co-teacher in their toddler program. She is currently pursuing her masters degree at Hunter College in New York City, in their Early Childhood Education Program. Pam also works independently with children, mentoring them through puppetry and theater play groups.
Instructors
Courtney Kaiser
Courtney studied classical voice, piano, and cello in high school at Interlochen Arts Academy, holds a Bachelors degree in World Vocal Music Performance from Indiana University, and a Masters degree in Elementary education. Courtney has also studied non-traditional vocal styles and instruments such as the Hindustani style of Indian Classical music, harmonium, Bulgarian singing, mbira, and southern African folk. She taught music for several years at the Brooklyn Heights Montessori school her focus being on integrating classroom studies with teaching music. She is currently the music specialist at the Blue School. Courtney has taught general music (ages 3 to 13), group piano and guitar, songwriting, and chorus. Courtney has a career as a professional singer and musician. She has a solo career as well and also plays in the duo Kaiser Cartel. She has lent her talents on tours and sound recordings for artists such as John Mellencamp, The Wallflowers, Sean Lennon, Petra Hayden, Yuka Honda, and Tracy Bonham.
Elena Moon Park
Elena Moon Park is a creative music enthusiast and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from Oak Ridge, TN, Elena studied violin performance and ethnomusicology at Northwestern University before making the move to New York City in 2005. Since moving to NYC, she has worked with numerous ensembles spanning a multitude of musical styles including contemporary classical, electronic, improvisational, folk and rock. Currently, Elena plays fiddle, mandolin, trumpet and ukulele with the folk rock group Dan Zanes and Friends and works as a freelance performer in the New York City area specializing in new music. In her spare time, she is involved with issues of community development, education, and urban equity, for which she recently completed a Masters degree in Urban Policy at The New School in New York City. She is also a co-founder of the non-profit Found Sound Nation.
Adam Miller
Adam Miller, a percussionist, was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal with a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance. Following college, he spent 8 months in India studying indigenous music, specifically the Tabla and classical Indian singing. He spent 3 years in Montreal as a professional drummer, leading several bands and appearing on various albums. In January 2009 Adam received a grant from the Quebec government to travel to New York City to study the Tabla with Tabla Master, Samir Chaterjee. He has recently relocated to New York City, where he plays regularly and is branching out into other art forms. His band, Turtleboy, recently signed with Song Line label.
Adam has extensive volunteer experience with various organizations, such as Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP), where he taught an intensive arts program for children of migrant farm workers in Homestead, Florida. While in Montreal, Adam held music workshops for children who were part of a daycare program for children from refugee families. While in India, he held music workshops for children at the Mother Theresa House in Calcutta.
Besides teaching classes at WonderGround, Adam also teaches with the Young Producers Project, which is affiliated with Bang On A Can All-Stars Educational Outreach Program, where he teaches a hip-hop production class at the Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School.
Consultant
Suzanne Meshbane
Suzanne Meshbane has enjoyed playing harp professionally for ten years in the Washington D.C. metro area. She has taught music in Montgomery County, Maryland public school system for the past eight years. She currently teaches kindergarten through sixth grade music classes. Suzanne holds degrees in Harp Performance and Music Education from the prestigious Peabody Conservatory of Music of The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, where she received a scholarship to study. Suzanne began taking lessons with Delaine Fedson in Austin, Texas when she was ten years old. In college, she studied with world renowned harpists including Jeanne Chalifoux and Alice Chalifoux at the Salzedo Harp Colony in Camden, Maine.
Suzanne is a classically trained harpist; however she plays a variety of show and pop tunes in addition to harp classics from the baroque and romantic periods. She has played in many venues throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia, some of which include Inaugural events at the Smithsonian Museum and recognition ceremonies for the former Governor Paris Glendening and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
Guest Artists
Paola Prestini
Paola Prestini is the director of the multimedia collective/non-profit, VisionIntoArt, which has commissioned countless emerging artists and has performed worldwide since 1999. Her music has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Concert Artist Guild, WNYC, and the Kronos Quartet in venues such as Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, the Whitney Live, the Stone, and Joe’s Pub in New York City and in festivals such as Etnafest in Italy, and BEMUS in Serbia. She is the recipient of numerous awards from organizations such as ASCAP, AMC, and NYSCA. Prestini is an avid educator; she has created curricula and taught for the New York Philharmonic and is Associate Director of Making Score at the New York Youth Symphony. Her music is released on Tzadik Records and her writings on Arcana, Zorn’s Musicians on Music books. She is a PD Soros fellow and a Juilliard graduate.
Paola Prestini websites:
paolaprestini.com
visionintoart.com
myspace.com/paolaaurora
pprestinivia@mac.com
Jeremy Thal
Jeremy Thal is a Brooklyn-based horn player and composer. He is co-founder of an innovative music education program, The Young Producers Project, based at Bang on a Can, which teaches high school students in the NYC public schools to compose and produce music using sounds recorded in the classroom. He studied horn, ethnomusicology, and Chinese language at Northwestern University, and has since played in orchestras, indie rock bands, chamber ensembles and jazz groups in China, Mexico, and the United States. Jeremy composes music for chamber groups and puppet shows, and leads two genre-bending bands inspired by the music of New Orleans (The Riot of 1866) and Eastern Europe (Pitzeleh).
Philippa Thompson
Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Philippa Thompson studied classical strings growing up in California, but before long she became an improviser and a lover of folk music. She now lives in Brooklyn and plays violin, viola, guitar, ukulele, musical saw, spoons, washboard and sings. On-going projects include the M Shanghai String Band, Gloria Deluxe, and the Ukuladies. She’s also appeared on stage and has recorded with Belle and Sebastian, Beth Orton, Anti-Social Music and the award-winning theater company Accinosco. In addition to performing, Philippa manages the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA.
Philippa’s class at WonderGround:
“I play many different instruments. I bring several of instruments to the workshop to demonstrate how they all work. The kids learn about the many different ways sound is created. The instruments range from bowed strings, plucked strings, wind instruments, and instruments made from things that didn’t start out as instruments, such as spoons, washboard and musical saw. Kids will have the opportunity to play some of the instruments and they will also make their own set of musical spoons to take home.”
Ken Thomson
Ken Thomson, clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer, has been involved in music since he was a child. He plays saxophone and writes for Gutbucket, with whom he has toured internationally. He has also played in a variety of jazz, classical chamber music and other settings, including the Collide Quartet with Peter, Jeff, and Evan; Alarm Will Sound and Seth Ginsberg’s “Mad Horn Town.” He created his own reed section in all of Stephen Jacobs’ “Dirty Sock Band” recordings for children and in their stage show.
Jeff Zeigler
Jeffrey Zeigler is the cellist of the internationally renowned ensemble Kronos Quartet. For more than 30 years this San Francisco based foursome has pursued a singular artistic vision, combining a spirit of fearless exploration with a commitment to expanding the range and context of the string quartet. In the process, Kronos has become one of the most celebrated and influential ensembles of our time, performing thousands of concerts worldwide, releasing more than 40 recordings of extraordinary breadth and creativity, collaborating with many of the world’s most eclectic composers and performers, and commissioning hundreds of works and arrangements for string quartet.
Previous to his tenure with Kronos, Mr. Zeigler was the cellist of the Corigliano Quartet, an ensemble dedicated to the performance of music by contemporary American composers in tandem with standard string quartet literature. The ensemble performed hundreds of concerts in major venues and festivals all across North America and has been awarded the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the ASCAP-Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming for the 2002-2003 Season. The Corigliano Quartet has recorded on Albany, Bayer, CRI and Naxos labels and has served as the String Quartet-in-Residence at The Juilliard School, Indiana University and Dickinson College.
Since 2001 Zeigler has performed frequently with the interdisciplinary multimedia collective VisionIntoArt. This New York based ensemble is directed by composer Paola Prestini and is comprised by the city’s most compelling emerging artists all working together to create exciting programs that brim with artistic and intellectual virtuosity. VisionIntoArt concertizes regularly throughout New York City and Europe.