Chamber Improvised Music

Awarded bassist Charles, is known for expanding the role of the bass with counter-classical musical language, while Brazilian-born Henrique Eisenmann is both an expert improviser and a world music advocate. In this program of originals and Brazilian, West-African grooves, and innovative arrangements of well known songs, Charles and Eisenmann redefine their instruments as they liberate the classical genre.

Kebra-Seyoun Charles is a distinguished double bass soloist and composer lauded for their counter-classical musical language and their ability to aptly communicate complex ideas and emotions to audiences. After winning first prize in the 2022 Sphinx Competition, Kebra rapidly gained recognition in the classical music world, and in 2024, they were named a recipient of the American Composers Orchestra's Van Lier Fellowship. Kebra has performed with orchestras including the New World Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, and Wilmington Symphony, and was the featured soloist on a national tour with the Sphinx Virtuosi.

In addition to their solo and compositional career, Kebra is a passionate chamber musician. Playing with groups like East Coast Chamber Orchestra, A Far Cry, and Palaver Strings affords Kebra the opportunity to showcase their musicianship and lead from within an ensemble (as in their tenure on the 2019 Emmy Award-winning Broadway production “Hadestown”). Kebra has collaborated with esteemed improvisers and composers such as Jon Batiste at Carnegie Hall, 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner Tyshawn Sorey at the New England Conservatory, and jazz musician/composer Jason Moran via an interactive installation at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art.

As a modern virtuoso and composer of concerti, ballets, and pop ballads, Kebra’s music has been praised for its “buoyancy and verve — pushing the far reaches of tonality while savoring hummable grooves” (ICareIfYouListen). A rising star and advocate for a more inclusive classical music community, The Strad confirms that “Versatility defines Charles’s approach.

New York-based Brazilian pianist Henrique Eisenmann is changing the paradigm of contemporary improvisation, creating an original musical universe that is powerfully inventive, authentic, drawing on the tradition of Classical music, Jazz and folk World Music.

Eisenmann is a current member of the Paul Winter Consort (recipient of 6-Grammy awards), and has performed with prestigious artists such as Steve Reich, Nexus ensemble, Gunther Schuller, The Brubeck Brothers, Luciana Souza, Tom Zé and many others. His latest release "Nação" has drawn unanimous praise from critics across the world. Eisenmann is a former faculty at New England Conservatory and current faculty member at the Juilliard School in NYC, teaching creative Improvisation.

Eisenmann is the Artistic Director for Jazz Lab, a creative music program and festival held in Massachusetts; he is often a guest teaching artist at MIT, Brown University, Yale, Manhattan School of Music, UMass, and others, teaching lectures on creativity, improvisation and World Music.

Eisenmann is a strong enthusiast for cultural diversity. He is currently composing music for the multinational project Flyways, bringing together musicians from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia and Middle East in a celebration of cultural diversity.

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