Performances

— performances —

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Clay Man Soo has performed with the Guthrie Theater, Ten Thousand Things Theater, Children’s Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Theater Mu, Great River Shakespeare Festival, Pillsbury House + Theatre, Park Square Theatre, TigerLion Arts, Pangea World Theater, Playwright’s Center, among others. He currently teaches at Pillsbury House + Theatre, and has been an artist educator at Upstream Arts, Theater Mu, On Stage MN, History Theater, Park Square Theatre, Children’s Theatre Company. Clay is a baritone who plays the role of Kopo - a curious and questioning indigenous kid growing up in the forests of Central India in this folk opera.

Ritika Ganguly, Ph.D., is a St. Paul-based composer and anthropologist born and raised in New Delhi, India. She has trained in genres within Bengali music and contemporary Indian musical theater. She is committed to vocabulary-building of South Asian folk music in the Twin Cities. Ritika is a 2021 McKnight Composers Fellow, and her body of work has been supported by the Minnesota Opera, Jerome Foundation, MRAC, Red Eye Theater, Cedar Cultural Center, Minnesota State Arts Board, among others. Ritika plays the role of Kea - a pompous mushroom - in this folk opera.

Shinjan Sengupta grew up in Kolkata, India, immersed in music of genres ranging from Indian semi-classical, Bengali folk and Baul, to classic rock, blues, western folk, and country. He started his musical journey with the Bansuri and now he enjoys blending genres on the guitar. He is constantly exploring ways to amalgamate sounds from various origins to create his own style. In the Twin Cities, he has performed at the Cedar Cultural Center, and has composed music for productions at the Katha Dance Theater and Minnesota Opera, among others. He is the librettist of this folk opera, and is also playing guitar.

Dr. Praful Kelkar is a neurologist in Minnesota, and a Sarod player. He has been a student of legendary Sitar maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan for over two decades, and has collaborated with many local artists in concerts and lecture-demonstrations over the years.

Abhinav Sharma has been playing Tabla and other percussion instruments for over 20 years. He is a disciple of Pandit Anindo Chatterjee in India. In the Twin Cities, he has mentored with Dr. A Pavan. He has been a part of various musical ensembles, and has performed in many choreographic works in India as well as in the US.

Live at the Carnegie is a monthly, Saturday listening series, curated with Liz Draper. These unique performances bring to our community incredible music and opportunities to meet with the performing artists. Free to attend, donations to the artists encouraged.

Freaque (Gabriel Rodreick) explores the underbelly of corporeal experience. Songs and stories about decay, decomposition and death being juxtaposed with eroticism, relationship and life. Through a dark, dank, and dirty artistic voice, Freaque tells stories of life blooming in the shadows and those lives taking shape in a myriad of bodies.

“Decompose," Rodreick's 2019 album, was created in his childhood dining room, on the piano he played for 11 years before a spinal cord injury took away his hands. He took what he had and rose above a society that constantly tells us we are not enough, that we’re only worth the possessions we own, the money in our bank accounts, and our body's abilities. We do not have to conform to societal standards to be valued as human beings.

That is why he creates music and art. For more information, visit: gabrielrodreick.com.