MICHAEL HEARST is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and writer. His most recent project is a four-part book series, each book geared toward a grand theme: Unusual Creatures, Extraordinary People, Curious Constructions, and Unconventional Vehicles. Each book includes a companion album, and Unusual Creatures was also made into a PBS Digital series, hosted by Hearst.
His previous album, Songs For Ice Cream Trucks, has been used by at least 50 ice cream trucks around the world. Hearst has also composed soundtracks for the movies To Be Takei, Magic Camp, The House Of Suh, and The Good Mother among others. Michael Hearst is a cofounder of the band One Ring Zero, which has released numerous albums. Hearst has performed and given lectures and workshops at universities, museums, and cultural centers around the world. He has toured with The Magnetic Fields, performed with The Kronos Quartet at Carnegie Hall, and has appeared on such shows as NPR's Fresh Air, A+E's Breakfast With The Arts, and NBC's The Today Show.
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ALLYSSA LAMB (keyboard and vocals) is also the singer and arranger for the group Las Rubias del Norte, which has released three albums and plays regularly in New York and throughout North America and Europe. She has performed with Dan Zanes and Friends, the New Music Ensemble, the New York Choral Society, and she has composed and performed music for the Holderness Theater Company. Allyssa also arranges for and sings with the Occupy Wall Street Ladies Choir. She enjoys conjuring up strange animals in Michael Hearst's Songs for Unusual Creatures, and singing about pastries for One Ring Zero's The Recipe Project. In her spare time, Allyssa teaches her kids to sing showtunes and plant sunflower houses. |
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SASKIA LANE (bass) is a Juilliard-trained bassist, composer, performer and educator, whose work spans many genres. Currently, Saskia is composing a new opera for babies, NOOMA, commissioned by and premiering at Carnegie Hall this spring. The Brooklyn-based artist has been touring her show, Birdheart, co-created with director/designer Julian Crouch, and had the honor of performing the piece for the Dalai Lama last year. This summer she will perform in the Salzburg Festival’s celebrated annual production of Jedermann, her seventh appearance there. Since 2010, Saskia has been a member of the noted theater company, Checkov at Lake Lucille, as performer and composer, which just released the feature film I Am A Seagull. A classically-trained musician with a strong grounding in jazz, Saskia toured for 6 years with Dan Zanes and Friends and has appeared with artists as diverse as Jay-Z and Beyonce, Marc Ribot and the Kronos Quartet. |
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BEN HOLMES is a trumpet player and composer based in Brooklyn, NY. His current projects are the Ben Holmes Quartet, Ben Holmes & Patrick Farrell, and Tarras Band. Born in Ithaca, NY, Holmes has lived in New York City since 2001. Displaying "the deft imagination that's mandatory for today's top brass" (Downbeat Magazine), Holmes enjoys music from many points in time and space, with special affinity for Jazz and traditional music from Eastern Europe. He also works as a sideman with the Banda de los Muertos, Ty Citerman's Bop Kabbalah, Romashka, Brooklyn Qawwali Party, Cynthia Hopkins, Justin Mullens' Delphian Jazz Orchestra, and, of course, Songs For Unusual Creatures. |
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DYLAN THURSTAN is a percussionist, pianist, and composer based in Brooklyn. He has played, toured, and recorded with bands and musicians including Daniel Hart, John Davis, Batterie-en-Valise, David Karsten Daniels. In addition to performing as an Unusual Creature, he is working on his Masters in Scoring for Film and Multimedia in the Steinhardt School at New York University. He recently finished his original score for the upcoming film A Dance in the Dark. You can follow his musical adventures and poker misadventures — it's never a dull moment! |
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