Moving Star creates immersive, interactive musical experiences in which audiences can participate and co-create, inviting the formation of community through song.
Moving Star is a vocal ensemble that creates original music infused with improvisation. It is an artistic community partner of the Carnegie Hall Education Wing.
In the Spring of 2015, musicians working with The Lullaby Project at Carnegie Hall offered a three-week vocal intensive for singers and improvisers. The group that gathered decided to continue working beyond the original three weeks, and over the course of several years began to create original work and performances.
Following its first concert in November 2015 at the Vital Vox Festival in New York City, Moving Star continued to meet weekly, and by the Fall of 2016 began developing workshops for music teachers. After receiving a commission from Carnegie Hall to create an immersive music theater experience for babies (0-2 years old) and their families, Moving Star premiered OTOYOTOY in January of 2017 at the Carnegie Education Wing, in collaboration with librettist Zoe Palmer.
In May 2018 at the Doxsee Theater in Brooklyn, Moving Star premiered BlesSING, a new interactive work for adults based on the rituals of prayers and mantras. BlesSING blends new music with the practice of circle singing in a theatrical context, with theatrical lighting designed by Sarah Lurie. The group continued to perform concerts and offer workshops, and in the Fall of 2018 OTOYOTOY was revived for a concert tour presented in NYC homeless shelters.
In the Spring of 2019, Moving Star premiered a joint commission from Carnegie Hall and the Minnesota Opera for a second opera for babies, entitled NOOMA with libretto by Zoe Palmer. NOOMA was performed at the Education Wing at Carnegie Hall and the Ordway Theater in St. Paul, MN. As part of the 2019-2020 season, Moving Star began offering monthly “open sing” events at Carnegie Hall and at ARTS ON SITE in the East Village, and did so right up until the beginning of March 2020, when COVID-19 made those events impossible.
Moving Star pivoted to presenting virtual improvisatory work online in the spring of 2020 with open sing events and weekly meetings held on Zoom. Moving Star developed three distinct virtual programs over the course of the pandemic: EIGHT WAYS OF SEEING (June 2020); FALLING INTO PLACE (January 2021); and IN.VERSE (June 2021).
Like many musical ensembles, Moving Star is looking forward to rejoining the world of live meetings and performances in the Fall of 2021. Current plans include a theatrical version of IN.VERSE and a new opera for babies that has been co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and the Minnesota Opera: CAMILLE’S RAINBOW, with libretto by Zoe Palmer and music by Thomas Cabaniss & Saskia Lane, is set to premiere at the Carnegie Hall Education Wing in April 2022.
Click here to download a full biography
Members
Sasha Bogdanowitsch is a composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and educator. He is a co-founder of World In One, Loom Ensemble and Vital Vox. Sasha has performed worldwide and throughout the NY area in venues such as: Carnegie Hall, Whitney Museum, Symphony Space, BAM, and Roulette. www.timbretree.com
Thomas Cabaniss is a composer and educator; he teaches at Juilliard and leads educational projects for the Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall. www.thomascabaniss.com
Malena Dayen sings opera, oratorio and concert music and has performed at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and opera roles at the Teatro Municipal of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. As a tango singer she performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic, and is the lead singer of New Aires Tango. www.malenadayen.com
Emily Eagen is a singer, songwriter, vocal coach a DMA candidate in vocal performance at the Graduate Center of the City of New York, a teaching artist through Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute, and a two-time world champion whistler. Emily is a singer of early, contemporary, and folk music, most recently seen on tour with The Bang on a Can All-Stars in Julia Wolfe’s ‘Steel Hammer.’ www.emilyeagen.com
Mark Ettinger is a composer, conductor, teacher and multi-instrumentalist. He’s played with Bo Diddley, sung with The Bobs, conducted the Cincinnati Orchestra and taught at Mannes College of Music. He toured the world juggling with the Flying Karamazov Brothers for 14 years and as their music director, wrote music for half a dozen shows. www.markettinger.org
Tim Kiah is a Brooklyn based composer, vocalist and bassist. He has been commissioned by Chamber Music America, Lincoln Center and the Northern Sinfonia chamber Orchestra. Tim is a member and composer with The Chelsea Symphony and has written ten symphonic works. www.timkiah.com
Onome is the artistic director of Lush Tongue, a project that encompasses improvisation based on a repertoire of songs by women composers, sound healing, singing immersions, workshops, vocal coaching, retreats and concerts. She facilitates community vocal immersives in spaces such as Carnegie Hall, Columbia University, music education conferences, museums, schools, cultural centers, shelters, prisons, parks , churches, wherever people gather.
Associate Members
Amy Carrigan is a multi genre singer, puppeteer, theater maker and arts administrator. She fronts the band Ducarriganigan and puppeteers with Brooklyn based puppet theater company, Drama of Works.
Nick Demeris and his musical mission have him weaving together traditions, like blending Hip Hop & Shakespeare or mashing up Minimalism with Nepali folk music from the Brooklyn subway platforms to the wings of Carnegie Hall, so that all humans can connect to our vibrational commonality as beings of sound!
Saskia Lane is a Julliard trained bassist, composer, performer and educator whose work spans many genres. She regularly tours with kids’ favorite Dan Zanes and Friends along with her jazz pop trio, The Lascivious Biddies. www.saskialane.com