Night Tree

Lily Honigberg - violin
Chris Overholser - violin, viola, and mandolin
McKinley James - cello
Julian Loida - percussion and voice
Sunniva Brynnel - accordion and voice
Zach Mayer - bari and soprano sax, voice

“I’m thrilled to have been part of this brilliant young band’s album. They play with such spark and musicality...Go hear them!”

— Seamus Egan, Founder of Solas and Night Tree Producer

“I went to go see these guys in a recital at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall this spring and it was just jaw-dropping … … One of the most exciting roots-based music groups to emerge from the New England Conservatory in many years. Their individual chops and adventurous approach make Night Tree a band to watch for.”

— Brian O’Donovan, Senior DJ at WGBH and host of A Celtic Sojourn

Rooted in original works spanning from the Celtic world, sextet Night Tree creates original music that borrows from the Swedish, Jewish and American folk tradition. Night Tree includes the dark resonance of the cello, baritone saxophone, and cajón meeting with the drones of accordion and intertwining with the soaring melodies of dueling fiddles. Contrast is created with the replacement of the baritone saxophone with the soprano saxophone, adding another fiddle-like melodic instrument to the mix. Drawing from an unusually diverse mix of musical backgrounds, Night Tree has discovered a sound both colorfully and resonantly different while delving into the realm of harmonies and rhythm that range from edgy to inviting, both unheard of and timeless.

Night Tree, named the 2016-2017 Wildcard Honors Ensemble at the New England Conservatory (NEC), first began in a practice room starting with just fiddle, cajon, and accordion. It quickly expanded to include an additional fiddle player, cellist, and baritone saxophone. This creative and spiritually connected band held early rehearsals in complete darkness to have an unobscured focus on developing their musical and aural connection. These rehearsals guided them as they targeted each other’s individual sounds. Duos and trios formed within the ensemble, as well as building and molding the sound of the band. Rehearsals consisted from free improvisations to traditional Irish jig-to-reel sets and everything in between, as can be heard in their arrangement ‘Ships’, which surrounds two traditional tunes about actual ocean vessels with improvisational sections that depict a shipwreck.

INÀ

Julian Loida - percussion
Mike Ringquist - percussion
Bas Janssen - Percussion
Sofia Kriger - Lead Vocals
Isabel Fine - Vocals
Lillian Oviedo Aldama - Vocals and Dance
Sandra Marcelino - Vocals and Dance

INàplays, interprets, and reinterprets music of the African-Diaspora specifically through the traditional musics of Cuba and Brazil. Through the use of just singers and drummers they engage their audience with vocal harmonies, dancing, and drumming.  Having started in May of 2016, INàhas already performed all around Boston at Club Passim, The Lilypad, Gallery 263, New England Conservatory's Brown Hall, CityPOP Egleston, The Museum of Fine Arts for Make Music Boston, Arts at the Armory, and Magnolia Loft  presented by Journeys in Sound.

Percussionist, arranger, and bandleader Julian Loida leads this Afro-Cuban and Brazilian collective as he collaborates with both masters of the tradition as well as students whose origins and exposure to this music vary.

Fade Blue

Percussionist and synesthete, Julian Loida, collaborates with virtuosos from the New England folk scene to form the New Acoustic collective: Fade Blue.  Each collaborator is a featured instrumentalist/vocalist, composer, and stylist as they each bring their own cultivated personality and sensitivity to the soundscape.  As all recent graduates of Boston’s prestigious New England Conservatory and Berklee College of Music, Zach Mayer, Lily Honigberg, Chris Overholser, Máiri Chaimbeul, Yaniv Yacoby, and Julian Loida create genre-bending music influenced by jazz, klezmer, Celtic, r&b, Afro-Cuban, classical, and avant-garde music.

Mojubá

Sofia Kriger: Vocalist (co-bandleader)
Julian Loida: Percussion (co-bandleader)
Seyun Park: Piano
James Dale: Bass 
Eli Cohen: Drum set

Mojubá is a modern world-jazz quintet that disseminates the folkloric music of Cuba and Brazil.  This versatile quintet's mission is to not just perform but teaching about the culture from which their songs and arrangementsoriginate.  By combining both sacred and secular songs with the rhythms of the Lucumi (Santeria) and the Candomble as inspiration for their compositions and improvisations, they unearth these traditions that are rarely heard in Boston.

The quintet aims to inspire fresh ears to the communal qualities that this music possesses.  Through its call-and-response formula and interlocking rhythms this music creates a social format that requires every person involvedto be equally important because the music is thoroughly intertwined.  Each part and each instrument have equal worth in the making of this music.  

Mojubá has been awarded a grant by the New England Conservatory's Entrepreneurial Musicianship Departmentfor their project Bringing CUBA to the Community as well as a fellowship through the Community Performances & Partnerships program.