from the middle of the world...Quito-Ecuador

Highplanes is:

Matt Berry (vox, guitar)
Nate Lindsey (guitar, vox)
Emily Johnson (guitar, vox)
Matt Stromquist (bass, keys, mandolin, vox)
Larry Wichman (drums)

The New Fela - WBAI
Afrobeat + Punkrock = Awesome - Afropunk
The Clash from the Islands - Yours Truly
A beautiful caravan of music - The Greene Space

Michael Hall has performed and taught across Europe, Asia and the United States. Described by the New Music Connoisseur as “utterly masterful,” and Chamber Music Today as having “superb technique,” he recently made his Chicago Orchestra Hall solo debut and concluded a recital tour to Vienna, Austria and Udine and Tolmezzo, Italy. Hall has been a featured performer at the Thailand International Composition Festival in Bangkok, the Positano Chamber Music Festival in Italy, the Vianden International Chamber Music Festival in Luxembourg and the Composer’s Concordance Series in New York City. 

Twice he has presented world premieres at International Viola Congresses at Minneapolis and Reykjavik, Iceland, performed at the 2014 Primrose International Festival in Los Angeles, and presented to critical acclaim the North American premiere of Chen Yi’s, Xian Shi, the first viola concerto written by a Chinese composer, with the Chicago Composers Orchestra, and earlier with the Chiang Mai Philharmonic in Thailand. 

Upcoming performances include the inaugural Ear Taxi Festival in Chicago, 2016 New Music Gathering, Bandung String Festival in Indonesia, Northwest Symphony, 2016 UMKC Summer Composition Workshop, 2016 Thailand Int. Composition Festival in Bangkok. 

Additional works written for Hall by renowned composers include Jim Mobberley, Mara Gibson, Narong Prangcharoen, Eric Moe, Mary Kouyoumdjian, Adam Greene, Matthew Burtner, Marta Ptaszynska, Yu Pengfei, Christian Ellenwood, Seth Boustead, Michelle McQuade Dewhirst, Eric Malmquist and David Kirtley. 

Composers currently writing for Michael Hall include Katherine Bergman, Amy Williams, Rob Deemer and Ilya Levinson. 

Michael loves hiking in the Grand Tetons and Wind River Ranges, chocolate ice cream, great literature, collaborating with friends and working with students in outreach settings in underfunded schools on Chicago's South Side. 

Leah Shoshanah (aka Leah Soul) is an indie-rock songwriter and bandleader that blends funk, disco, soul and rock genres.

Son Monarcas is a Latin Folk Fusion ensemble led by Mercedes Inez Martinez and Irekani Ferreyra. Like that of the Monarch Butterfly, they take you on a musical migration from the USA to Latin America by fusing indie soul with traditional son & cumbia. Son Monarcas is comprised of musicians who are well-versed in the Afro-Mestizo genres of folk music from Latin America and blend the traditional with the contemporary by creating original arrangements of "son" while retaining the foundation of the traditional style. Their original compositions include influences of Cumbia, Samba, Jazz and Experimental music in English and Spanish.

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