Our Story | The Band in Concert| Ensemble Member Biographies

 

GUY MENDILOW
(Director; Vocals, Overtone Singing, Berimbaus, Guitar, Percussion)

A citizen of Israel, Great Britain and the United States, Mendilow spent his most formative years playing hopscotch between continents when his musician-turned-professor father was invited to a succession of teaching posts. From early childhood on, most aspects of Mendilow’s life were a cultural, linguistic and musical mix. He grew up participating in late night song circles and living room concerts with local musicians in his different homes, whether in Jerusalem or Johannesburg and whether the songs were Israeli, South African, English or American. At ten, Mendilow joined the renowned American Boychoir and kept traveling, touring internationally
and domestically and performing some two hundred concerts a year in
venues like Carnegie Hall. Since age fifteen, Mendilow has continued to immerse himself in new cultures, seeking opportunities to learn languages and collaborate with instrument builders and performers. To date, he has lived and performed in South Africa, Israel, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and the United States. He sings in six tongues and is fluent in four. “Mendilow is no dilettante,” writes the Boston Phoenix. “He learned the music of these countries by living and working there — so when he sings about a massacre by paramilitaries in Chiapas, he knows what he’s talking about.”

An educator deeply committed to using musical improvisation as a tool for communication, Mendilow’s innovative workshops, residencies and teacher trainings have led to ongoing collaborations with cutting-edge international social justice organizations like Seeds of Peace, which mediates between Israeli and Palestinian youth, and to invitations to present at schools and conferences across the United States and Brazil. Mendilow holds a Masters in Music and international Dalcroze Eurhythmics certification from the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, MA.

(Photo:Lisa Schaffer)

AUBREY JOHNSON
(Vocals)

Winner of Best Jazz Vocalist and Jazz Vocalist Outstanding Performance in Downbeat Magazine’s Collegiate Student Music Awards, Aubrey Johnson is a soulful vocalist, gifted in using her voice like an instrument, singing intricate horn-like lead lines and harmonies and in improvising in a wordless vocal technique. She has performed at such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and recorded and shared the stage with industry icons, Bobby McFerrin, Janis Siegel, Fred Hersch, Darmon Meader, Roger Treece, and Jimmy Cobb. Originally from Wisconsin, Aubrey holds a Masters of Vocal Jazz Performance from the New England Conservatory in Boston, MA.

ANDY BERGMAN
(Electric Mbira, clarinet, Jaw Harp, Flutes, Penny-whistle, Saxophones, Percussion)

Andy Bergman is a composer and multi-instrumentalist involved in a variety of world music, jazz, classical, theater, and dance projects. Alongside woodwinds and saxophones, Andy is continually developing his own unique and progressive style of jaw harp playing. Other performance credits include: sound design for Kinodance Company's multi-media work "Denizen", CRASHarts "Ten's the Limit" with Oneon Dance, the New Repertory Theatre, Devil Music Ensemble, ImprovBoston, and the Newton Symphony Orchestra. Andy has studied theory and composition at Boston's Berklee School of Music and the New England Conservatory. His compositions may be heard on his website.

(Photo: J. Teddeman Hull)

TOMOKO OMURA
(Violin, Percussion)

Tomoko Omura’s passion for jazz violin and improvisation led her from her home in Shizuoka Japan to Boston MA’s Berklee College of Music, where she was the first string student ever to receive the prestigious Roy Haynes Award, and from which she graduated summa cum laude. Tomoko’s gift at improvising exquisite melodic lines and harmonic depths, building on her initial classical training, draws listeners in irresistibly. Her teachers have included Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi, Jamey Haddad and Matt Glaser.

RICH STEIN
(Cajon, Frame Drums, Percussion)

Percussionist Rich Stein grew up in Virginia Beach, Virginia and began his life-long fascination with percussion at the age of ten. While at the Berklee College of Music he spent most of his time focusing on the traditional drumming styles of West Africa (primarily Ghana), and contemporary frame drumming techniques. Artists with whom Rich has shared the stage or recorded include Lauryn Hill, Lila Downs, Richard Stoltzman, Ustad Sultan Khan, Susana Baca, Clare and the Reasons, Jamey Haddad, Peter Stoltzman, Pharaoh’s Daughter, Joshua Geisler, and Big D and the Kid’s Table. Rich has performed in many of the world’s premiere concert halls and events including the Royal Albert Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the United Nations Headquarters, Naradha Gana Sabha, and the Kodak Theater.