Astral Mixtape
& Tango Fusion
This was a unique summer concert experience featuring Tango Duet John Acevedo and Yulia Maluta with the multifaceted band of LA-based musicians, Astral Mixtape Quartet.
HELD SATURDAY, AUGUST 31 | 7 PM
William D Davies Building | Farnsworth Park
A sell out audience was enthralled by a unique summer concert experience featuring Tango Duet John Acevedo and Yulia Maluta and the mesmerizing band of LA-based musicians, Astral Mixtape.
Astral Mixtape is a multifaceted band who blend classical instrumental virtuosity with the sounds of their generation. They collaboratively create and perform original compositions and arrangements using a unique line-up of two violins, cello, piano, synthesizer, and electronics. Their music combines the spectacle of pop, the spontaneity of jazz, and the experimentation of contemporary music. • website
Astral Mixtape is a multifaceted band of LA-based musicians who blend classical instrumental virtuosity with the sounds of their generation. They collaboratively create and perform original compositions and arrangements using a unique line-up of two violins, cello, piano, synthesizer, and electronics. Their music combines the spectacle of pop, the spontaneity of jazz, and the experimentation of contemporary music.
In addition we were joined by tango musician and dancer John Acevedo and Yulia Maluto, a professional dancer, who will perform an Argentinian Tango with the band.
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Yulia Maluta, professional dancer
Yulia Maluta is a professional dance teacher and Performing artist with 22 years of experience. Her backgrounds are inclusive of studying and teaching Performing Arts, Acting, Argentine Tango, Yoga, Latin, Ballroom, Belly dance, Pilates, improvisational and healing movement. Yulia is associated with some of the best dancers in industry, she taught on the ''Cruising with the Stars'' with Karina Smirnoff from''Dancing With The Stars'' and was featured instructor on ''Malashock thinks you can dance'' with Mary Murthy. She is now Internationally traveling instructor and repeat Maestra at World Elba Tango Festival and has taught throughout Hawaii and travelled to Buenos Aires. After years of competing professionally in Ballroom and Latin she discovered Tango and Performing Arts is her passion. She created her one woman show “Dancing to freedom” a story weaving acting, dance and live music together in her personal story of liberation through dance that she performed at Center Stage Theater and other venues. Yulia has being featured in local newspapers. TV channels and is known to her passion and devotion to Performing Arts. She is Executive and Artistic Director at non profit ''Transform Through Arts'' that unites humanity in all if its diversity through music and dance.
Misha Vayman, Violin
Misha Vayman is a professional violinist, educator, and dog lover. He has performed in a wide variety of contexts, from opening for Dorian Electra to soloing with various orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Russia, and China. In 2023, he joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Misha is part of Delirium Musicum, an award winning dynamic chamber orchestra known to bend time and space to their will, with no regard for anyone's safety. He is prominently featured in many rehearsal outtakes, “keeping it light”. The orchestra released an album in April 2023 on the Warner Classics label.
He has twice won the Grand Prize in the international ENKOR Competition, once in the Solo division, and once in the Chamber Music division with the Benefic Piano Trio. In June of 2022, the trio released an album of works by composer Daniel Carr on the MSR Classics label.
As a recording artist, he has appeared on tracks by Plini, String Theory, Jamie Drake, Ryan Dilmore and Porter Robinson, among others.
Misha is a graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music. Previously he attended the Colburn Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. A lot of practice was done at all three, and now he’s good, and doesn’t need to practice at all.
mishavayman.com
Juan-Salvador Carrasco, Cello
Juan-Salvador Carrasco is the cellist and co-founder of Astral Mixtape. The group collaboratively composes and performs original works that draw inspiration from multiple musical genres. Juan-Salvador has performed as a soloist with orchestras in Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad Stage, and Auditorio Blas Galindo (Mexico City). He has performed chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Phil Setzer (Emerson Quartet), Anthony McGill (NY Phil principal clarinetist), and Robert Chen (CSO concertmaster). His orchestral experience includes performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Delirium Musicum, and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. Juan-Salvador was awarded First Prize at USC Thornton’s 2019 Solo Bach Competition. He has also competed as a semi-finalist in the Nationwide Sphinx Competition. Juan-Salvador has attended summer festivals such as the Heifetz Institute Chamber Music Seminar, PyeongChang Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program. He has also performed as a member of the Heifetz Ensemble in Residence (HEIR). Juan-Salvador's primary cello teachers were Ralph Kirshbaum (USC’s Thornton School of Music, M.M. and G.C.), Hans Jorgen Jensen (Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, B.M.), Ron Leonard (Colburn Academy), and Eleonore Schoenfeld.
Nathan Ben-Yehuda, Piano
Nathan Ben-Yehuda has been recognized as an emerging musician of impassioned energy and integrity. He has been a prize winner at the Yamaha Young Performing Artist award and the Seattle International Piano Competition, among many others.
He has worked closely with such composers as George Lewis, Kaija Saariaho, Oliver Knussen and Thomas Ades. Nathan has held a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed in a variety of new music and chamber music groups, and took part in a complete performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux alongside pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and performed Nancarrow Studies on two pianos with composer/pianist Thomas Adès.
He has been featured in live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 “In Tune” as well as on WMHT Radio. He has appeared on Musiqu3 TV in Belgium as a competitor in the 2021 Queen Elisabeth competition. He recently was one of two pianists invited to the Taos School of Music, directed by Robert McDonald, and performed as part of their young artist chamber music series.
He is also the pianist for the Victory Players, a recently formed new music ensemble based in Holyoke, MA. Having earned degrees from Juilliard and Royal Academy of Music in London, he is now faculty at Cal Lutheran University.
Michael Siess, Violin
Michael Siess enjoys a dynamic career as a professional violinist, having performed in eclectic venues across the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. He was appointed to the first violin section of the Pacific Symphony in the fall of 2022 while also regularly appearing with ensembles such as Delirium Musicum and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. An active recording artist, Michael has played on numerous Hollywood soundtracks and albums. Recent highlights have included work on Avatar 2 and The Orville as well as upcoming records with Delirium Musicum and The String Theory.
Beginning his musical studies in Portland, OR, Michael holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Margaret Batjer, William Preucil, and Itzhak Perlman. Over the summers he has performed at a variety of festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, the Pacific Music Festival and the Banff Centre’s Evolution: Classical.
Michael is a founding member of the dynamic crossover band, Astral Mixtape. Their original music and arrangements can be heard in numerous film soundtracks, animated shorts, music videos, electronic productions, and in live venues across the West Coast. Astral Mixtape’s debut visual album, “Astral Plains” is now available online.