General Admission: $10

Doors Open at 6:30 P.M. | Concerts Begins at 7:00 P.M.

Tickets

Join us for an intimate evening of original music and storytelling with Sobina Chi Kanter, as she shares her deeply personal journey of embracing womanhood, motherhood, and her immigration from Taiwan to the United States. Over the past four years, Sobina has transitioned from a single woman to a married mother of one. In this performance, Sobina will take you through her experiences, celebrating the resilience and love that have shaped her.

PROGRAM 

• Blue, Red and White
• Discussion
• Lullaby in G
• Droids land on the moon, sideways
• Sleepless
• Peek-a-boo
• Baby Camel
• Portrait
• Downtown 57N
• Brown Bear Brown Bear what do you see

(All original compositions by Sobina Chi Kanter)

Take a listen for Sobina’s improv (For Dan Dan)

MUSICIANS
Piano: Sobina Chi Kanter
Saxophone: Jasper Shogo Dutz
Drums: Zack O’Farrill
Bass: Bam Rodríguez
Violin: Yu-Wei Hsiao

Featuring
Vocalist Tais Szilagi
Dancer Chieh Hsiung

ABOUT Sobina Chi Kanter

Sobina Chi Kanter (Yi-Hsuan Chi 祁苡瑄), pianist, music director, composer and educator. Sobina was born in Taipei, Taiwan to a musical family. She began studying piano as a young child, and since then has made many musical strides. Before leaving for the United States, she was active in the thriving Taiwanese jazz scene and featured at the Taichung Jazz Festival 4 years in a row. Her love of jazz drove her to make the leap to study abroad and continue her studies in New York under the tutelage of Grammy award pianist Arturo O’Farrill. She received a Bachelors of Arts degree and Master of Music from City University of New York (CUNY), Brooklyn College Conservatory where she studied with Mr. O’Farrill and worked as an assistant to him at Brooklyn College Conservatory for 7 years. She is currently a resident of Metuchen, New Jersey and is performing and teaching throughout the east coast. She wants to continue to make an impact on the New York musical community and abroad. sobinamusic.com

Music director credits include: Museum of Chinese in America: “Fly me away” (2023). Astoria Performing Art Center: “Man of La Mancha” (2022). National Taichung Theater: “Tropical Angels” (2019-2021). The Gallery Players: “Little Women” (2019) “Once upon a mattress” (2019) “A New Brain.” (2018) “You’re a Goodman Charlie Brown.” (2017) “Marry Me a Little.” (2017). Bishop Kearney High School: “Wizard of Oz“ (2019) “Godspell” (2018)

Pianist credits include: Carnegie Hall, Apollo Theater, Flushing Town Hall, Museum of Chinese in America, Merkin Hall, Culture Lab LIC, Empty Sky 9/11 Memorial Foundation, New York Winter Jazz Festival, Passport to Taiwan Festival, National Taichung Theater, The Duplex Cabaret and Piano Bar, Birdland Jazz Club, Tectonic Theater Project in Guggenheim Museum, Gracie Mansion for New York City mayor Bill De Blasio, Pregones Theater, Shapeshifter lab, Klub 45, Hershey Theatre, The Gallery Players, ART New York Bruce Mitchell, Flushing Taiwan Center, Bishop Kearney High school, Taipei Economic and Cultural Oce in New York, Church Street School for Music and Art, Beacon School, Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, Taipei Jazz Festival, Taichung International Jazz Festival etc.

ABOUT Musicians/Artists

Jasper Shogo Dutz, Saxophone

Originally from Los Angeles, Jasper Shogo Dutz is currently one of NYC’s premiere multi-woodwind instrumentalists. He currently leads his own quartet and plays in the Grammy-winning Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Arturo O’Farrill and also serves as artistic director for VGM Jam Sessions NYC. He also plays woodwinds for the J-Pop/Jazz cover band Catbus Collective which he founded in 2023. Since graduating from the New School for Jazz and Contemporary music in 2016 on full tuition scholarship, Jasper has recorded and performed with several artists including Nels Cline, Joel Ross, Lenny Pickett, Jon Batiste and Ron Carter.

Zack O’Farrill, Drums

Zack O’Farrill is a drummer/percussionist, educator and big band director from Brooklyn. He performs regularly close to home in Brooklyn, throughout the United States, and across the globe with Adam O’Farrill Stranger Days, Albert Marquès and Freedom First, Kalí Rodríguez-Peña and Mélange, Mali Obomsawin, Dan Lehner’s True East, and El Kikirikí Biquéy. He also works extensively with his father Arturo O’Farrill and has performed on several of his Grammy® Award-winning albums. He is the Community Liaison at Belongó (fka the Afro Latin Jazz Alliance) where he works to connect the organization to its neighborhood of El Barrio and the Latino community at large in the lead up to the construction of their permanent brick and mortar arts and community center. With Belongó he also manages the Fat Cats youth ensembles, directing the big band. With his wife, Colombian soprano Sasha Gutiérrez Montaño, he is co-founder of The Opera Next Door, producing opera’s (and not operas) in the streets of New York reaching audiences often overlooked by conventional arts programming.

Bam Rodríguez, Bass

Bam Rodríguez is a GRAMMY award winning bass player, composer, educator, filmmaker and social activist. Bam is the bass player of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, directed by Arturo O’Farrill, and the founder of Potatoes are People Too and co-founder of South by North East. He has performed with the likes of Chucho Valdés, Paquito de Rivera, Deepak Chopra, to name a few, and on stages all over the world, like Carnegie Hall, The Barbican, North Sea Jazz Festival, Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Blue Note. As a filmmaker, Bam was awarded Best Music Video at the FFH Film Festival for his video “forward” by his band South by North East. Paralelly, Bam is the founder and director of We Are Starting a School, a free educational program that pairs up students from disadvantaged places throughout the world with teaching artists based in NYC to receive free music lessons.

Yu-Wei Hsiao, Violin

Taiwanese violinist Dr. Yu-Wei Hsiao (Yoyo) is an accomplished musician and winner of the Charleston International Competition. Yoyo is the first violin at the Berkshire Opera Festival and has participated in prestigious music festivals. In 2024, Yoyo was a grant panelist for the New York Foundation for the Arts and Flushing Town Hall. In addition to his classical violin skills, Yoyo also has crossover abilities in piano, dance, composition, and music arrangement, and has performed with various artists and groups at renowned venues and events such as the Weill Cornell Jazz Band, Battery Dance, Queensboro Dance Festival, The New Queens Pride, and the Booking Dance Festival at Lincoln Center.

Tais Szilagi, Vocalist

Tais Szilagi is honored to be performing Sobina’s personal and heartfelt music. Tais is a NYC based crossover artist whose interests and curiosities have led her through the unique worlds of opera, theater, TV, film and sound experimentation. Tais has had the privilege of premiering almost one hundred new works of living composers and artists to help bring their visions to life. For more information follow @Tais__Sophia on instagram. 

Chieh Hsiung, Dancer

Chieh Hsiung is an NYC-based dancer, choreographer, and educator. Her work showcases a diverse range of skills and training, collaborating with visual artists and musicians to create engaging experiences. Chieh has showcased her choreography extensively across NYC and achieved recognition, including winning the Breaking Glass Project 2015. She also served as the choreographer for the Netflix fantasy-comedy drama “The Magician on the Skywalk,” which won at the 2022 Golden Bell Awards. Chieh graduated from the National Taiwan University of Physical Education and Sports with a major in Modern Dance/Choreography and a minor in Ballet, Folk Dance, Ballroom Dance, and Street Dance. IG: @chieh___19