March 23rd Interdisciplinary SZALON:
A Tribute to Manfred Fischbeck

1.    Todd Breitling presents “Wind and Sky”, a music video that he created with Manfred Fischbeck during the pandemic, from the Szalon

2.    Megan Bridge dances to two original electronic compositions by eassae, from the Szalon

3.    Cellist Michal Schmidt performs The Beekeepers for cello and electronics by Anna Rubin, from the Szalon

4.    Avi Wisnia, jazz-pop singer/songwriter, puts his original twist on classic works by Oscar Hammerstein, from the Szalon

5.    Soprano Juliet Rand with pianist Michal Schmidt perform “Cliff” and “Edge” from The Rim of Lovewith poetry by Manfred Fischbeck and music by Andrea Clearfield, from the Szalon

6.    Dancer/choreographer Silvana Cardell performs Dear Cry to poetry by Manfred Fischbeck and music by Daniel Wohl, honoring decades of artistic collaboration and embodied lineage, from the Szalon

7.    Vocalist Susan Lambert with pianist Michal Schmidt perform the opening of her solo show “The Couch”, honoring the works of duo Dan Martin and Michael Biello and the late composer Roger Ames, from the Szalon

8.    Between The Crashes (a tribute to those gone and those still present) with poetry by Tom Burnett (voice) and music by Thomas Kozumplik (piano) and Padma Newsome and featuring Rachael Elliott(bassoon, voice), from the Szalon

9.    Sugarlift (Adrian Wood) will play cassettes and electronics with Steph Roach on piano, from the Szalon

10. Shakuhachi player Michael A. Firman performs a traditional solo work Tamuke (手向), a prayer for departed loved ones, from his studio in Naperville, Illinois

Todd Breitling

Todd Breitling is a versatile artist. As a photographer, he has numerous styles he shoots in from abstract to landscape and street photography to macro photography. He was awarded the Mid Atlantic Triple A Travel Photographer of the Year in 2015 for his image "Walker and Bike" shot in Stockholm,Sweden. Most of his works are what have been termed "Organic Abstraction". These works are a study in lines and the space they reside in with regard to contrasting colors and the dimensions they create. Todd's intention is to create a spontaneous visual journey for the eye. He is inspired to invoke the beauty and emotion of color in his work, acknowledging that the viewer's experience creates their own interpretation of the meaning. Additionally, Todd makes clothing out of his photographs and paintings, including leggings, capris, tank tops, scarves and t-shirts. click on the link above called Todd Breitling Art Designs to explore and purchase those. Combined with his unique style using oil, ink, acrylic, resin, enamel and various mediums, plus his fine art photography, original music, videos and clothing designs(see links above), Todd has created multiple streams of original artistic work.

Links: https://www.toddbreitlingart.com/

Video:

Megan Bridge and eassae

eassae (essay)[ˈɛˌseɪ] is a New York based electronic composer/producer. Switching from painting to music in his mid 20s, his music education is primarily self-directed. Since 2005 he has written, recorded, and produced 11 LPs, 2 Double LPs, and 1 EP under various monikers. He was the grand prize winner of the John Lennon Song Writing Contest in the electronic category in 2022, and a finalist in 2023 and 2024. eassae’s work is influenced by all musical genera, literature, travel, and film sound design.

He is the founder of the independent electronic music label CC Undefined Records.

Megan Bridge is an internationally touring performer, choreographer, educator, and dance researcher based in Philadelphia. She was co-Director of Fidget from 2008-2025. She has presented her choreography at The Philadelphia Museum of Art, FringeArts, and many other venues in Philadelphia, throughout the United States and internationally throughout Germany and Poland as well as in Vienna, Sofia, Bogotá, Tbilisi, Skopje, Rennes, Johannesburg, and Zurich. Bridge holds a BFA in dance from SUNY Purchase, and an MFA in dance from Temple University, where she currently serves as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the dance program. She has published more than 30 articles for thINKingdance.net, as well as articles for the Dance Chronicle, Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, and Philly Artblog. She has taught week-long intensive workshops at FringeArts in 2024 & 2025, and she is a certified Group Motion Workshop facilitator. Her teaching practice is focused on somatics, improvisation, and collective play.

The best way for folks to stay in touch with me is to join my email list, by sending me an email at megan@meganbridge.com, or, follow me on social media, @MeganBridge_00 on Instagram and Facebook.

Links:

https://eassae.com
https://ccundefined.com

Video:

Michal Schidt and Anna Rubin

Israeli musician Michal Schmidt has been active as cellist  and pianist in the Philadelphia area since she came to study in the US and graduated from the at the Curtis Institute of Music in the early 80s. She received a Masters degree from the University of the Arts and a DMA degree from Temple University. In 2007 Michal established the series “Tribute” which centers around music by contemporary composers with whom she has close connections. In the last few years, Michal has recorded 10 albums and you’re all invited to a celebration of this  landmark next week on Sunday, March 29 , 3 PM at the Ethical Society. 

Recordings can be found on Spotify, Amazon music, Apple Music and many other online platforms. 

Anna Rubin’s music is propelled by her love of the speaking and singing voice as well as environmental and political issues. She has composed for a variety of musical genres including chamber, choral, wind and orchestral ensembles.  She also incorporates spoken word into electronic sound collages.   Her  electronic music has also accompanied stage, video and dance.  Her works are recorded on the Neuma Records, Albany, Sony Educational and SEAMUS labels. Recent performances have occurred in Stockholm, Munich, Silver Spring, New York and Brazil. The upcoming film Surrender by Brian O’Hare will incorporate Rubin’s electronic processing of his father’s Viet Nam War sound diaries.   Her latest recording project is a double CD, Powehi, (Neuma) featuring music for actor and two pianos as well as electronic music.  The Beekeepers is a sound collage featuring Carol and Bob who graciously allowed Rubin to record them as they tended their backyard hives and reminisced about their motivation and adventures in beekeeping.

 Videos:

Avi Wisnia

Singer-songwriter Avi Wisnia tours in support of his newest album of jazz/pop compositions, "Catching Leaves," performing in venues around the world – from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to The Kennedy Center in Washington DC to concert tours in Poland, Japan, and Brazil. Avi Wisnia has given a TED Talk and performed with The Moth storytellers, and he is featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary "How Saba Kept Singing." Avi currently hosts the concert series "Philly Songwriters In The Round" - First Thursdays at The Royal in Glenside PA, and he can also be seen performing monthly at the Philadelphia Rittenhouse Hotel.

Venmo: @AviWisnia
PayPal: paypal.me/aviwisnia
Link to listen/stream/buy music on any platform: www.aviwisnia.com/music
Sign up for upcoming concert alerts & mailing list: https://tinyurl.com/AviWisniaMailingList
Connect on Social Media, Facebook & Instagram: @AviWisnia

More Info at www.aviwisnia.com

Videos:

Juliet Rand

Soprano Juliet Rand, from Southold, N.Y., student of Elliot Madore, is the Barbara Moskow Fellow and first entered Curtis in 2021. She received her Bachelor of Music in 2025 and is now pursuing her Master of Music. For Curtis Opera Theatre, Ms. Rand appeared as Euridice (L’Orfeo), Joan of Arc 3 (Savior), Baroness/First Sheep (Candide), Due ragazze (Le nozze di Figaro), Pepík (The Cunning Little Vixen), La Dame élégante (Les Mamelles de Tirésias), and in the choruses of Infernal Angel, L’elisir d’amore, Ariodante and Così fan tutte. She performed Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) for Curtis Voice Studio Opera Scenes, Countess (Le nozze di Figaro), and Donna Elvira (Don Giovanni) for Classic Lyric Arts Opera Scenes. She was a fellowship artist at the Mostly Modern Festival, covered Alcina (Alcina) at the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, and performed Pamina (Die Zauberflöte) and Despina (Così fan tutte) with the Queens Summer Vocal Institute. Ms. Rand is an organist/singer for St. Patrick's Church, Southold. and sings for Newtown Square Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia.

Website: https://www.julietrandsoprano.com/
Instagram: @juliet__renee

Creating deep emotive musical languages that build cultural and artistic bridges, the music of composer Andrea Clearfield is performed widely in the U.S. and abroad. She has been praised by the New York Times for her “graceful tracery and lively, rhythmically vital writing”, the Philadelphia Inquirer for her “compositional wizardry” and “mastery with large choral and instrumental forces”, the L.A. Times for her “fluid and glistening orchestration” and by Opera News for her “vivid and galvanizing” music of “timeless beauty”. She has written 175+ works for opera, chorus, orchestra, chamber ensemble, dance and multimedia including a work for The Philadelphia Orchestra. She received her doctorate in Music Composition from Temple University. Dr. Clearfield received a Pew International Residency Award, a Pew Fellowship in the Arts, two Independence Foundation Fellowships, two Leeway Foundation Awards, two Fellowships at the Rockefeller's Bellagio Center and Fellowships at the American Academy in Rome, MacDowell, Yaddo, Ucross and Copland House among others. Passionate about creating community around music, she is Founder, Curator and Host of the Philadelphia Szalon since 1986. She is the recipient of a 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Musical Fund Society. She serves on the Board of Wildflower Composers, highlighting voices of female, nonbinary, genderqueer and transgender composers. She is represented by Black Tea Music.Learn more at:

www.andreaclearfield.com

Videos:

Silvia Cardell

Silvana Cardell is an Argentine-born choreographer, director, and educator based in Philadelphia. A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow in Choreography, she is the founder of Cardell Dance Theater. Her work bridges contemporary dance and theater, rooted in German expressionist traditions and shaped by her bicultural formation. She has worked with Manfred Fisbeck and at Group Motion as a dancer and choreographer. For over three decades, she has created interdisciplinary performances exploring memory, migration, ecofeminism, and the politics of the body while mentoring multiple generations of artists. Dear Cry is an improvised tribute to Manfred Fischbeck, who wrote the poem as an artistic exchange during his convalescence. First shared within the community and carried across generations of artists, the piece continues the improvisational practice Cardell inherited from her mentor.

Website: www.cardelldance.com
Venmo: @silvana-cardell
Instagram: @cardelldance

Susan Lambert

Susan Lambert has acted and sung on the stage in musicals, dramas, and comedies: Off Broadway, stock, regional, and European tours. Favorite roles written for her: Mireille in the award winning team of Roger Ames and Laura Harrington's "Martin Guerre" and Claire in their "Hearts on Fire". She has  worked with directors, composers and playwrights such as Anne Bogart, Ricky Ian Gordon, and Erin Cressida Wilson to name a few. She is critically acclaimed for her solo shows  around the globe; her newest: a musical memoir “ If You Could Read My Mind “.Susan will play Julia Wolf in the short film  "The Hot Club" by Claude Kerven next year and this spring will play  Sharon in The Roomate opposite the great actress Janet Geist Moore produced by In The Balance Productions  and Woods Hole Theatre Company; while also continuing to tour her most recent solo shows, "The Couch," and " Moons and Junes and Moments in the Woods " in  Boston, New York , and Los Angeles. Last fall Susan played JoJo in the world premiere of “The Fade Away Advantage” by Meryl Cohn at the Provincetown Theater where  this past summer she  joined with director  David Drake, playing  Masha in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike to  rave reviews. She is the creator/host of the podcast In The Balance and producer and narrator of The Wild Edge of The Heart audio book to benefit women’s reproductive rights. Former AEA,Current SAG AFTRA

Tom Burnett and EK Duo: Rachael Elliott and Thomas Kozumplik

EK Duo's Rachael Elliott (bassoon) and Thomas Kozumplik (percussion) create spacious sound-worlds colored by the steel drum, marimba, reedy bassoon, kalimba, electronics, and more. Founding members of seminal improvising quartet, Clogs, they have toured internationally, performing at a wide range of venues, including the Sydney Festival, BAM, Big Ears Festival, the Knitting Factory, London Jazz Festival, Slovenian Jazz Festival and more. Joining the duo is NYC musician/ director/performer Tom Burnett who is happy to be presenting at the SZalon, and honoring his Dad, Howie, Who began his life 2 blocks away at 16th and Pine in 1944.

Links:
https://musicstartsfromsilence.bandcamp.com/
https://tamikaze.art/
https://ekduo.com
https://www.instagram.com/tamikaze.art/

Video:

Sugarlift (Adrian Wood and Steph Roach)

Richmond, Virginia based experimental ambient project Sugarlift has shared stages with George Lewis, Claire Rousay, Cindy Lee, Christopher DeLaurenti, Zomes and more. Steph Roach has played keyboards with numerous acts including McKinley Dixon's 2025 international tour. She is based in Richmond, VA. 

Links:

Adrian Wood: adrianwoodstudio.com
Steph Roach: @srkeys_
Venmo: @adrianwoodstudio

Michael A. Firman

Michael A. Firman has studied the shakuhachi and its music since 1990. Starting in 1993 he began formal studies with several private teachers (which is the traditional method of learning the instrument). His interests in the flute vary greatly, although he focuses on traditional Japanese music. Michael enjoys playing Minyo (folk pieces), Sankyoku (older chamber music), Shinkyoku (more modern chamber music), and particularly Honkyoku (the music of the Buddhist tradition). Michael has also composed and performed music for solo shakuhachi with electronics. On April 25th in 2015, Michael attained the rank of Shihan (which, in the traditional hierarchy, is a teacher’s certificate). This was awarded to him by his teacher, Michael Chikuzen Gould. Michael performs with a Koto ensemble (The Chicago Koto Group). He teaches, lectures, and performs (both as a soloist and in the traditional chamber ensemble) on a regular basis.