Performing in the 2012 Green Show Tuesday, June 5 and Tuesday, September 4.
This is their first season in the OSF Green Show.
Percussion and electronic music trio fuses South American influences with electronica
Dear audience member: if you want to know whether you should be coming to this show without having to read all the gab people usually write to describe what they do, I’ll do you a favor and cut to the chase. Imagine a well executed and inviting cello melody. The bow slides with elegance across the string, describing a shape in between melodic and rhythmic. Next you hear a percussive groove. You can barely make out what instrument it is. You are so intrigued that you stop what you are doing and sit in the grass. The person right next to you is all sweaty and smells but you don’t care, because all you can pay attention to is the sound coming from the stage. Next you hear an out-of-this-world, lush texture that fills the sonic space left unused by the cello and the rhythmic groove. The song breaks into some kind of frenzied musical zenith, and when it ends you clap, and you want more. This is Santo y Sena. If you want to read more, keep going.
Santo y Sena is a violoncello, percussion and electronic music trio from Ashland, Oregon. Members Michal Palzewicz, Jake Phelpsand Federico Behncke fuse cello music and percussion instruments of different periods and cultures to create lively and entertaining music performance events. What triggers and sets forward the composition process of this trio is the sphere of music performance where old technology and new technology can exist together, enhancing each other and creating a tasty mix of rhythmic elements. The trio favors orchestrating their pieces with a mix of agogos, guiros, cabasas and shakers together with computers, synths and electronic drumming, all of it underlined with beautiful violoncello music. Out of this eclectic mix emerges a rather visually and aurally engaging performance highly suited for a varied demographic of listeners.
Federico Behncke is a composer and electronic music performer originally from Mendoza, Argentina. His body of work includes choral, voice, chamber, and instrumental music, incidental scores for ballet, scores for movie shorts, and sound design/original music for theater. Federico studied orchestra conducting with maestro David del Pino Klinge, and composition with Todd Barton and Erik Ulman. Federico also produces electronic music.
Jake Phelps is a virtuoso drummer and percussionist whose skills are sought after all over the Rogue Valley, Eugene and Portland Metro areas. Jake is a regular guest in Terry Longshore’s numerous percussive enterprises. Jake is at ease playing intricate avant-garde jazz, old-school jazz, funk, and world percussion music. Jake is also a dedicated drum teacher who educates a number of young and old performers in the Ashland area.
Michal Palzewicz is a member of Trine, a virtuosic world fusion band. He is also a founding member of the Elsner String Quartet, which performed in Europe and the United States including WQXR radio, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 92nd St. Y, and Merkin Concert Hall (NYC), among others. Michal has studied with David Soyer, Michael Tree, Amadeus Quartet, Pinchas Zuckerman, Hugh Maguire, and Peter Oundjian. Michal is a recipient of the prestigious Saunderson Award, 52nd Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition and a winner of the Young Concert Artists Auditions Leipzig.
Santo y Sena on Community: We love the people that enjoy our music!