intersections
Ben Holmes Trio, Maryam Ivette Parhizkar & Curtis J. Stewart

Poet Maryam Ivette Parhizkar and violinist-poet Curtis Stewart will present a set of original poetry in dialogue with musical improvisation. The second set will feature Brooklyn-based trumpeter and composer Ben Holmes’ new trio, which explores the intersection of improvisation, jazz, chamber music, and traditional music.

Biographies

Ben Holmes’ new trio (Ben Holmes, trumpet; Brad Shepik, guitar; Matt Pavolka, bass) emphasizes melody and evocative moods in music while leaving plenty of room for spontaneity.

Maryam Ivette Parhizkar is a writer, musician, and scholar interested in sound, resonance, migration, family myths, and finding ways to use them to work through the constraints of the English language. She is the author of two chapbooks: Pull: a ballad (The Operating System, 2014) and As for the future (Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, 2016). Recent and forthcoming work can also be found online in Brooklyn Rail, Gesture, and the Essay Press chapbook Labor Poetic Labor! She is part of the editorial collective of small publisher Litmus Press, and a PhD student in African American Studies and American Studies at Yale University.

Curtis J. Stewart is a genre bending violinist, who has enjoyed an eclectic career bouncing between various realms of music: ranging from MTV specials with Wyclef Jean and sold out shows at Madison Square Garden with Stevie Wonder, to stints at the Kennedy center with the Jimmy Heath Big Band and performance installations at the Whitney Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Stewart currently teaches at the Fiorella H. LaGuardia High School for Music Art and Performing Arts, and is on faculty at the Jazz at the Lincoln Center Jazz Academy