Collaborators
Live Score & Sound Installation
T. GRIFFIN, COMPOSER, ELECTRONICS
Composer and producer T. Griffin has composed scores for over 60 films, including some of the most celebrated non-fiction films of the past decade. Griffin has previously composed and performed live film/music events with filmmakers including Sam Green, Jem Cohen, Brent Green, and Esther Robinson. These shows have toured internationally and been presented by The Barbican, BAM Next Wave, and The Walker Art Center, among others. He was one of six composers selected as a fellow at the Sundance Composer’s lab in 2008 and has been nominated twice for CinemaEye Honors for original music score. In 2021 he was inducted into the Academy of Motion Pictures.
ERIC SLUYTER, SOUND DESIGNER
Eric Sluyter is a New York based sound artist. He has created albums and installation pieces that intricately collage disparate sonic material into living sculpture. He has been a member of NYC ensemble The Wooster Group since 2016, creating soundscapes and music for stage productions and touring domestically and internationally with the company. He has additionally collaborated on theater, film, sound and installation pieces with Daniel Fish, Julian Koster/The Orbiting Human Circus, Amir ElSaffar, Wallace Shawn, Andrè Gregory, Bruce Odland, INVIVIA, and others. He has also designed various pieces of custom software and hardware for specialized sound synthesis and live show control. He was nominated for a 2019 Hewes design award for his work on The B-Side: Negro Folklore From Texas State Prisons.
Musicians
TITILAYO AYANGADE, CELLO
Titilayo Ayangade, cellist, has spent more than two decades behind the instrument, enjoying performances in orchestras and chamber ensembles as well commissioning new music. Inspired by and dedicated to the work of musicians of color, Titilayo is constantly seeking new collaborations and ways to spotlight the voices in music that often go unheard. Titilayo has worked closely with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, James Austin Smith, Alarm Will Sound, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Robert DeMaine, and Lawrence Power. A 2021-22 Artist in Residence at the Strathmore Center for the Arts has led Titilayo to begin writing compositions of her own, leaning on her lived experiences as a Black woman in the sea of classical music to create evocative multimedia performances.
JOY GUIDRY, BASSOON
Radical self-love, compassion, laughter and the drive to promote and amplify Black art-makers and noise-makers are at the core of Joy Guidry’s work. The New York City-based bassoonist, composer, and activist excels in many spheres, with performances hailed by the San Diego Tribune as “lyrical and haunting… hair-raising and unsettling…” Clifton is not only a versatile and acclaimed bassoonist, but they are also an improviser and composer of experimental and daring new works that proclaim Joy’s love of storytelling. In honoring their ancestors and those who came before them Joy’s compositions channel their inner child.
CATHERINE MCRAE, VIOLIN
Catherine McRae is a composer and violinist and makes music for dance, theater, live film, and solo performance. Incorporating electronics and loopers into her toolkit, she has developed a sonic vocabulary that forms intricate and cinematic landscapes. Working with a wide array of visual and performance artists has deeply informed her approach to space, time and texture in her compositions. Collaborators include Jen Bervin, Sam Green, Jem Cohen, Johanna S. Meyer, Catherine Galasso, Radiohole, Joseph Silovsky, Findlay//Sandsmark, Victor Morales, Lumberob, and T. Griffin. She has performed extensively at clubs, festivals, museums, basements and rooftops.
JAY RODRIGUEZ, BASS CLARINET, FLUTE
Grammy nominated music veteran reed player Jay Rodriguez has been an important artist in NYC’s sonic and creative tapestry as a composer, arranger, and soloist for the past 30 years. He has brought his mastery and musical experiences to many genres and generations, and is a co-founder of NYC’s Groove Collective. Along with his solo works, he is currently part of iconic guitarist Marc Ribot’s projects, Nona Hendryx, and Craig Harris Brown Butterfly. Jay plays with an unreserved flexibility on the tenor, alto and soprano saxophones; flute; and bass clarinet. Originally from Colombia, he has worked with artists from Prince to Elvis Costello and Marc Ribot, and has been praised by the New York Times as someone who “moves between idioms and energies as easily as he switches instruments.”
MATT BAUDER, BASS CLARINET
Matt Bauder is a saxophonist and composer formerly based in Brooklyn, NY where he spent 15 years before becoming a pandemic transplant to Kingston, NY. He has led the band Hearing Things for the past 5+ years, melding his love for mid-century rock and roll, soul and experimental outer limits. Bauder mainly plays saxophones, but his multi-instrumental skills on clarinets, flutes, guitars and electronics have helped him find a place in many diverse settings as a side musician and collaborator. He has performed with many iconic figures in avant-garde and rock music including Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Roscoe Mitchell, Arcade Fire, Father John Misty, Iron and Wine, and Italian pop star Jovanotti . He is featured on numerous recordings by Rob Mazurek, Harris Eisenstadt and Taylor Ho Bynum among many others.
STUART BOGIE, BASS CLARINET
Stuart Bogie was born in Evanston, Illinois and studied music at the University of Michigan and Interlochen Arts Academy. He has toured and recorded extensively with the groups Antibalas, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Iron and Wine, Sway Machinery and performed as the featured soloist in the original Broadway production of Fela!, directed by Bill T Jones. As a composer/arranger, he scored the Oscar nominated documentary How To Survive a Plague. He currently leads The Bogie Band feat Joe Russo, a nine piece Winds and Drum group. He has been performing daily solo clarinet concerts on Instagram throughout the Covid 19 Pandemic, and has featured remote collaborations with over 50 different artists including Luke O’Malley, Colin Stetson, James Murphy, and several members of Arcade Fire. He regularly composes music for film, stage, and commercials.
EMMALIE TELLO, BASS CLARINET
Emmalie Tello is a clarinetist and teaching artist committed to storytelling and self-expression
through music. Based in New York City, she has performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wet Ink Ensemble, Martha Graham Dance Company, among others. Emmalie is co-founder of Art Beyond the Ink, an organization which uses interdisciplinary performance to engage young audiences in musical storytelling while cultivating creative listening skills and deepening emotional connection. Emmalie holds degrees in performance and entrepreneurship from The New School, and she is completing her studies in contemporary performance at the Manhattan School of Music.
YUMA UESAKA, BASS CLARINET
Saxophonist and clarinetist Yuma Uesaka (b.1991) works within the intersection of jazz, creative music, and new music. Active in New York City since 2014, he came to wider attention with Ocelot, a record with his collaborative trio with Cat Toren and Colin Hinton, and Streams, a duo recording with pianist Marilyn Crispell. As a composer, he’s received recognition from the ASCAP Foundation, Metropolis, and Either/Or Ensemble. He has performed with Anna Webber, Jessie Cox, Lesley Mok at venues such as The Jazz Gallery, Roulette, and National Sawdust, and has recorded for Pi, New Focus, NotTwo, and Polyfold Records.
Special Thanks
Tender Presence would not be possible without the expertise and dedication of the following individuals and organizations:
Audio Visual Services – Front Stage Sound
Lighting Design – Brian Aldous and Avi Dobkin
Flowers – Robert Chae
Fabrication – The Factory
The Dime – Nelson Abreu, Gabe Siegal, Sam Charney, Barbara Wagner
Artist Team – Michelle Levy
Creative Time Team – Shaina Cash, Renata Del Riego, Priya Gandhi, Lilly Hern-Fondation, Natasha L. Logan, Justine Ludwig, Kathryn McKinney, Amber Sasse, Lizzie Smith, Aden Suchak, Diya Vij, Alexandra Winters, Allison Elliot, Gibson Field, Ella Jenkins, Sandra Gonzalez De Jesus, Grace Mozie