Trina Basu is a multifaceted violinist and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. She co-leads Karavika, a contemporary chamber ensemble, inspired by South Asian, American and Western chamber music. All About Jazz praised their debut album as "a liquid and organic brew that sounds inevitable, as if it's existed forever." Trina has performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Newport Jazz Festival, Florida Folk Festival and Sutter Math Ashram in India. She has shared the stage with artists such as Mos Def, Gil Scott Heron, Dr. John, Greg Phillinganes, Dr. Mysore Manjunath, Imani Uzuri, Urban Bush Women, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra and Krishna Bhatt. She is a recipient of the Indo-Shastri Canadian Institute artist fellowship and studied South Indian Classical violin in Chennai, India with Vittal Ramamurthy and Padma Shankar. Other mentors include violinists Su Fink and Eliot Chapo, sitarist Nalini Vinayak, trumpeter Longineu Parsons among many others.
Trina is a graduate of Florida State University in Music Therapy and has a Suzuki teaching training from School for Strings. She has worked as a teaching artists in several underserved public schools throughout NYC, led workshops for children, college and professional level artists. She runs a private teaching studio, co-directs Brooklyn Songbirds, a summer music program and teaches Raga Kids, an Indian based music class. Trina is a co-founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive.

Eléonore Biezunski is a singer, violinist from Paris and now living in NYC. She was trained in classical violin, klezmer music, Yiddish song and voice. She has collected Yiddish songs and melodies between Paris and New York, where she has founded or joined groups (Yerushe, Lyubtshe, Shpilkes…), created shows or joined theater companies, to which she lends her voice and her bow and plays a little comedy (Cie La Courte Échelle; Der Lufteater; Cie 0,10). Her second album “Yerushe” came out in 2016, after “Zol zayn” in 2014. When she is not on stage, she teaches, and serves as Sound Archivist in the YIVO Sound Archive (NYC), where she has coordinated a website dedicated to the folklorist Ruth Rubin. She is a 2017 recipient of the New York State Council on the Arts' Folk Art Apprenticeships (for the study of Yiddish Folksongs with Josh Waletzky) through the Center for Traditional Music and Dance. She published several articles about Yiddish Songs and Yiddish theater.

www.eleonorebiezunski.com

Arun Ramamurthy is a versatile violinist, composer and educator based in NYC. A disciple of the celebrated Carnatic violinist brothers, Dr. Mysore Manjunath & Sri Mysore Nagaraj, Arun has become one of the country’s leading Indian Classical and crossover musicians. Growing up in New Jersey, he trained in both Indian and Western classical styles.
He has carved a niche for himself as a multifaceted artist, performing internationally in both traditional Carnatic and Hindustani settings as well as bridging genres with his own innovative projects. Arun has been fortunate to perform with esteemed artists such as Dr. Balamurali Krishna, Sudha Ragunathan, Anindo Chatterjee, T.N. Seshagopoloan, Mashkoor Ali Khan, Marc Cary, Awa Sangho among others. He leads the Arun Ramamurthy Trio, an ensemble that brings a fresh approach to age-old South Indian classical repertoire and raga inspired originals. Praised by All About Jazz as “a beautiful, exotic, ear-opening listening experience” the Trio’s debut album “Jazz Carnatica” was picked by NPR’s New Sounds as a Top New Release.
As a composer, Arun has created new works for his Trio, for various Indian classical dance performances, and for the pioneering musician's collective Brooklyn Raga Massive. Recently, Arun was commissioned through New Music USA to compose original music for Malini Srinivasan's 'Appeasing Radhika', an ambitious project investigating Devadasi lives in Indian Classical performing arts.
Arun is a co-founder and Artistic Director of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a collective of forward thinking musicians rooted-in and inspired-by the classical music of India. He created the concert series Carnatic Sundays at Cornelia Street Café, an iconic jazz venue in New York’s West Village. As an educator, Arun teaches students ranging from beginners to professional musicians in Indian music performance, technique and theory. He has taught workshops on Indian classical music at music schools, universities, conservatories and summer music programs.
http://www.arunramamurthy.com/

Ilya Shneyveys (multi-instrumentalist, arranger, composer) is an artist and educator in Jewish music, from klezmer and Yiddish folk song to fusion and experimental projects. He is the artistic director and a founding member of the Yiddish psychedelic rock band Forshpil (Latvia-Russia-Germany) and a founding member of the Yiddish-Bavarian fusion project Alpen Klezmer (D), winner of 2014 RUTH World music award at TFF Rudolstadt. He frequently performs with Dobranotch (RU) and has collaborated with artists such as Opa! (RU), The Klezmatics (US), Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird (D) and others.
Over the years he has performed and taught at major Jewish festivals around the world, including Yiddish Summer Weimar, Yiddish Fest Moscow, Klezfest St.Petersburg, Klezfest London, KlezKanada, Montreal Jewish Festival, Toronto Ashkenaz Festival, and Krakow Jewish Festival.
Ilya composes klezmer pieces in both traditional and experimental styles and creates original arrangements of traditional Jewish music. He iss renowned as an improviser, accompanist and band leader.
www.shneyveys.com

Jake Shulman-Ment is among the most highly regarded klezmer musicians performing today. He tours and records internationally as a soloist, and with Daniel Kahn and the Painted Bird, Di Naye Kapelye, The Brothers Nazaroff, Pete Rushefsky, Frank London, Sanda Weigl, Joey Weisenberg, and many, many more. Jake first began playing violin at the age of 3. He began studies in klezmer from age 12, initially a protégé of Alicia Svigals. Jake later immersed himself in related violin traditions, living in Greece, Hungary, and Romania for extended periods, becoming fluent in both the musical and spoken languages.
An internationally in-demand teacher, Jake has been a faculty member of New York’s Henry Street Settlement, KlezKamp, KlezKanada, Klezmer Paris, the Krakow Jewish Culture Festival, Yiddish Summer Weimar, and other festivals around the globe. An avid traveler, Jake has made several extended journeys to collect, study, perform, and document traditional folk music in Hungary, Romania, and Greece. In 2010 Jake received a Fulbright research grant to collect, study, perform, and document traditional music in Romania.
http://www.jakeshulmanment.com/