Doors open at 7 - Music starts at 7:30 - $30 advance tickets - $35 at the door
This will be a fully seated listening room style show
The Alluvion World Music Series is thrilled to present The Kombos Collective featuring Michael Malis, Constantine Novotny, and Ellie Falaris Ganelin.
"Out of Place, Out of Time: a look at displacement and self-discovery through the eyes of artists in the Hellenic diaspora"
Hellenic-American artists Michael Malis (piano), Constantine Novotny (baritone) and Ellie Falaris Ganelin (flute) explore these concepts through the convergence of music and poetry. The cornerstone of the program is Malis’s original song cycle Another Shore, Another Country set to the poetry of C.P. Cavafy, commissioned by ProMusica Detroit and premiered in February 2024. Cavafy, who lived most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt, is the quintessential voice of the Greek diaspora and a prominent figure among 20th-century poets. Through Ganelin’s and Malis’s own arrangements, the trio performs songs of love and longing by Greek idols Mikis Theodorakis and Manos Hadjiadikis. These masterful colleagues born the same year (1925) each brought a new vision and prominence to Hellenic music through the radio in their homeland and in film worldwide.
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About the artists:
The Kombos Collective is a champion of Greek composers, shedding light on the rich musical repertoire coming out of Greece and the Greek diaspora. Kombos has released several full-length albums and performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Library of Congress, as well as cultural centers and universities across the U.S. and Canada. Learn more on their website — and get to know the performers below:
MICHAEL MALIS - PIANO
Michael Malis is a composer, pianist, and music educator based in Detroit, Michigan. A multi-faceted musical artist, he works across genres in improvisational, concert music, and interdisciplinary settings. As a recording artist, he has 11 releases as a leader or co-leader. 2022’s From Darkness We Awaken, featuring chamber-improvising ensemble Virago (who commissioned the piece) was released on Brisbane Australia-based MADE NOW MUSIC, and was called “transfixing” with a “disarming intensity” (All About Jazz). His duo project with saxophonist Marcus Elliot, Balance, has been praised as “contemporary jazz of the highest order, a benchmark for where the genre can go” (Detroit Metro Times.)
Read more on the artist’s website
CONSTANTINE NOVOTNY - BARITONE
Constantine Novotny is a recent graduate of the Master of Sacred Music program at the University of Notre Dame. He was previously the 2013-2015 Samuel Ramey Opera Fellowship recipient during his graduate studies at Wichita State University, and also holds a bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from Oakland University in Rochester, MI. A native of the Metro-Detroit area, Constantine has performed with a variety of ensembles including the Apollo’s Fire Singers, American Bach Soloists, American Classical Orchestra, Artefact Ensemble, Spire Chamber Ensemble, Musica Sacra, Audivi, Sounding Light, the Michigan Opera Theatre Chorus, the Bach Cantata Academy Ensemble, and the Carnegie Hall Chamber Chorale alongside the Tallis Scholars.
Read more on the artist’s website
ELLIE FALARIS GANELIN - FLUTE
Ellie Falaris Ganelin is the director of the Kombos Collective, which she founded in 2011 under the name Greek Chamber Music Project. She is a classically trained flutist who welcomes other traditions into the fold, including jazz, Latin, Balkan and klezmer music. She is active as a performer of chamber and orchestral music in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is committed to making classical music inviting and accessible for all as an ambassador and performer for the Awesöme Orchestra Collective.
Read more on the Kombos Collective website