ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE | FOR PRESENTERS
This page is designed to provide quick links to arts presenters.
For the main Ljova and the Kontraband page, click here.
Please feel free to contact us with any requests or questions.
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about the ensemble – an introduction | [PDF] [DOC] |
individual member bios | [PDF] [DOC] |
tech rider | [PDF] [DOC] |
stage plot | [PDF] [DOC] |
residency activities | [PDF] [DOC] |
performance history | [PDF] [DOC] |
collaborators | [PDF] [DOC] |
hospitality requests | [PDF] [DOC] |
High-resolution still photographs: | |
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photo credit to Allan Tannenbaum |
Photos from performances: | |
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photo credit to Marian Carrasquero / NPR
photo credit to Simon C.F. Yu |
Ljova and the Kontraband YouTube playlist
Ljova and the Kontraband NPR Tiny Desk Concert
Bagel on the Malecón (Live)
Mnemosyne (music video)
Ljova and the Kontraband EPK (with a foreword from Osvaldo Golijov)
Press & Radio highlights
Profile of Ljova and the Kontraband on National Public Radio site by Anastasia Tsioulcas | [visit NPR page] |
Review of a performance at Joe’s Pub, by Justin Davidson (New York Newsday) | [PDF] |
Photograph in the New York Times Arts & Leisure section | [PDF] |
Live performance on WNYC Soundcheck | [listen to the broadcast] |
Live performance on WFMU Transpacific Sound Paradise | [listen to the broadcast] |
Reviews of “Mnemosyne”, debut CD by Ljova and the Kontraband
Listen to the entire album at Bandcamp
“…original compositions, evoking rustic dances and cinematic vistas by turns. [Ljova’s] swinging Kontraband gets a real workout on its newly issued debut CD…”
–Steve Smith, Time Out New York
“Terrific blend of styles into something very distinct, very reflective of a lively personality…. I very much like the way the old and modern intersect in these pieces, not as a conscious blending so much as an organic, individualistic tangent, so to speak. I really like the informality of it all, the excitement of a cast of creative musicians playing with and off of each other.”
–Steve Hochman, of Spinner.com “Around the World”
“The music is hard to categorize; you wouldn’t call it classical, but it has classical elements (or soundtrack-like elements, for several pieces here are drawn from film soundtracks)… Perhaps the best way to imagine the music is to think about what Astor Piazzolla would have done if he had come from Eastern Europe. The title “Mnemosyne” refers to the feminine embodiment of memory in Greek mythology, and the album seems to set itself the task of weaving slender threads of musical memory — tango, klezmer, polka, salon music, film music, chamber music, gypsy music, and jazz — into a structure rigorous enough to hold them all. It succeeds, and it’s lovely. ”
–James Manheim, All Music Guide
Featured on WNYC’s New Sounds, Evening Music, KDVS’s Crossing Continents and other radio programs.
Blog reviews: George Robinson of the Jewish Week / Shirim Khadashim (Top 10 of 2008 releases), Lucid Culture (Top 10 of 2008 releases), Stranded in Stereo, The Armchair Critic, Collected Sounds (Best of 2009), Oliver di Place
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