Musical Artists & Performers

We thanks these professionals for donating their time and talent because they believe in the mission of Welcoming the Stranger, just like you do. We can’t wait to share their impressive performances with you; after all, music is food for the soul, and sharing music helps unite the world.

Head back to the Landing Page to see the full concert details!

The Villalobos Brothers

The Villalobos Brothers, one of today’s leading contemporary Mexican ensembles, fuse the richness of Mexican folk music with the intricate harmonies of jazz and classical music in original compositions and arrangements. The ensemble’s virtuosic performances have delighted audiences throughout Latin America, India, Russia, Canada and in more than 30 states across the US.

They have performed in historic venues and at events including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Latin Grammy Awards, Montreal Jazz Festival, the 60th Anniversary of the United Nations, the Blue Note Jazz Festival and the Apollo Theatre. The Villalobos Brothers recently premiered their Symphonic Project, performing sold-out concerts with both the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the Walla Walla Symphony. The ensemble has collaborated with legendary musicians including Grammy winners Bruce Springsteen, Dolly Parton, Antonio Sánchez, Regina Carter, Eduardo Magallanes, Dan Zanes, Sierra Hull, Ana Tijoux, and Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra. The Villalobos Brothers are actively touring the United States, delivering a powerful message of love, brotherhood and social justice with brilliance, cadence and virtuosity.

Taikoza

Taikoza is led by Marco Lienhard, a master of the shakuhachi and fue flutes and taiko drums. Marco toured as a taiko drummer with the Japanese drumming troupe Ondekoza for 18 years prior to founding Taikoza in New York in 1995. Taikoza has toured the US, Japan, Mexico, and Europe, with appearances at some of the world’s most prestigious venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, Osaka Castle Hall, Hong Kong Cultural Center and Suntory Hall in Tokyo.

Lienhard has contributed music to films and appeared on TV shows including the PBS special A World of Performances (the 20th Anniversary Gala of Wolf Trap). He regularly teaches and performs in Japan, South America, the USA, and Russia. His best-selling albums include the award nominated Taikoza, as well as Travelers's Song, the classical music collection Rêverie, Taikoza: Voice of the Earth, and Tree Spirit. Lienhard also performs with the East Winds Ensemble.

Ling Tang

Ling Tang is a New York City based dancer, educator, and consultant. She arrived in the United States in 2002 after fifteen years of traditional Chinese dance training and continued her dance education here, adding contemporary dance to her accomplishments. Ling has performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Harman Center for the Arts, Smithsonian Institutes, among other venues and festivals. She is a 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Folk/Traditional Arts. As an educator, Ling currently teaches through Young Audiences New York and Flushing Council on Culture & Arts. She choreographed for Obama-Biden's Inaugural Parade in 2013 and Drama League produced play F.O.B (David Henry Hwang) in 2018.

As an arts manager and consultant, Ling has been a program officer at the Asian Cultural Council and consulted on various cultural exchange projects for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and National Dance Institute, among others. Ling holds an M.A. in arts administration from Columbia University, a B.A. in dance and intercultural performing arts from the University of Maryland-College Park, and a teaching artist certificate from Teachers College Columbia University. Her research papers have appeared in Dance/USA Journal and Dancer Magazine.

Slavic Soul Party

Fiery Balkan brass, throbbing funk grooves, Roma (Gypsy) accordion wizardry, and virtuoso jazz chops make Slavic Soul Party! NYC’s official #1 brass band for BalkanSoul GypsyFunk. Over the past 15 years the band has toured in the US, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Turkey, and Zimbabwe, from pasha’s palaces to dive bars, Carnegie Hall to Serbian schoolyards, festival stages to prison courtyards. Lauded by The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, TimeOut NY, Rolling Stone (to name a few), the band’s tunes have been covered by Serbian brass stars, New Orleans funk stalwarts, and legendary street bands.

It’s Tuesday night residency in Brooklyn has become a destination for music fans from around the world. Among its seven rousing albums is the 2016 release Slavic Soul Party! Plays Duke Ellington’s Far East Suite. The Wall St Journal’s critic wrote that “parts of SSP!’s reinterpretation sounds like a Bulgarian wedding, others like a gypsy jazz funeral in New Orleans. And yet… it all sounds like Duke Ellington.”

Nicolas Carter

Internationally acclaimed harpist Nicolas Carter is a bilingual, bicultural musician and theatre artist, raised in Paraguay and Minnesota, USA. He has been performing and composing harp music for more than 25 years, focusing on an original repertoire that blends Latin American music with influences of world contemporary music. Nicolas has recorded over a dozen albums in United States, Europe, and South America as a solo artist and with Latin American and world music ensembles.

Nicolas began taking lessons on the harp (the national folk instrument of Paraguay) with maestro Isidro Caballero at the age of ten. He started his career as a musician in the United States at the University of Minnesota where he completed his undergraduate degree. A Fulbright scholar, he also holds an MFA degree in theatre. As an educator, he has created presentations, workshops, and residencies for students grades K-12; directed plays for young students, and taught theatre directing, acting, clowning, stage combat, puppetry, and more to adults.

Salaam

Salaam has delighted audiences for years with its expansive mix of traditional and original Middle Eastern music. Exquisitely rendered melodies are woven with stories and musings, taking the listener on a musical journey. Their sound, while deeply rooted in maqam and entrancing Middle Eastern rhythms, is infused with the band's fresh and innovative interpretations. They have performed throughout the US, recorded seven albums, and have been interviewed and fetured on NPR's All Things Considered.

Salaam, whose name means Peace, is a musical ambassador for peaceful coexistence.