The Syndicate
The Syndicate is a multi-disciplinary, intergenerational collective creating experimental, partially improvised, opera. We create performance in joyful and enraged disruption of coercive power dynamics. We create collaboratively in a horizontal, consensus-based model.
We believe ideas like mutual aid and decentralized leadership define both improvisation and social organization—by practicing one, we prepare for the other. We know we achieve liberation through solidarity. We know that we are far from the first to attempt collective artistic decision-making. The liberatory aesthetics of improvised art, especially in America, have been forged specifically in resistance to white supremacy, heteronormativity and state violence.
We stay present, grounded and attentive when we improvise together. We practice the kinds of care humanity desperately needs right now; the kinds of care that are snubbed, devalued and dismissed by our dominant cultural narrative. Improvisation allows us to practice new futures and new possibilities—to create science fiction. We share these imaginative, science-fictional spaces with our audiences, in the hope that they feel a sense of relief, recognition and resilience.
Collaborators
Raquel Acevedo Klein
Raquel Acevedo Klein is a Brooklyn native, and a conductor, vocalist, composer, and instrumentalist. Raquel has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim, Rockefeller Center, on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, WNYC, National Sawdust and elsewhere. She has premiered works and operas by Philip Glass, Caroline Shaw, John Adams, Nico Muhly, Paola Prestini, Bryce Dessner, and George Lewis among others.
Beaudau Banks
Beaudau Banks is a dancer, choreographer, and theater technician, currently working as Associate Production Manager at Gibney Dance in NYC. They have performed with the Bill T. Jones company at Park Avenue Armory, and shown their own choreography at Brooklyn’s Center for Performance Research. Beau is an immigrant from Belize, Central America.
Daniel Carter
Daniel Carter has been a prolific contributor to improvised music in NYC, and internationally, for five decades.
Lehuanani DeFranco
Lehuanani DeFranco is a Kanaka Maoli protector for Indigenous rights, a Brooklyn-based dancer, and an activist for Native Hawaiian sovereignty. She received her MFA in Dance from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and performs with Te Ao Mana to expand the presence of Polynesian culture worldwide.
Fareal Di Realist
Fareal Di Realist is a Jamaican-born dancehall/reggae artist with a purpose to entertain through relatable music.
El-E
El-E is a Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter and public interest technologist.
Jarvis Earnshaw
Jarvis Earnshaw is a Yokohama, Japan-based multimedia artist and multi-instrumentalist. TRAVIS DUO, his duo with Trevor Dunn (Mr. Bungle) on contrabass, released its first album, “HYPNAGOGIA,” in 2021. His quartet with Luke Stewart (Blacks’ Myths, Archie Shepp) on contrabass, Ryan Sawyer (Zeena Perkins, At the Drive-In) on drums, Devin Brahja Waldman (Thurston Moore, GY!BE) on saxophone, released “Luke Stewart & Jarvis Earnshaw Quartet,” in 2021 and was subsequently included on Pitchfork’s list of Best Jazz and Experimental Music that year.
Andrew Frank
Andrew Frank is a Pittsburgh-based guitarist and songwriter. He is currently pursuing his MA in social work.
https://andrewdalyfrank.bandcamp.com
Lori Goldston
Lori Goldston is a cellist and improviser based in Seattle, where she lives with her husband, son, and dog. A very select list of collaborators includes: Earth, Nirvana, David Byrne, and Cat Power. Her work has been commissioned by and/or performed at the Kennedy Center, Frye Art Museum, Bumbershoot, Joe’s Pub, the Stone, WNYC, Seattle International Film Festival, and at venues around the world.
Rebecca Gual
Rebecca Gual is a mover and maker of Caribbean descent, born and bred in Queens, New York. She currently performs with SLM Dances, and is the Studio Associate at Center for Performance Research. She recently wrapped the Dance Your Future: Artist & Mentor Collaborative Residency through Pepatián & Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance for 2021-2022.
No Land
No Land is a poet, artist, and photographer who has performed and exhibited internationally and in NYC, the beloved city of her birth.
Annie Lemieux
Annie Lemieux is a Baltimore-based experimental trumpeter and improviser. She specializes in sung multiphonics and pedal-based electronics.
Ashur Rayis
Ashur Rayis is a composer, performer, and theater technician. He is a founding member of Eat Drink Tell Your Friends puppetry collective and Monster Trux performance collective.
Nathan Repasz
Nathan Repasz is a drummer, vocalist, improviser, and theatre artist. His solo and ensemble work has been presented at Brooklyn’s Target Margin theater and at The Brick Theater. He leads the hardcore band Feaster and collaborates with Lisa Fagan’s multidisciplinary dance-theater ensemble, CHILD. In 2019 he assisted Sxip Shirey in his production of “The Gauntlet” at Rockefeller Center and co-developed the music for Shirey’s 2019 run of Bindlestiff Family Cirkus.
Rachel Schapira
Rachel Schapira lives in Brooklyn and is a 2019 Henson Grant recipient. She currently tours with Basil Twist’s opera, “Book of Mountains & Seas,” and has worked with Welcome to Campfire, Ripe Time, The Story Pirates, New Georges, Opera Slavica, and Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew. She is a teaching artist with Red Hook Art Project, and is a founding member of Eat Drink Tell Your Friends and Monster Trux.
https://rlschapira.wixsite.com/rachelschapira
Emerson Sieverts
Emerson Sieverts is a professional choral musician based in Manhattan.
Evan Strauss
Evan Strauss is a Northwest-based licensed mental health counselor, musician, and audio engineer. He received his MA in Transpersonal Counseling from Naropa University. His debut album as bandleader, “The Uproar In Bursts Of Sound and Silence,” was released through 577 Records in August 2022. He currently plays in a variety of bands including contemporary Yiddish band Varovka, led by Lori Goldston.
Rose Tang 唐路
Rose Tang 唐路 only allows one label, “Tiananman Massacre survivor.” Her two most recent albums include “Pause and Effect” (ESP Records) with the band Attitude! and “And Yet We Ain’t Alone” (577 Records) with the band Roses & Roaches. Rose is a descendant of a Mongol rebel who founded the navy to establish the Ming Dynasty. She loves to cook and is not Chinese. She lives in Brooklyn with her daughter.
Ellie van Bever
Ellie van Bever is a Seattle-based dancer and producer. Recent projects include the monthly dance and music improvisation series “Fuck it, we’ll do it LIVE,” and the social dance experiment “Show Face,” both in Seattle, WA.
Jared Yee
Jared Yee has performed all over the globe and currently plays with artist/bands including Sungazer, Aberdeen, and more.