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True Life Trio
Kabbalat Shabbat Services - LISTEN
Congregation Beth Sholom
301 14th Ave
San Francisco, CA 94118
Oct 18, 2019
6:30 PM PDT
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About this concert
Kabbalat Shabbat Service - LISTEN
What is the role of music in experiencing the sacred?
Where is the boundary between the pleasure and emotion inspired by music and the joy and spiritual engagement that we encounter in prayer?
Is listening a spiritual experience?
Curated by musician and scholar Jeremiah Lockwood, Listen is a liturgical music series that will help us explore these questions in the context of a unique Friday evening service. Jeremiah will draw on his connections to world-renowned musicians working in diverse genres to present profound and soulful musical experiences. Listen will offer an opportunity to engage in deep listening, hear virtuosic performances, and learn about sacred music traditions—both our own Jewish traditions and those of the people we share homelands with today and in other periods in our history.
October 18—True Life Trio features the vocal talents of three dynamic performers whose
musical collaboration was forged in Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble. This Bay Area–based trio
delves deep into a vast array of folk music that lends itself to three-part vocal harmony,
massaging and expanding the boundaries of traditional styles. Their concerts take audiences on a
borderless journey through the villages of Ukraine, the mountains of Bulgaria and Louisiana’s
Cajun country, demonstrating the beauty, power and diversity of vocally driven folk music from
Eastern Europe and North America. True Life Trio honors these traditions while adding their
own unique spin via innovative arrangements and folk-inspired compositions. The trio’s fiery
and supple vocals bridge musical worlds and deliver them right to the listeners’ ears.
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True Life Trio Biography
LESLIE BONNETT - VOICE, FIDDLE, PERCUSSION
Leslie Bonnett’s artistic path has been marked by a rich diversity of musical journeys. Her primary instruments of expression are voice and violin, complemented by explorations into a variety of dance forms. She began with classical studies as a child but soon thereafter jumped off into the musical realms of Scandinavia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Americas and beyond. Along the way she earned a B.A. in Music from U.C. Santa Cruz and sang with San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Savina. Leslie also sang for fifteen years with Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble with whom she had the great fortune of working with amazing master artists and travelling to far off lands for performance and musical/cultural study. She can currently be found performing with Balkalicious Fire Drive and True Life Trio.
BRIGET BOYLE - VOICE, GUITAR, PERCUSSION
Briget Boyle began her musical journey at a very young age. As the daughter of singer songwriter Karen Tobin and recording engineer Tim Boyle, it is safe to say that she came out singing. At 13, she began writing original songs and playing guitar. In 2001 she was awarded Songwriter of the Year at the College of Santa Fe in the Contemporary Music Program where she majored in Music Performance and Composition. It was at CSF where she fell in love with Eastern European folk music and deepened her passion for singing in harmony. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, she has sung with various projects including Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, Brass Menažeri Balkan brass band & Broken Shadows Family Band.
JULIANA GRAFFAGNA - VOICE, ACCORDION, PERCUSSION
Juliana Graffagna began her musical career at a young age, singing in church choir and studying classical piano. She then ventured on to musical theatre, women’s glee club, Russian language study, and the discovery of her passion for traditional music. Juliana sang with the acclaimed Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble for more than two decades, serving as music director for 10 years, performing extensively throughout the U.S. and Eastern Europe and studying Eastern European vocal technique with master singers Tzvetanka Varimezova, Mariana Sadovska, Merita Halili, Donka Koleva, Carl Linich and Christos Govetas. Juliana founded the eclectic ensemble Janam/My Soul (“Transcendent Balkan/Appalachian/Near Eastern Blend”) performs on film soundtracks, and teaches private and group piano and voice lessons.
Read MoreLeslie Bonnett’s artistic path has been marked by a rich diversity of musical journeys. Her primary instruments of expression are voice and violin, complemented by explorations into a variety of dance forms. She began with classical studies as a child but soon thereafter jumped off into the musical realms of Scandinavia, the Balkans, Eastern Europe, the Americas and beyond. Along the way she earned a B.A. in Music from U.C. Santa Cruz and sang with San Francisco Symphony Chorus and Savina. Leslie also sang for fifteen years with Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble with whom she had the great fortune of working with amazing master artists and travelling to far off lands for performance and musical/cultural study. She can currently be found performing with Balkalicious Fire Drive and True Life Trio.
BRIGET BOYLE - VOICE, GUITAR, PERCUSSION
Briget Boyle began her musical journey at a very young age. As the daughter of singer songwriter Karen Tobin and recording engineer Tim Boyle, it is safe to say that she came out singing. At 13, she began writing original songs and playing guitar. In 2001 she was awarded Songwriter of the Year at the College of Santa Fe in the Contemporary Music Program where she majored in Music Performance and Composition. It was at CSF where she fell in love with Eastern European folk music and deepened her passion for singing in harmony. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, she has sung with various projects including Kitka Women's Vocal Ensemble, Brass Menažeri Balkan brass band & Broken Shadows Family Band.
JULIANA GRAFFAGNA - VOICE, ACCORDION, PERCUSSION
Juliana Graffagna began her musical career at a young age, singing in church choir and studying classical piano. She then ventured on to musical theatre, women’s glee club, Russian language study, and the discovery of her passion for traditional music. Juliana sang with the acclaimed Kitka Women’s Vocal Ensemble for more than two decades, serving as music director for 10 years, performing extensively throughout the U.S. and Eastern Europe and studying Eastern European vocal technique with master singers Tzvetanka Varimezova, Mariana Sadovska, Merita Halili, Donka Koleva, Carl Linich and Christos Govetas. Juliana founded the eclectic ensemble Janam/My Soul (“Transcendent Balkan/Appalachian/Near Eastern Blend”) performs on film soundtracks, and teaches private and group piano and voice lessons.
Acapella
Acappella
Americana
Bulgaria To The Bayou
Cajun
Eastern Europe
Folk
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