Pianist and a Partner Perhaps w/ Erez dessel, Paige Brown, John Bitoy, Mabel Kwan, Anaïs Maviel

Name: Pianist and a Partner Perhaps w/ Erez dessel, Paige Brown, John Bitoy, Mabel Kwan, Anaïs Maviel — Elastic Arts Foundation
Start: 2024-11-13T20:00:00-0600
End: 2024-11-13T22:50:00-0600

Wednesday, November 13, 2024
8:00 PM 10:50 PM

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It's melodic and harmonic. It's percussive and smooth. It's old as hell, and sometimes, it's just furniture. We're talking about one of the most versatile instruments out there, the piano. Hosted by composer Sharon Udoh, a pianist of 40 years, the series "A Pianist and a Partner Perhaps" highlights 3 or 4 genre-spanning musicians for whom the piano has been a long-time love. Each pianist can choose to bring one additional musician in a duo offering, if they wish (thus, "a partner perhaps"), or, they can go at it solo. Piano players, lovers, and nerds everywhere, come join us as we celebrate this magnificent instrument!

At this inaugural edition, we host Erez Dessel, Paige Brown, John Bitoy, Anaïs Maviel, and Mabel Kwan

$15 / $10 w/ Student ID - Tickets Available at the Door

Artist Bios

John Bitoy is an Afro-Dominican pianist and composer originally from Chicago, where he enjoys a multi-faceted career as a soloist and collaborative pianist. His recent solo engagements include performances of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 with the South Loop Symphony and Symphony of Oak Park. He has performed in esteemed halls such as the Eastman Theatre, Chicago Symphony Center, the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millenium Park, Perelman Theater, Edward Pickman Hall, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, The American Repertory Theater, Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall at Northwestern, Epiphany center, The Apollo Theater, Salle Bourgie, and the Copernicus Center. John is a passionate advocate for new music in performance spaces. Past projects include the recording and world premiere of several pieces from Steve Wallace’s Solo piano and chamber compositions in 2020, followed by his opera in 2021. As an avid chamber musician, John has been invited to play at the Gateways Music Festival, The Boston Celebrity Series, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, The Bienen School of Music, the Philarmonic Society of Orange County, the American Repertory Theater, Caramoor, The Bold Tendencies festival, and has performed works by Marcus Norris, Tyshawn Sorey, Davóne Tines, Ahmed Alabaca, and Brian Raphael Nabors. Mr. Bitoy enjoys playing standard repertoire, yet he is simultaneously devoted to shedding light on the new music of composers of the African Diaspora. In addition to taking pleasure in his classical engagements, John is well versed in other genres. He was invited to perform with Sigur Ros during their 2019 United States Tour of Riceboy Sleeps, performed his own original Jazz compositions with at Epiphany Center, and has performed at the Jazz Showcase and Andy’s Jazz Club. He also has his own avant guarde Jazz fusion band: Aśe, where he performs exclusively his own original compositions within the Jazz idiom.

Erez Dessel (USA 1998) is an improvising pianist and composer. After graduating from the New England Conservatory in Boston in 2020, Dessel moved to Savannah, GA, where he served as music director at the Savannah Music Festival Jazz Academy, Savannah’s first and only free after-school youth jazz program. He also kept up an active performing career in the southeast, including presenting an hour-long improvised work for piano, pastel, and paper at the Savannah Cultural Arts Center. He moved to Chicago in 2022, and has worked continuously both as a performer and organizer, recording in an array of contexts with many internationally renowned musicians (including Ken Vandermark, Tim Daisy, Dustin Laurenzi, Maria Elena Silva, and Seajun Kwon). His current group activity includes the bands Edition Redux, Walking Cliche Sextet, and the Thwartet, Maria Elena Silva; duos with Scott Taylor and Tyler Wagner; and work as a solo performer. Dessel created and curates the Night School series at Agitator gallery, which presents video artists and improvising musicians in a spontaneous performance context. Dessel has toured nationally and internationally, including performances in Europe and Korea, and his concerts and recordings have received critical acclaim.

Anaïs Maviel has collaborated across mediums with artists such as William Parker, Craig Taborn, Meshell Ndegeocello, Alarm Will Sound & Okwui Okpokwasili, among many. She is an awardee of the Van Lier Fellowship, American Composers Forum Create, Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, NYFA Artists Fellowship, New Music USA’s Next Jazz Legacy, and a Herb Alpert Award in Music nominee.