ABOUT DAWN:
“Rarely are performers as at home at Lincoln Center as they are in a sweat lodge. Composer, cellist, vocalist, educator and Grammy-nominated performer Dawn Avery is equally comfortable with either. Working with musical luminaries from Luciano Pavarotti to Sting, Dawn spent years honing her musical talents, collaborating and performing with John Cage, Glen Velez, Joanne Shenandoah, David Darling, Ustad Sultan Kahn, Sussan Deyhim, Karsh Kale, Baba Olatunji, Reza Derakshani, John Cale, and Mischa Maisky.
Dawn Avery has performed at the Montreux, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Banlieu Bleu Jazz Festivals in Europe. She’s played uptown at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as in New York’s thriving downtown music stages like the Knitting Factory, La Mama and Thread Waxing Space.
Dawn Avery is of Mohawk heritage and specializes in the performance of Native American music with her own ensemble OKENTI, indigenous classical music with her cello, voice and percussion duo CELLOVISION! and in a Persian Duo with Reza Derakshani.
As an educator, Dawn helps to nurture future generations of musicians as Professor of Music at Montgomery College where she also produces an annual World Arts Festival.
Dawn Avery’s compositions span from orchestral to chamber to contemporary. She has collected awards for her works from the American Dance Festival at Duke University, NYU, Meet the Composer, the Maryland Flute Association and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County in Maryland.
Dawn’s exploration of sacred music led her to study the relationship between music and spirituality, especially in meditative practice. She has led meditation groups and spiritual music performances at the Milan Sacred Music Festival, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, The Open Center in NYC and Musicales Visuales in Mexico City. As leader of meditation and creativity workshops, she has worked with such great healers as the Dalai Lama, Rick Jarow, Ron Young, and Hilda Charleton."
--Virginia Prescott, Public Radio
ABOUT Dawn's CD TRUE:
TRUE, features music from around the world in a contemporary setting with musical influences from Africa (Zimbabwe), Native America (Iroquois), Brazil, Mexico, Greece, Norway and Persia. She sings in English, Iroquois, Spanish, Ancient Greek and in an Ancient Nordic Language. Dawn is joined by well-known world musicians, such as master hand drummer Glen Velez, master Persian musician Reza Derakshani and African drummer/singer Philip Hamilton, to name a few. All the arrangements and original songs are by Dawn. Dawn has had access to music, sounds and shamanic styles that are very much reflected in the music.
"A rich mosaic of world music, Dawn's sumptuous voice and enigmatic cello playing are reminiscent of Dead Can Dance, only more daring" The News & Observer. Her music has deeply spiritual, yet playfully singable style - with a touch of the avant-garde! Many of the songs are memorable and beautiful - you will find yourself quickly learning Iroquois as you sing along.
Check out her new website at www.dawnavery.com
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