JULIE LYONN LIEBERMAN
MICHAEL A. LEVINE
TRACY SILVERMAN
SKYE STEELE
DUANE PADILLA
JULIE LYONN LIEBERMAN
Julie has been on the Eclectic Styles Committee for American String Teachers Association four times. She is the author of twelve music books and a memoir titled The Roaring Brook Fiddler as well as five DVDS.
Her newest three music books, A Festival of Violin & Fiddle Styles for VIOLIN, VIOLA and CELLO (Hal Leonard) include 24 American and world styles, backing tracks, and video tutorials that cover styles from around the world.
Her other titles include Twelve-Key Practice: The Path to Mastery and Individuality, The Creative Band and Orchestra, The Contemporary Violinist, How to Play Contemporary Strings: A Step-by-Step Approach for Violin, Viola, and Cello, Improvising Violin, Rockin’ Out With Blues Fiddle, You Are Your Instrument, Planet Musician, and Alternative Strings: The New Curriculum. She authored the “Creative Musicianship” section of the American String Teachers’ curriculum book, Standards, Goals, and Learning Sequences for Essential Skills and Knowledge in K-12 String Programs.
Julie has also written over fifty magazine articles for publications such as STRAD Magazine, STRINGS Magazine, Fiddler Magazine, and the American String Teachers Association’s Journal.
Her DVD titles include Alternative String Styles in the Classroom (written and produced for ASTA: American String Teachers Association and NAMM: National Association of Music Merchants); Rhythmizing the Bow; Techniques for the Contemporary String Player; The Violin in Motion; Violin and Viola Ergonomics; and Vocal Aerobics.
Julie Lyonn Lieberman was one of the first educators invited by Juilliard to teach improvisation to their students in the L&M Department as well as world music in the MAP Program. She has been on faculty at Juilliard, The New School for Contemporary Music, William Patterson College jazz department and Manhattan School of Music, to name a few.
A dynamic, participatory workshop leader, her ability to stimulate participants to think and grow in new ways has earned respect for her work throughout the world through organizations and institutions like American String Teachers Association, The Starling-Delay Symposium at Juilliard, European String Teachers Association, National Orchestra Festival, Music Educators Association, International Association of Jazz Educators, Suzuki Institute, National String Workshop, International String Workshop, Django in June, The Juilliard MAP Program, National Young Audiences, the Carnegie Hall LinkUp Program and The Academy (a Carnegie/Weill Hall/Juilliard-sponsored program).
Julie has also created seven hours of programming for National Public Radio on jazz violin (The Talking Violin hosted by Dr. Billy Taylor, and Jazz Profiles: Jazz Violin hosted by Nancy Wilson).
In addition, Ms. Lieberman produced four American Jazz String Summits in the eighties and nineties featuring many of the top improvising string players in America, and co-produced three alternative string festivals within American String Teachers 2003, 2004, and 2005 conferences, serving as the chair for the 2004 component.
Julie is a D’Addario Elite Clinician and an NS Design performance artist. Her books and DVDs are distributed worldwide by Hal Leonard Publications and currently has a portfolio of over two-dozen string orchestra scores in American and world styles published by Kendor Music, Carl Fischer and Alfred Publications. Her original music is licensed by Cinephonix.
Julie is the recipient of the 2014 ASTA Kudos Award, over two-dozen ASCAP Plus Awards, and three American String Teachers Association’s National Citation for Leadership & Merit awards and was honored to be invited by ASTA’s Board to compose String Dreams for the opening ceremony at the 2015 American String Teachers Association’s Salt Lake City Conference. The score has been published and is now available through Carl Fischer Music.
How to Play Contemporary Strings: A Step-by-Step Approach for Violin, Viola & Cello from Julie Lyonn Music on Vimeo.
Composer, songwriter, and violinist Michael A. Levine is an 8-time ASCAP award recipient for work ranging from the Jerry Bruckheimer/CBS dramas Cold Case and Close to Home, to the George Lucas-produced Star Wars Detours animated Star Wars parody. His theme song for the award-winning documentary, Landfill Harmonic, was Oscar-shortlisted, as was his song Running with legendary vocalist Roberta Flack for the feature documentary 3100: Run and Become. His theme song for Resident Evil VII Biohazard became a viral hit as was his production of Lorde‘s version of Everybody Wants to Rule the World. Michael also composed the theme for Scrat, the sabertooth squirrel featured in the Ice Age shorts. Levine provided additional music and violin on a number of Hans Zimmer scores, including Dunkirk, The Simpsons Movie, Batman: The Dark Knight, Megamind, and Rango. Michael’s choir arrangement of Spider Pig was conducted by Hans Zimmer at the Hollywood Bowl in 2015. Levine’s concert music includes Anthem, performed by piano virtuoso Lang Lang and, Double Crossings, an album of duets with percussionist great Evelyn Glennie on mallets and Michael on electric violin. Glennie and Levine performed together at the Wembley Arena in London. Michael also wrote book, music, and lyrics for Orpheus Electronica, the world’s first EDM opera, directed by Philip William McKinley. Michael began his career in advertising where he composed the classic KitKat candy bar “Gimme a Break” jingle. Levine is a former Governor of the Television Academy (Emmys) Music peer group.
Selected Credits
Television The Lost Pirate Kingdom (2021) Netflix Siren (2018) FreeForm City 40 (2016) Documentary Netflix Star Wars: Detours George Lucas (completed) The Makeover (2013) TV Movie ABC Outsourced (2010-2011) Theme/ NBC Cold Case (2003-2010) Jerry Bruckheimer/ CBS Close To Home (2005-2007) Jerry Bruckheimer/ CBS Drew Carey’s Green Screen Show (2004) Drew Carey/ WB
Film aTypical Wednesday (2020) Gather (2020) M.A.D. (2019) 3100: Run and Become (2018) Lego DC Supergirls – Brain Drain (2017) Served Like A Girl (2017) Could Hitler Happen Here? (2017) Landfill Harmonic (2016) French Kiss (2015) Fugly (2014) Surviving Sid (2008) Columbus Day (2008) Adrift In Manhattan (2007) Family Tree (2003) Gone Nutty/Scrat’s Missing Adventure (2002) Additional Music The Politician (2020), Carnival Row (2020), The Son (2018); American Horror Story
TRACY SILVERMAN
Redefining the role of the violin in contemporary music, Tracy Silverman has contributed significantly to the repertoire and development of the 6-string electric violin and what he calls “post-classical violin playing.”
Lauded by BBC Radio as “the greatest living exponent of the electric violin”, Silverman’s groundbreaking work defies musical boundaries. Formerly first violinist with the innovative Turtle Island String Quartet, Silverman was named one of 100 distinguished alumni by The Juilliard School. A concert electric violinist, Silverman is the subject of several electric violin concertos composed specifically for him by Pulitzer winner John Adams, “Father of Minimalism” Terry Riley, Nico Muhly and Kenji Bunch, as well as the composer of 3 electric violin concertos of his own. He has performed as a soloist with the world’s finest orchestras at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, London’s Royal Albert Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, Adelaide’s Festival Theatre, Sao Paulo’s Auditorio Ibirapuera, The Hollywood Bowl and Vienna’s Musikverein among many others.
A true eclectic, Silverman has recorded with the BBC, Nashville and Detroit Symphonies, contemporary music’s Terry Riley, The Calder Quartet and The Paul Dresher Ensemble, jazz legend Billy Taylor, rock band Guster and country superstars Big & Rich.
TV/internet and radio includes a solo Tiny Desk Concert on NPR, Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday, A Prairie Home Companion and a profile on CBS News Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood.
Mark Swed of the LA Times enthused, “Inspiring. Silverman is in a class of his own.” The Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein raved, “Blazing virtuosity. You will be astonished that anybody can play a fiddle like that” and Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, wrote, “Fleet agility and tangy expressivity with wailing hints of Jimi Hendrix.”
A long-standing advocate for music education, Silverman’s instructional book, The Strum Bowing Method: How to Groove on Strings is a seminal treatise on the subject of post-classical string technique. He is an in-demand clinician and on the string faculty at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. www.TracySilverman.com
SKYE STEELE
Puerto Rican-American violinist, songwriter, and educator Skye Steele has gone from busking in the NYC subways as a teenager, to playing concert stages around the world. He has released four albums of original music and toured as a solo artist throughout the US and Europe, as well as working as musical director and multi-instrumentalist for platinum-selling singer songwriter Vanessa Carlton for over a decade. As an improvising violinist Skye has had the chance to work with jazz legends like Henry Butler, Anthony Braxton, Steven Bernstein, Matt Wilson, and Lee Konitz, and with country and rock artists including Willie Nelson, Jolie Holland, and Deer Tick. And he has delved deeply into string-playing traditions from Turkey to Brazil, learning from masters like Mestre Salustiano, Seu Luiz Paixao, Najib Shaheen, and Selim Sesler.
Teaching has been a passion throughout Skye’s life, informed by his mother’s work as a bilingual public school and Suzuki violin teacher. Whether introducing children to the violin in NYC public schools, working with music teachers decades his senior, or with adult musicians living in incarceration, Skye puts musical adventure, joy, and connection to inner-life at the center of his teaching.
In 2017, Skye created A People’s History of Strings as a way to help young players and the general public have a more historicized and de-colonized encounter with his favorite instrument. Drawing on his travels, family history, and historical research, A People’s History of Strings is a narrative concert and playable curriculum that provides a framework for culturally sustaining pedagogy in relation to the violin, while revealing and countervailing the eurocentrism and white-supremacy baked into so much conventional string pedagogy.
DUANE PADILLA
After earning degrees from Northwestern and Yale University, Duane began his teaching career as director of the Suzuki programs at the Tabor Community Arts Center and the Bethwood Suzuki School. He currently teaches violin, viola, and eclectic styles at Punahou Music School and Chaminade University. He is also working with the Queen Lili’uokalani Trust Foundation to develop a musical outreach program for the most vulnerable Native Hawaiian children and their ‘ohana. A highly regarded guest clinician, he has taught workshops worldwide for Hawaii Youth Symphony, Manila Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Music Educations Association, University of Chichester, Brentwood School, Oshkosh School District, Lake Washington School District, Wintergrass Festival, and Fiddle Hell. After serving as Hawaii’s state ASTA chapter president, he served on the ASTA National Board as chair of the Eclectic Styles Committee and as Member-At-Large.
An equally accomplished performer, he was member of the New Haven Symphony and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra. His chamber ensemble The Gemini Duo was a semi-finalist in the Concert Artists Guild Competition. His swing band The Hot Club of Hulaville’s album “Django would Go” won Hawaii Academy of Recording Arts’ (HARA) Jazz Album of the Year Award. His subsequent album “Sentimental Swing” was named a top 40 jazz release of 2011 by the South African Jazz Educators Association. Recent concert collaborations include performances with pianist Tommy James (Music Director, Ellington Orchestra), and ukulele superstar Jake Shimabukuro. His current ensemble Mana Music Quartet recently won HARA’s Instrumental Album of the Year Award for their album “Queen Lili’uokalani.”
