Helga Davis: Favorite Things

Helga Davis is performance artist and “a powerful vocalist with an almost operatic range and all the bruised sensuality of Jeanne Lee” (Wire Magazine).

Richard Barreto AKA “BIG DJ Rich” is a native of the Bronx, N.Y. Growing up in New York City and attending the exciting shows of legendary hip hop and house artists such as Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa and Larry Levan during the 70s and 80s inspired him to become a professional DJ and entertainer. After successfully working in the New York area for 15 years, he relocated to Washington, DC where he continues to be an in demand performer for clubs, weddings and corporate events. Since 1995 he has worked a very demanding schedule as a resident DJ on The Spirit of Washington and Odyssey Cruises, often performing seven days a week. This experience has allowed him to become extremely comfortable performing for every type of crowd and function imaginable. He has a great speaking voice, mixing ability and an encyclopedic knowledge of music in a wide variety of styles.”

Flutist, composer, and educator, Allison Loggins-Hull, maintains an active career performing and creating music of multiple genres. Praised for being able “to redefine the instrument…” (The Wall Street Journal), Allison has garnered a reputation for successfully navigating an array of musical worlds. She is the co-founder of the urban art pop ensemble, Flutronix, known for “redefining the flute and modernizing its sound by hauling it squarely into the world of popular music.” (MTV Iggy)

Allison was recently commissioned by the Texas Flute Society to compose for the 2018 Myrna Brown Flute Competition. Allison’s compositions, described as having a style that “allows multiple voices to share in the shaping of a music that is equally indebted to and comfortable in several musical lineages” (NewMusicBox), have been performed around the globe. With Flutronix, she is published by major music house, Carl Fischer.

Allison has worked with artists ranging from the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Frank Ocean, Toshi Reagon, David Virelles and more, and been featured in an ESPN Super Bowl commercial and the Black Girls Rock! Award Show on BET. She is on the faculty of The Juilliard School (MAP) and endorsed by Burkart Flutes & Piccolos.

Carl Hancock Rux (born March 24, in Harlem, New York City) is an award winning playwright, poet, novelist, essayist, performer, theater director and recording artist. He is the author of several publications including “Pagan Operetta” (poetry), Asphalt (novel) and the OBIE award winning play Talk. Rux has released five albums, the first being the critically acclaimed Rux Revue (Sony 550). His musical work has been described as an amalgam of “Brecht and Weill influences, along with Massive Attack, whose spirit is deep in the sensual slinking spiritual jazz of Billie Holiday through William S. Burroughs‘ cut-up treatment, while unleashing old-fashioned, straight-ahead R&B Stax soul” (All Music Review). Rux is the recipient of numerous awards including the Doris Duke Awards for New Works, the Doris Duke Charitable Fund, the New York Foundation for the Arts Prize, and the Alpert Award in the Arts.

Krystal Hawes started singing at a very young age. Her first performance,  “Skinnamarink” was held at age 4 in the back seat of the family station wagon. Over the span of 2 decades, she has been a performer in choirs, small bands and solo projects, a teaching artist and therapeutic musician.Through it all, her love of music remains constant. She is thrilled to be performing amongst such talented individuals.

S. Katy Tucker is a video and projection designer based in Brooklyn, NY. Her work in theater and opera has been seen around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera; the Sydney Opera House, Dutch National Opera, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Carnegie Hall; the New York City Ballet; the Kennedy Center; BAM, The Park Avenue Armory, LA Phil, among others. She has collaborated with composers and musicians like Paul McCartney, John Zorn, Jeffrey Ziegler, Amanda Gookin, Helga Davis and Paola Prestini. Her artwork has been seen at The Corcoran Museum, Artists’ Space, Brookfield Place, and The Kitchen.

Recent productions: Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Prince Igor at The Dutch National Opera and Metropolitan Opera, Francesca Zambello’s production of The Ring Cycle at the Kennedy Center, Ouroboros Trilogy, a fully immersive multimedia production at the Majestic with Michael Counts and Beth Morrison Projects, Tristan and Isolde and The Flying Dutchman with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Hunds Hjärta at Uppsala Stadsteater and a season of multi media collaborations with the Saint Louis Symphony and conductor David Robertson.

Upcoming projects: The Odyssey with The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Flying Dutchman with the Saint Louis Symphony, The Ring Cycle at SFO, Tosca with Wolf Trap Opera and The Flying Dutchman at Atlanta Opera.

Derrick Belcham is a Canadian filmmaker based out of Brooklyn, NY whose internationally-recognized work in documentary and music video has lead him to work with such artists as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Laurie Anderson, Paul Simon and hundreds of others in music, dance, theater and architecture. He has created works and lectured at such institutions as MoMA PS1, MoCA, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum Of American Art, Musee D’Art Contemporain, The Philip Johnson Glass House, Brooklyn Academy of Music and The Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati. His work regularly appears in publications such as The New York Times, Vogue, Pitchfork, NPR and Rolling Stone as well as being screened at short, dance and experimental festivals and retrospectives around the world.

Mutiny is Breiner’s first collaboration with video and light artist Derrick Belcham since Bing & Ruth’s involvement in Belcham’s Debut at the Knockdown Center in 2014.

Juecheng is a Cantonese countertenor. He has studied classical singing for over a decade in Europe. Arriving in New York one year ago, he takes on a path to showcase baroque music with contemporary elements. His voice evokes the colourful strength and sensitivity of the early music repertoire.
His operatic roles include: Handel – Orlando (Orlando, New York, 2017), Bertarido (Rodelinda, New York, 2016), Ruggiero (Alcina, New York, 2015), Rinaldo (Rinaldo, Lucca, 2015), Radamisto (Radamisto, Amsterdam, 2013), Arsamene (Serse, London, 2012), Cavalli – Apollo (Gli Amori di Apollo e diDafne, Venice, 2015)

Within his current residency at The Hollows in Williamsburg, Juecheng challenges the boundaries of style and form. ‘I want to reveal to you the Baroque music in my imagination and to share with you my own angle of the world through music. I want you to be in the experience that I encounter joy in music.’

Taiwanese pianist Monica Meng-Chieh Lu is the recipient of the “National Young Performing Artist Award” from Taiwan. An active soloist, she recently performed with Mannes Sound Festival at the National Bohemian Hall in Manhattan and has appeared on stage at the Strathmore in Baltimore. Lu was one of sixteen pianists to be selected to attend the Philadelphia

Young Pianists Academy at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2015. Her U.S. solo debut in the summer of 2011 was broadcasted by Brevard Classical Radio in North Carolina. Lu started her professional career after winning first prize in the 2008 National Taiwan Chamber Music Competition with her piano trio at the age of 16. She is currently pursuing her Master of Music at Mannes School of Music, The New School with Pavlina Dokovska under The Dean’s List Scholarship. Future performances included artist-in-residence at The Hollows in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from June to August in 2017. She will be collaborating with artists from various disciplinary to curate musical experiences in interactive theatrical setting.

Daniel Alexander Jones creates multi-dimensional theatre where the body, mind, emotions, voice, and spirit conjoin, shimmer, and heal. Jones’s wildflower body of work grows in relationship with a wide range of audiences. Duat premiered at Soho Rep in 2016 to critical acclaim. His other performance pieces and plays include Radiate, Phoenix Fabrik, Blood:Shock:Boogie, and Bel Canto; also, the musical, Bright Now Beyond, made with composer Bobby Halvorson and director Will Davis; and his multi-chapter series of solo autobiographical performances, The Book of Daniel, made with musician Walter Kitundu, and director Tea Alagic. Daniel was named a 2015 Doris Duke Artist, in recognition of his risk-taking practice, and a 2016 USA Artist Fellow. Jomama Jones, Daniel’s performance alter-ego, has released four albums, including Flowering (2017) and toured across the United States, most recently performing a run of her show, Black Light, at Penumbra Theatre Company.