Featured Performers

 Musical Director, arranger, singer and guitarist. Originally from Durango, Mexico, Isaí began studying guitar at the age of ten. Isaí relocated to Texas as a teenager, where he studied music theory, jazz and composition, while discovering his love of flamenco guitar and singing. After playing latin music and flamenco in Austin, Isai went to live in Madrid from 2003-2004 and 2006-2010. There he accompanied many of the world’s best artists in classes at the famous Amor de Dios Academy, and in performances throughout Spain and Europe. He toured internationally with the companies of Laura Tabanera, Antonio Reyes and Cristóbal Reyes, and played in many of Madrid’s flamenco tablaos. Isaí is Musical Director at Flamencura Music & Dance, and performs frequently throughout Texas. 

 Indrajit Banerjee, is one of the leading sitarist of the Maihar Gharana. He was born into a musical family, which includes his guru, Pandit Kartick Kumar (Sitar), Pandit Barun Kumar Pal (Hamsa Veena) and Niladri Kumar (Sitar) amongst others.  He is an A-grade artist of All India Radio and Television (AIR) and an approved artist of ICCR and has received many awards, including Gokul Nag Memorial Award, “Sur Mani”, Avinav Kala Samman, Parangotsava, Award for exceptional contribution by Sapna (Consulate General of India, Chicago). He has performed in many musical festivals in India and abroad (USA, Canada, Europe, Brazil, Middle East, Martinique Islands) and has  collaborated with many Western musicians, such as Sting, Fareed Haque, Yaron Herman, Atash, Gypsy All Stars, Craig Pruess, Abbos Kosimov. 

 Born in the City of La Paz, Bolivia, Eduardo Cassapia studied traditional Andean music at the “Conservatorio Los Andes” and classical oboe in the “Conservatorio Nacional de Música.”  The Reina Sofia scholarship took him to Madrid, Spain for oboe classes in 2002, and later he studied oboe with notable instructors in Ulm and in Freiburg, Germany.  Memorable performances in Germany include concerts at the Willy Brandt complex (Berlin) Germany.  The National Symphony Orchestra of Bolivia welcomed him home from Europe, and he was a vital member there for fourteen years.  In 2009 he was a chosen artist for presentations at the Andean-Inuit Encounter, touring cities in Denmark and Greenland, and is appreciated as performer and professor at “OboeFest” (Rosario, Argentina) yearly.  Eduardo enjoys remaining on the forefront of new musical projects in Austin and internationally. 

 A native of the Chicago area, Julie Koidin is a classically trained flutist, and is an experienced soloist, studio, orchestral and chamber musician. As a soloist, she has appeared with the Conservatorio del Tolima Orchestra (Colombia), the Millennium Chamber Orchestra (Chicago) and the Volta Redondo Orchestra (Brazil) as well as given numerous solo recitals in concert with pianists such as Maria Teresa Madeira, Durval Cesetti, and Rick Ferguson.

Her current main performance collaborations are with guitarist/composer, Ricardo Vieira in the Koidin-Vieira Duo, based in Aracaju, Brazil; Duo Tempero Brasileiro with guitarist, Neal Alger, based in Chicago; and the Austin-based Carney-Koidin Duo, a flute and guitar duo performing a wide range of repertoire from Bach to Brazilian.

Julie has various collaborations with the world renown, WFMT Radio Network (Chicago). These projects include numerous broadcasts where she performed for the “Live from WFMT/Studio One” concert series and the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series. In 2016 she was the host, producer and researcher of WFMT’s nationally/internationally syndicated radio program, “A Joyful Cry: Brazil’s Choro Music,” prepared for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Her recordings include “In Between” (2018) featuring original music by French harpist/composer Isabelle Olivier; “Choro de Lá pra Cá” (2017) with her Brazil-based trio of the same name, “Eloquent Silence” (Chicago Sessions) by Zvonimir Tot; and Paulinho Garcia’s Grammy-Award nominated, “My Very Life” (Chicago Sessions). She has also recorded three Dois no Choro CDs with her duo partner, Paulinho Garcia: “Asa Branca” (Laughing Buddha Music) with guests Julien Labro, accordion/bandoneon, Linda Binder, mandolin and Heitor Garcia, percussion; “Juntos” (Jazzmin Music, 2002) with guests Altamiro Carrilho, flute/piccolo; Emily Mantell, cello; Maria Teresa Madeira, piano; and Robert Saliba and Heitor Garcia, percussion; and “Carinhoso” (Jazzmin Music, 2000).

Julie is an active teacher internationally and in the U.S.  She maintains private studios in the Chicago area and in Austin, Texas, as well as online where she teaches students worldwide.  She has performed and lectured at various National Flute Association Conventions, the British Flute Society Convention, and at universities and conservatories throughout the U.S. and abroad, including the University of Montevallo (Alabama); University of Wisconsin-Madison; Cornell University; University of Auckland (New Zealand); the Grieg Institute (Norway); the Conservatorio del Tolima (Colombia); the Jose Maria Rodriguez Music Conservatory (Ecuador); and Brazilian universities and conservatories in Brasília, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, and Natal.

She has participated as a performer and lecturer at various festivals including Chicago Latino Music Festival, the Curso Internacional de Verão (Brasília); Festival Internacional de Música (Domingos Martins); the Rio International Cello Festival; the Festival de Música International de Inverno (Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ); and the Flöjtmani Summer Course (Arvika Sweden).

To date, Julie has received eight grants to teach U.S. solo and chamber music repertoire for flute to universities abroad. Her grants include: 2002 and 2014-2015 Lecture/Research grants to Brazil and Specialist grants to Norway (2005); New Zealand (2006); Serbia (2008); Sweden (2011); Ecuador (2016); and Colombia (2019).

A specialist in Brazilian choro music, she has performed throughout Brazil and with choro legends Altamiro Carrilho and Carlos Poyares, among other greats in the style. In 2014 she formed the trio, Choro de Lá pra Cá in Natal, Brazil. The group has had two tours in Brazil and three in the U.S. Since 2004 she has had two chamber music tours in Germany with British violinist, David Johnson (Gürzenich Orchester Köln).

Her studies of choro began in 1997, in Rio de Janeiro with Altamiro Carrilho. It was at that time that she fell in love with choro, and she subsequently returned for 22 more trips, traveling all over the country performing, teaching and researching the genre.

In 2015, she became the founder and director of the Chicago Choro Club, a community outreach group that provides classes, workshops and “jam sessions” called “rodas de choro,” that are open to all instrumentalists. The group has participated in various community events such as Evanston’s CommUnity Picnic and Navy Pier’s Brazilian celebration.

As an author, Julie Koidin is an active contributor to the National Flute Association’s “Flutist Quarterly” and has publications in various professional journals. Her two books are titled “Os Sorrisos do Choro” (São Paulo: Global Choro Music, 2011) and its translation, “Choro Conversations” (Freemont, CA: Global Choro Music, 2013). Both books are based on her 2002 Fulbright research.

Koidin holds both her doctorate (DM) and master’s (MMus) degrees in flute performance from Northwestern University, and a BMus in flute performance from the University of Illinois. She has studied with Walfrid Kujala and Richard Graef (Chicago Symphony Orchestra), and Alexander Murray (formerly of the London Symphony). 

-Ana Barajas

This Colombian born, Austin based singer/songwriter has developed a very unique sound that embraces musical styles as diverse as rock, jazz, electronic, Latin folk and classical music.

She grew up listening to her Dad’s record collection that included artists as diverse as Manu Dibango, Mecano, Julio Iglesias, Bach and Carlos Gardel, and learnt to sing with the traditional music from the Colombian Altiplano, her mom’s favorite and the one played at family gatherings. At age 5 started taking music lessons and at age 16 started her first rock band. Since then she has recorded various albums and EPs and collaborated with different international projects from Metal to jazz and traditional Latin Music. With her Solo project Ana has released an EP Marea Lunar (2013), the single “Lady” (2016) and her full length album “The Botany of Dreams” (2018).

Her new album Mango Motel was fully released in the second half of 2022, a very unique rendition to the Latin American classics from her perspective as a Latinx artist living in the U.S.

-Tony Rogers

Tony Rogers is a cellist, educator, performer, arranger and composer. 

He performs regularly with The Austin Piazzolla Quintet, The Waterloo Trio, Jenifer Jackson, the multi-genre group Strings Attached, performs weddings on weekends, and onstage with symphonies, playing 70 public performances per year, teaches a few hundred lessons and directs the Austin Cello Choir every week on Tuesday evenings for cellists of all levels. In his spare time he organizes chamber reading sessions.