SFIAF – Slinky Proverb
May 4 @ 7:00 pm - 8:45 pm
Slinky Proverb
Karma Roulette Quartet
Slinky Proverb is the title of one of two new works by Michael Smolens that will be performed for the first time in California as part of this evening-long concert. Slinky Proverb combines West-African groove with blusey, contemporary jazz, and 20th-century classical-influenced melodies. The second new composition is titled Abakim. It is a chamber work that features the kalimba and progresses into a jazz waltz.
Featuring:
Composer/Arranger/Flute: Michael Smolens
Violins/Strings: Michèle Walther
Percussion: Michaelle Goerlitz, Brian Rice
Sunday, May 4th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm
Admission: Early Bird: $20 / Advance: $25 / Door: $28
Purchase tickets for this event here. For the best deals, see multiple shows with a discount Festival Pass.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Karma Roulette Quartet
The Karma Roulette Quartet is made up of four veteran multi-instrumentalists, composers, and bandleaders. The group features compositions by award-winning composer/arranger Michael Smolens, work by renowned Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti, musically-related poetry, and soundscapes created on the spot. Their sound includes nearly 30 different instruments and draws from the worlds of West Africa, Afro-Cuba, North India, Turkey, and Brazil — as well as jazz, funk, and classical styles. The violinist’s solo looping piece with voice and the two-percussion duet are audience favorites.
Michael Smolens
Michael has been composing, arranging, and performing for six decades. He has been commissioned by Meet The Composer, Fleishhacker & Bernard Osher Foundations, National Public Radio, Occidental Community Choir, UCSC Dance Department, and many vocalists, contemporary churches, and festivals. Michael has six CDs of original work and has performed or recorded instrumentally with Stefon Harris (vibes), Paul McCandless, Paul Hanson, Sheldon Brown (reeds), David Balakrishnan & Evan Price (jazz violin/viola), Steve Erquiaga (guitar), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Akira Tana & Alan Hall (drums), and Claudia Schmidt, Raz Kennedy & Rhiannon (voice); and as a vocalist with Pollyanna Bush, David Worm & Bryan Dyer (Bobby McFerrin collaborators). Follow his work on Facebook!
Michèle Walther
Violinist Michèle Walther is a performer, composer, arranger, and educator from Switzerland and San Francisco. Michèle has performed in venues throughout Europe and North America with Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, Gloria Estefan, Joe Lovano, Oscar Stagnaro (Paquito D’Rivera), John Cage, Basel Sinfonietta, Mark Feldman, LaMuseMent, and more. Recent performances include Resonance at SFJazz and Yoshi’s, and “A Living Tribute to Carla Bley” at SFJazz, where she was featured in “Birds of Paradise”. Ms. Walther earned her M.M. at the Conservatory of Music in Basel, Switzerland, and later graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, majoring in jazz violin performance.
Michaelle Goerlitz
Michaelle has been performing, touring, recording, and studying drums & percussion since 1970, exploring Brazilian, Afro Cuban, Venezuelan, Peruvian, and Middle Eastern rhythms (plus American idioms jazz, R&B, and funk). She was a founding member of two renowned & long-term projects, the Blazing Redheads and Wild Mango. Both groups blended many different styles, which showcased Michaelle’s versatile percussive skills. She has collaborated with artists that encompass a huge range of styles: Latin jazz, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Afro-Peruvian, Broadway, singer-songwriter, and New Music. They include Mark Levine, Wayne Wallace, Houston Pearson, Denise Perrier, and Joan Jeanrenaud, to name but a few.
Brian Rice
Brian is a freelance percussionist. He currently performs with Tres Baia (which he founded), Cascada de Flores, Danilo Brito, Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso, Wake the Dead, The Berkeley Choro Ensemble, Samba Rio, Mariah Parker Indo-Latin Ensemble, and Orchestrating Excellence. Brian’s classical music background and expertise on a vast array of hand drums came into play when he performed in over seventy shows of “The Lion King”, the Santa Rosa Symphony’s rendition of the silent film “Metropolis”, and John Luther Adams’ “Inuksuit”. Brian has a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.
PREVIEW THE ARTISTS:
SAN FRANSISCO INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL (SFIAF):
SFIAF celebrates the arts by bringing together a global community of artists and audiences. SFIAF presents innovative projects that focus on increasing awareness and understanding within and across cultures. Their core values are based on principles of cultural and economic equity and coordinating the shared resources of multiple organizations in order to reach mutually beneficial goals.
SFIAF presents the work of innovative artists from the Bay Area and around the world; many of the international artists make their US debut at the Festival. From 2003-23, SFIAF and more than 100 presenting partners have coordinated, presented, and/or produced performances by over 600 arts ensembles from California and 60 other countries, and presented hundreds of educational and community engagement activities with diverse communities.
In addition to working with larger institutions, SFIAF places a high priority on the participation of culturally diverse and smaller entities—in particular, communities whose histories have been marginalized or left out of the prevailing American narrative. Activating and supporting relationships between such organizations and artists is a key component of SFIAF.
Sunday, May 4th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm – 8:45 pm
Admission: Early Bird: $20 / Advance: $25 / Door: $28
Note: A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door unless otherwise noted on the Facebook event page that the show is SOLD OUT.
Purchase tickets for this event here. For the best deals, see multiple shows with a discount Festival Pass.
Note: Purchasing an advance ticket guarantees admission but does not guarantee a seat. Seating is first come, first served.
RSVP to the Facebook event:
