January 29, 2022, 7:30pm
Empire Wild is a genre-bending, crossover trio founded by Ken Kubota, Brandon Ilaw, and Mitch Lyon. Ken and Mitch bring all the cello has to offer - bowed, plucked, chopped and more. Brandon can be found singing and playing anything he can get his hands on – often a cajon, sometimes a guitar or piano, maybe some ankle bells. All classically trained, the three musicians met at Juilliard and formed Empire Wild as a vehicle for their love of musical exploration - fusing the sounds of pop, folk, Broadway and more into their songwriting and composition. Their debut EP ‘Paper Seasons’ features all original songs, highlighting the trio’s unique sound and instrumentation. Based in NYC, they have brought their signature mix of original music, inventive covers and twists on the classical canon to audiences across the country. Empire Wild was selected as an Ambassador Prize winner in the 2020 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition and has spent this socially distant year working to reach out to audiences on social media and workshoping material for their next album. Individually, all three musicians are committed to community engagement and teaching. Mitch has been a teaching artist with the New York Philharmonic for several years, Ken is on faculty at Peabody Preparatory and Brandon recently completed the Carnegie Hall Ensemble Connect Fellowship.
For more information about Empire Wild, please visit: https://www.empirewild.com/
COVID-SECURE The performance will last approximately 60 minutes. For your safety and enjoyment, vaccination information will be screened at the door to ensure this performance is Covid secure and meets safety regulations that are appropriate at the date of the event.
UPCOMING CONCERTS Individual tickets are $25
Feb 11, 12, WWII & New York City: Connecting Time and Place
About Us: “Classically Exposed: Musical Crossroads" is a series co-created by clarinetist, Seunghee Lee and New York historian, Charles R. Hale, both avid supporters of the arts and music culture in New York City. Ms. Lee has multiple solo albums to her credit and currently is the founder and director of Musica Solis, a classical record label, sheet music publisher and artist consulting company dedicated to guiding and mentoring classical musicians of all levels to become entrepreneurial leaders of their generation.
Charles R. Hale is a cultural and musical historian by education, who focuses on blending, imagery and performance art to create uniquely New York experiences. His historically-themed shows incorporate story, music, imagery and dance. These can be experienced in his productions, such as “Crossing Boroughs,” which was performed at the Museum of the City of New York, “The Musical History of the Lower East Side,” and “New York City: A Shining Mosaic”. For more information, please visit their websites. https://charlesrhaleproductions.com/
Seunghee Lee, Artistic Director