Kara Ciezki completed her Master of Music Degree in Historical and Contemporary Performance on Recorder, 2002, at the New England Conservatory of Music (USA, Boston) under the guidance of Aldo Abreu. She previously completed her Bachelor of Music at The University of Melbourne (Australia) under the guidance of Ruth Wilkinson.
Kara won the Fred Morgan National Recorder Competition at the Call of the Four Winds International Recorder Festival in 2000 and the New England Conservatory Woodwind and Brass Concerto Competition in 2001 (first recorder player in NEC history) debuting as a concerti soloist in Jordan Hall with the NEC Chamber Orchestra directed by Donald Palma in 2002.
Kara has performed with the NEC Contemporary Ensemble, NEC Chamber Orchestra, Trio Salterello, Soria Chamber Players, Pipistrelli Ensemble, Trio Tarantella, Past Echoes, Renaissonics, John Gibbons, Berkelee Evangelists Ensemble, Four Fantastic Fingers of Fanatic Funk, DU-a, Melbourne Symphony Express and the Australian Classical Players.
Her time in the USA saw Kara as a substitute player for The Boston Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Pops, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra and Handel & Haydn. Kara has premiered contemporary recorder works by Australian and American composers and has performed in many festivals around Australia and in the USA, including The Boston Early Music Festival. She was recently asked to create a piece with Melbourne DJ/Producer CUBIST for the creator of “Harvie Crumpet”, Adam Elliot, which premiered May 3rd, 2006.
CUBIST & K are currently working on new material, including a new piece for the Australia Day celebrations in January 2007 to be held at Federation Square, Melbourne.
Cubist (Eden Krumins) grew up in Strathmore, a northern suburb of Melbourne. He started playing cello at the age of ten and began writing Hip-Hop and Drum n Bass in 2001. He spent a large part of his teenage years skateboarding the streets of Melbourne and featured in the Australian/New Zealand skateboarding video Tweakage. In 2003 Cubist completed a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree (cello) at Monash University, writing his Honours thesis on Squarepusher.
On the DJ front, Cubist began his (now deceased) radio show Cubical Views on Melbourne 3CR and his monthly Audible Level parties at the Carron in 2001. Since then he has captivated audiences all over Australian dancefloors, blending liquid funk, bouncy b-lines and techy-fueled vibes.
Cubist is currently running the successful Local Lineup parties dedicated to showcasing Melbourne Breaks and DnB producers. Production wise, after a handful of locally released tunes on various compilation CDs and an EP, Cubist’s first major release is forthcoming on Propaganda Recordings.
I have been playing guitar for 15 years. I have been in numerous bands such as Peanut, Without A Reason, Matheson, D.T.I, Bongmoth, and currently DOWN RIVER. Music, performing live and writing songs is my greatest passion. However I only realised this after a five year break from playing in a band all together and a recent visit back on the stage ignited the fire once again. I love all kinds of music if it’s done well.
It all started when I saw an old guitar in my dads closet and had the inspiration to learn, so I picked up the guitar and chord book and proceeding to think that I would be a success over night (following a dream I had previous nights before) I continued like this for a while before realising that I was not really getting anywhere. I decided to get some professional lessons and as fate would have it a guitar shop called Crossroads opened up just down the road from where I lived. Talk about "perfect timing".
It was then that I met Kevin Thompson, who ran the store and gave me my first few lessons and a great friendship to match (not to mention a great price too!).He helped me to perfect my playing by showing me the proper way of playing chords. I then learnt as much as I could from him and moved through four different teachers before realising that I had advanced as far as I could. I then started my live band career, which is the best lesson anyone can get as a musician. I am proud of all the music I have done over the years and delving into many different genres has helped me develop as a guitarist.
Mississippi native, Holland Phillips, enjoyed an active performing and teaching career in the Boston area before going to the University of Oregon to work on her doctoral degree in violin performance with a secondary emphasis in musicology. Since her first solo recital at Mississippi State University at age 14, Ms. Phillips has presented recitals annually in Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, or Massachusetts. She has also performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Town Hall in Leeds, England.
As an orchestral member, Ms. Phillips has served as concertmaster of the New England Conservatory Chamber Orchestra, the Vanderbilt Orchestra, and the Killington Music Festival Chamber Orchestra. In Oregon, she plays in the Eugene Symphony and Oregon State University/Corvallis Symphony. Among her activities as a chamber musician, Ms. Phillips has performed with Pipistrelli Chamber Players at the Boston Early Music Festival in 2003 and 2005. Ms. Phillips also enjoys collaborations with her mother, soprano, and sister, who is also a violinist.
Ms. Phillips won the Jean Keller Heard Prize for musical excellence twice while studying at Vanderbilt University. She was asked to perform RH- (for violin and tape), by Vanderbilt faculty member, Dr. Stan Link, in his recital (2000) and at the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music conference in 2001. As a participant in the National Music Teachers Association Collegiate Strings Competition, she won the Tennessee division in 1998 and 2000, and in 2000 won second prize at the national competition. The Tennessee Music Teachers Association honored Ms. Phillips with an invitation to perform at the TMTA 50th Anniversary Conference in 2003.
Ms. Phillips earned a Master of Music degree with honors and a Graduate Diploma from the New England Conservatory, her Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, from Vanderbilt University, and her high school diploma at the North Carolina School of the Arts. She has held faculty positions at Gordon College in Wenham, MA and in the Milton Public Schools in Milton, MA. Ms. Phillips is a member of Pi Kappa Lambda.
Born under the mighty Southern Cross, in a town called Ballarat, Jarrod started his first guitar lessons at 15 and joined his first band not long after with several friends from school. To start no one could play their instruments very well, but it was so much fun for all that they gave their parents headaches from the noise. Then came the day they decided to enter the Battle of the Bands in Ballarat. After playing cover songs in the safety of the shed, they now had to make up some original songs for the battle and also a name!
A band member suggested the name Peanut and they used it. The name didn’t describe their heavy groovy music at all, and they couldn’t think of anything else. So Peanut was born and won the Battle of the Bands. To their surprise they went on to win the state Battle of the Bands held at Luna Park in Melbourne, playing with many well known bands such as Silverchair, Spiderbait, Magic Dirt and many more.
Peanut went on to play for many years with great success making several demos and a 7 inch record, until the loss of a vital member. Always enjoying the creation of music Jarrod spent many years during and after Peanut making electronic music. This taught him vital skills he would use later on as a producer/sound engineer. After playing in several other bands he teamed up this his cousin Damien, a former Peanut member again. Having the same interests in music they formed the band Down River with a member of W.A.R. It was then Jarrod was given the chance to record his first multi-track project. But to his dismay, after they all were nearly killed on the road returning from recording there first album, tragedy struck and his computer erased half their newly recorded tracks. Determined as they were, they decided to record the whole thing again. After completion Richy, their drummer, decided he would leave on long trip to W.A possibly never to return. So Down River lay sleeping till several years later when he returned.
In the mean time Jarrod has had the opportunity to work with many bands on recording there cd's and live mixing, always trying to maintain the fun in music that spawned from the days of Peanut. Having the opportunity to work with members of DTI who became very good friends, he set about the task of creating an experimental musical soundscape born from the name Bongmoth. People thought he was crazy to want to write and record music that had no rules or boundaries, but soon it grew to a giant of unstoppable proportions! With the dedicated efforts from members of DTI (Damien Vennell, Reece Howell, Sean Reynolds), Kara Ciezki, Adrian Jones, Richard Hammond, Phil Congen and Jarrod Kirby, it is due for release this year (2006).
At the same time this giant was being made, Jarrod went on to record for many other bands such as Matheson (2 cds), Ryecatchers cd and live DVD, Trough Lollies, Kara Ciezki's 'Hushhhhh little baby' and helped record the Tommy Dogs and the DTI album. On the return of Richard Hammond they reformed Down River with one new member on drums, Reece Howell. Upon re-releasing the original Down River cd, it has been received with great praise and is now in its second print. Also both Bongmoth and Down River have now been picked up for distribution by Undertow Records in Europe. Many great things still wait to be done by Jarrod, but always maintaining that music is from the heart and is so much fun to be a part of.
Orlando Cela holds a BM from DePauw University, a Masters degree in Flute Performance from New England Conservatory, a double Masters degree in Choral and Wind Ensemble Conducting from NEC, and additional studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna.
Orlando's primary teachers include Paula Robison, Anne Reynolds, Tamara Brooks, and Frank L. Battisti. He has taught at summer programs at the South Shore Conservatory and SUNY Fredonia, and has performed in locales such as Great Britain, Austria, the Czech Republic and his native Venezuela. Orlando has conducted ensembles ranging from the New England Conservatory Contemporary Ensemble and the Brandeis New Music Ensemble to the Vineyard Sinfonietta, and was Assistant Conductor of the Newton Symphony Orchestra.
Currently he is the music director of the Willow Flute Ensemble, Yamawaki Chamber Orchestra, conductor of the chorus at Umass Dartmouth and Orchestra Manager of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Chamber Orchestra, and flutist with both the Serenata Chamber Musicians and Xanthos Ensemble.
He is currently a flute teacher at College of the Holy Cross, Umass Dartmouth, Carlisle Public Schools and Brookline Music School.
Vedran Mehinovic was born in 1981 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He began learning the piano at the comfortable age of eight, quickly developing into somewhat of a prodigy.
Together with his family, all musicians, he helped maintain the artistic life of the city during the Bosnian war. After escaping to the United States, his focus gradually shifted from performing to composing. Mr. Mehinovic has received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in composition from the New England Conservatory, and is currently applying to various doctoral programs.
Last September, he was one of the winners of the Ziggurat Ensemble competition, aimed at creating more new music for a unique mix of Eastern and Western instruments. The premiere of his work took place at the new Bimhuis, in Amsterdam, during the International Gaudeamus Music Week. An enthusiast of diverse ethnic arts, he has organized concerts of Korean, Hindustani, Uyghur and Chinese musics in Boston.
Mr. Mehinovic’s works have been performed in Bosnia, Croatia, Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, and the United States. notes for corrosion portraits: this composition deals with an aftermath of a nuclear attack. the wind is blowing over a desolate landscape, where the only remnants of what once was are the corroding machines and armature.
Tthe idea is to meditate on such a scene, to virtually transport oneself there in order to better understand the meaning of a functional civilization.
while the electronics mostly deal with the scenery, the cello provides the pumping blood of a living being, able to transform that world and restart the cycle of growth. in an age where sophisticated implements of destruction are easier to obtain than ever before, a scene of a nuclear fallout is a reminder that anyone who instigates conflict is yearning for their own ashes to be scattered across a wasteland.
Kara Ciezki completed her Master of Music Degree in Historical and Contemporary Performance on Recorder, 2002, at the New England Conservatory of Music (USA, Boston) under the guidance of Aldo Abreu. She previously completed her Bachelor of Music at The University of Melbourne (Australia) under the guidance of Ruth Wilkinson. 
Cubist (Eden Krumins) grew up in Strathmore, a northern suburb of Melbourne. He started playing cello at the age of ten and began writing Hip-Hop and Drum n Bass in 2001. He spent a large part of his teenage years skateboarding the streets of Melbourne and featured in the Australian/New Zealand skateboarding video Tweakage. In 2003 Cubist completed a Bachelor of Music Performance Degree (cello) at Monash University, writing his Honours thesis on Squarepusher.
I have been playing guitar for 15 years. I have been in numerous bands such as Peanut, Without A Reason, Matheson, D.T.I, Bongmoth, and currently DOWN RIVER. Music, performing live and writing songs is my greatest passion. However I only realised this after a five year break from playing in a band all together and a recent visit back on the stage ignited the fire once again. I love all kinds of music if it’s done well.
Mississippi native, Holland Phillips, enjoyed an active performing and teaching career in the Boston area before going to the University of Oregon to work on her doctoral degree in violin performance with a secondary emphasis in musicology. Since her first solo recital at Mississippi State University at age 14, Ms. Phillips has presented recitals annually in Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, or Massachusetts. She has also performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, Germany, Jordan Hall in Boston, and the Town Hall in Leeds, England.
Born under the mighty Southern Cross, in a town called Ballarat, Jarrod started his first guitar lessons at 15 and joined his first band not long after with several friends from school. To start no one could play their instruments very well, but it was so much fun for all that they gave their parents headaches from the noise. Then came the day they decided to enter the Battle of the Bands in Ballarat. After playing cover songs in the safety of the shed, they now had to make up some original songs for the battle and also a name!
Orlando Cela holds a BM from DePauw University, a Masters degree in Flute Performance from New England Conservatory, a double Masters degree in Choral and Wind Ensemble Conducting from NEC, and additional studies at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna.
Vedran Mehinovic was born in 1981 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He