NIGHTBIRDS IS AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION OF THE WORK OF REVOLUTIONARY twentieTH-CENTURY COMPOSER OLIVER MESSIAEN CENTERED ON HIS ECSTATIC SONG CYCLE POEMeS POUR MI. THIS NEW WORK WILL BE DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH A TALENTED GROUP OF PERFORMERS AND ARTISTS DURING A RESIDENCY AT THE ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS Fund POCANTICO CENTER IN MARCH 2020.

We look forward to sharing nightbirds with all of you. Stay tuned for information on open rehearsals at the pocantico center and a work in process showing in new york city in May. 

Rebecca Anderson (Violinist) has appeared worldwide as a recitalist and chamber musician. Known for her “incisive musicality” (The Oregonian), recent appearances include chamber music performances at Carnegie Hall and tours across Europe, Asia, and South America.

Ms. Anderson’s passion for chamber music has led to festival appearances with Music@Menlo, Chamber Music Northwest, Lake Champlain Chamber Music Festival, the Savannah Music Festival, and Music From Angel Fire. She has performed on concerts presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, as well as appearances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and Library of Congress.

Ms. Anderson was a first prize winner at the 2013 American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition. Other awards include the bronze medal and Bach Award at the Stulberg International String Competition, as well as the youngARTS Gold Award, which led to being named a Presidential Scholar in both the Arts and Academics.

Ms. Anderson is founding co-director of VOTESart, an organization that uses music to promote voter registration and civic engagement across the country. Originally from Portland, Oregon, she is an alumna of the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and Ensemble Connect (formerly Ensemble ACJW).

Jesse Barnett (Dancer) was born and raised in Yorktown, Virginia and grew up training in multiple forms of dance throughout the Tidewater area. Jesse moved to NYC in 2013 to attend Marymount Manhattan College, where he attained his BFA in Dance. While at MMC, he performed works by Doug Verone, May O’Donnell, Murray Louis, David Parker, Larry Keigwin, and Robert Battle. He has since performed with Becky Radway Dance Projects, caitlin+dancers, and Peridance Contemporary Dance Company (apprentice). In addition, Jesse is a Kane School certified Pilates instructor.

Sara Ciampa (Dancer) is a New York City based performer, teacher and choreographer.  She received her BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography from Kent State University.  Sara has been a company member of Amanda Hameline Dance since 2014.  Sara’s most recently choreographed a new work with Abby Price for Dance+ Vol 1: Crying and also appeared as Leila is the Amanda + James  production Lazer Eyes at National Sawdust. She has worked with artist such as, Rachel Hettinger, Lilleth Glimcher, Dream Tiger Productions, Leanne Schmidt, Leslie Guyton, and Barbie Diewald. She recently performed in Miami RAW and other venues such as Raw Artists Queens, Peridance, Koresh Dance, Triskelion Arts, 92y, and Arts On Site.  Sara has been on faculty with MA Dance as a choreographer, educator and judge since 2006.  In addition to performing, Sara is a trainer at Body by Simone and a certified Pilates Teacher.

Raised in Orlando, Florida A’Lexus Crooms (Dancer) received her B.F.A in Dance at Troy University where she had the opportunity to be a featured dancer in a repertory work “Where the wolves came in” by Kyle Abraham as well as a featured dancer in “Flight” by Takehiro Ueyama. During these years A’Lexus also trained with Alvin Ailey American Dance theater summer intensive, D.A.P Festival in Pieatrsanta Italy, Dance Theatre of Harlem summer intensive, Inlet dance theatre, and The School at Jacob’s Pillow. A’Lexus currently lives in NYC and has worked with various dance collectives including Pavement dance, Antonio Brown Dance, Renegade Performance group, and Bennyroyce Dance.

A+J Founding Director James Danner (Tenor) is a graduate of the Harvard College-New England Conservatory dual degree program, where he received a BA in History and Literature and an MM in Vocal Performance, and is currently pursuing a Professional Studies Diploma in Voice from the Mannes School of Music.

A boy soloist and chorus member at the Metropolitan Opera for ten seasons, he has sung as a soloist numerous times at Carnegie Hall, with the Boston Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra and the New York City Ballet among others. Upcoming performances include the role of “Ovido” in Monteverdi’s La Dafne with Mannes Opera and a Residency at the Rockefeller Brothers’ Fund Pocantico Center to develop a new work, NightBirds, centered around the work of Olivier Messiaen. As a director he has presented his work at venues such as  the Loeb Experimental Theater at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge; at the Bas Fisher Invitational in Miami, Florida, and at Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn. As a producer, he has worked to grow A+J into a company operating in a wide array of media, supporting the work of over 150 individual artists.

Robert Dowling (Costume Designer) is an artist and performer living in New York. He is interested in the combination of costuming, decorative arts, fashion, makeup, recycled materials, jokes, and social media as methods of examining his relationship to gender presentation, mental illness, and imitations of confidence as a form of healing. Robert is a graduate of Northwestern University’s School of Communication where he received a degree in Theatre and a certificate in Music Theatre. You can see his work on Instagram: @robertdowling.

A versatile performer devoted to both opera and song, soprano Bridget Haile (Soprano) is currenlty based in New York City after completing  2014-2015 fellowship from the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund for Musicians in Berlin. She regularly performs in recital with Amanda + James, and recently took on the title role in a new production of Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children.  Bridget was also a featured artist with Festival Daniou, a contemporary chamber music festival in Brittany, and has collaborated with composers Matt Marks, John Harbison, and Matt Aucoin. Previous operatic roles include Lisetta (La gazzetta), Drusilla (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Lucy (The Telephone) and Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance). Bridget is a graduate of Harvard University and the New England Conservatory.

A+J Founding Director Amanda Hameline (Choreographer) is a Brooklyn-based choreographer and dancer currently pursuing an MFA in Dance at Sarah Lawrence College. She employs movement, text, sound, and video, to construct energetic, absurd work that relates the hyper-personal to commonly shared experiences. She is deeply interested in the thin line between humor an tragedy, and how to reveal the strange an unexpected ways in which tacit rules dictate how we function in society. Her work has been presented at venues across New York City including National Sawdust, Pace Gallery, CPR – Center for Performance Research, Christie’s New York, Triskelion Arts, Dixon Place, and more. Amanda graduated from Harvard University in 2012 with a B.A. in American History and Literature, and much of her work is informed by her interest and background in historical research.

Anna Hull (Dancer, Rehearsal Director) is a New York City based dance and movement artist. She graduated as a Bella Lewitsky award winner from Idyllwild Arts Academy in 2014, and received her BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts in 2017. Anna has trained with Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The American Dance Festival, Ate9 Dance Company, and at the Gaga Intensive in Tel Aviv, Israel. She has performed works by Danielle Agami, LeeSaar, Kyle Abraham, Alex Ketley, and Deborah Wolf. In 2017, under the direction of Amanda Hameline, she began collaborating and performing with the production company, Amanda + James, on the full-length electronic dance opera, ‘Lazer Eyes’. Today, Anna continues her work as a dance artist for Amanda + James, and in addition she enjoys dancing in various freelance projects and creating her own movement based studies.

The American pianist Matthew Odell (Pianist) has won acclaim for performances of a wide range of repertoire as a solo recitalist, soloist with orchestra, and chamber musician.  He has been hailed as “excellent” by the New York Times and “brilliant . . . playing with total commitment and real abandon” by Gramophone.  His performances have taken him to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Deeply committed to strengthening the ties between today’s composers and audiences, Mr. Odell frequently premieres works written for him and has worked with many prominent composers, including Pierre Boulez, John Corigliano, Ned Rorem, Mark Adamo, Michel Merlet, and Robert Aldridge.  He has performed the complete piano music of Messiaen, Boulez, Carter, Michel Merlet, and John Adams, and in 2019 released his debut album Connections: The Music of Messiaen and his Students on Albany Records.  Mr. Odell teaches at The Juilliard School, where he received his doctoral degree.  For more information please visit www.matthewodell.com.

Michael Parmelee (Dancer) (b. 1989, Michigan) is a dance artist based in Brooklyn. He has performed with Amanda + James in their original production LAZER EYES (2019) and with Ishmael Houston-Jones, Chris Cochrane, and Dennis Cooper in the 2018 revival of THEM (1986). His work has been presented at DanceSpace Project, JACK, Dixon Place, WestFest Dance Festival, and Midwest Regional Alternative Dance Festival. He received an MFA, Dance Choreography from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor). Michael is currently setting commissioned choreography on youth dancers at WR: Arts (Williamsburg) and building new choreographies for summer and fall 2020.

Tara Sheena (Dancer) is a dancer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. As a performer, she has collaborated on recent projects with Catherine Galasso, Ivy Baldwin. Gillian Walsh, Leyya Tawil, Nadia Tykulsker, Ursula Eagly, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, stormy budwig, and Faye Driscoll for the forthcoming film, Shirley. Her latest writing, Capital-D Dance, is a chapbook collaboration with artist Katie Dean, which you can purchase on Etsy! She was born in Detroit and graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Dance and BA in English in 2011.

NightBirds is made possible with support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.