Ragas to Reels

Pianist/composer Utsav Lal is recognized for his interpretations of Indian classical music on a Western instrument. Often known as the “raga and jazz pianist” and internationally acclaimed for creating his own unique voice on the piano, Lal’s career includes solo performances at leading world venues and cultural festivals. With unfailing clarity of technique and rhythmic virtuosity, Lal's music is known for its simplicity, depth and powerful intensity. The Irish Times describes him as “a fleet-fingered performer whose best moments can be both highly evocative and dazzling.”   

Lal’s work is deeply influenced by the Indian Dhrupad music tradition and a vast array of sources such as The Necks, Thelonious Monk, and Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou. Born in India, Lal grew up in Ireland and currently resides in New York. His unique perspective into the legacy of Indian music coupled with his training in jazz, Celtic music and contemporary improvisation has allowed him to work with a myriad of artists, including Winifred Horan, Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Australian Contemporary Circus Theatre CIRCA, Talvin Singh, George Brooks, Rajna Swaminathan. Lal has several piano record releases, which include a historic world’s first album on the microtonal "fluid piano.” www.utsavlal.com

Sam Comerford is a musician and composer from Dublin, living in Brussels, Belgium. He composes for and leads the trio Thunderblender, whose debut album Stillorgan was released by WERF records in 2020. His current projects include a solo saxophone album based on the music of Irish fiddler Tommie Potts, a second album with Thunderblender, and the soundtrack of experimental horror film Hexham Heads.

Comerford tours and records in various projects incorporating elements of jazz, improvised music, and Irish music. These include Neil Ó Loclainn’s Cuar (IE), Hendrik Lasure & warm bad (BE), Aerie (DE/IE/CH), Umbra (IE), Insufficient Funs (IE), Augusto Pirroda Septet (IT/BE), ODIL (BE/CH/FR), Mobilhome (BE), Utsav Lal & Ragas to Reels, Teh Trio (TW), Hayden Chisholm saxophone quartet (IE, 2013), and European Saxophone Ensemble (2012-13), led by Guillaume Orti.

Comerford has been awarded the Toots Thielemans Award from the KCB, the “Best Soloist” prize from the Concours Tremplin d’Avignon, and has been supported by the Arts Council of Ireland, Music Network, and the Vlaamse Overheid.

Photo credit: Chloë Delanghe

A vocalist, scholar, and multi-instrumentalist whose voice has been described as “a thick ephemera” (New York Times), with an “aching emotional intensity” (JazzTimes), Ganavya’s recent works include writing and singing the first Tamil words to win a Latin Grammy; soloing as a vocalist on Esperanza Spalding's Grammy-winning Songwrights Apothecary Lab; and composing, dancing, and singing for Peter Sellars’ filmwork.

Nitin Mitta is a tabla soloist and accompanist who has performed with some of India’s most celebrated musicians, including Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and Ustad Shahid Parvez. 

Mitta’s gurus, Pt. G. Satyanarayana and Pt. Arvind Mulgaonkar, are disciples of Ustad Amir Husain Khan, the legendary doyen of the Farrukhabad Gharana of tabla. Mitta also proved a versatile collaborator in other spheres when he joined forces with Grammy-nominated pianist Vijay Iyer and electric guitarist R. Prasanna to produce the studio album Tirtha. His tabla playing is featured on the soundtrack of the 20008 Oscar-winning short documentary Smile Pinki. He has recorded two albums with pianist Utsav Lal.

Mitta has recorded and toured extensively with the two-time Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) winning singer Kiran Ahulwalia.

Photo credit: Roopa Panesar

Sahar Romani, daughter of Indian Muslim immigrants, is a poet and educator. Her recent work appears in the Yale Review, the Los Angeles Review, the Believer, Guernica, Poetry Society of America, and elsewhere. She is a recipient of fellowships from the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Poets House, and New York University, where she earned an MFA and currently teaches first-year writing as a clinical assistant professor.

Winifred is an American fiddler of Irish descent who played with renowned Celtic music ensemble Cherish the Ladies before becoming an original member of the Irish traditional group Solas and joining the Sharon Shannon Band. Other credits include recording with Séamus Egan and writing/recording for the Ed Burns film The Brothers McMullen. 

Horan released her first solo album, Just One Wish, in October 2002 on Shanachie Records. In 2006, she and fellow Solas member Mick McAuley, an accordionist, released Serenade on Compass Records, with covers of "After the Gold Rush" by Neil Young and "Make You Feel My Love" by Bob Dylan. Siobhán Long, writing for The Irish Times, listed Serenade as fifth on her list of top five Irish traditional music albums released in 2006. Horan lives in Dover, New Hampshire and is currently a member of the faculty of The New England Conservatory.

NYC violinist/fiddler and pianist with a love for the Irish tradition, Dana Lyn has performed at Lincoln Center, Carnegie and Town Halls, the Beacon Theater, and BAM, as well as in several IAC presentations and collaborations over the years, most recently with Kyle Sanna in Seán Curran and Darrah Carr’s Céilí. As a composer, she has received commissions from the National Arts Council of Ireland, the Apple Hill and Brooklyn Rider String Quartets, Baryshnikov Arts Center, IAC, Palaver Strings, A Far Cry, and line upon line.