ai ensemble

Isabel Castellvi

Cellist Isabel Castellvi is currently living and working New York.  She studies cello privately with Fredrick Zlotkin.  Isabel received her Bachelor of Music degree from DePaul University in 2006, where she studied with Katinka Kleijn and Steve Balderston.  In the Fall of 2008 she will attend Manhattan School of Music for a Master's Degree in the new Contemporary Music Performance program studying with Fred Sherry.  She performs a broad range of music including classical, contemporary, experimental, world, improve and rock.  Her primary focus is on contemporary classical and experimental music, having premiered over 40 new works.  She has performed recitals and participated in festivals such as SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford, Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific in British Columbia, Canada, Las Vegas Music Festival and Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Currently she is the principle cellist for the new music ensemble dal niente and is a founding member of the ai ensemble presenting modern works for clarinet and cello including many new works written for them.  In New York she has performed with ensembles ThingNY, WetInk, ICE, and Tactus.  Previously she has worked with various ensembles including Oistrach Orchestra, Millennium Chamber Players, New Millenium Orchestra, TBD Improv Orchestra, Ensemble Akasha and the Accende Ensemble.  Isabel is also a founding member of CelloVox, performing and recording on cello, guitar and voice with Raymond Sicam.  Her interest in collaborative work with other performing and visual arts has led to various project with dance and art.  Recent dance performances include a modern dance show titled Love in the Mud and performances in a monthly series of improvised music and dance at the Tank, The Raw and the Cooked.  In addition to performing she teaches cello privately and works in music administration with various not for profit music organizations including theInternational Contemporary Ensemble, American Composers Orchestra, American Music Center, Copland Foundation and the Holland America Music Society.   Isabel is dedicated to performing for diverse audiences and promoting peace.

Alejandro Acierto

Alejandro Acierto is a Chicago clarinetist, composer, and activist living, working, and organizing within the community. He has completed degrees in clarinet performance and composition studies with a minor in Asian American Studies at DePaul University. Currently pursuing a degree in Contemporary Performance at the Manhattan School of Music, he studies with David Krakauer and has worked with teachers John B. Yeh, Julie DeRoche and Wagner Campos in addition to composers Kurt Westerberg, Pat Morehead, and David Smooke.  As a performer, Alejandro has performed with several ensembles such as the Millenium Chamber Players, Yes is a World, Chicago Composers Forum, the improvising trio Preclear, and is also a principal and founding member of dal niente and the ai ensemble. He has also performed in such festivals and series as Opera Cabal in Chicago, New Music Northwestern and the New Music Marathon at Northwestern University, and the Midwest Consortium of Graduate Composers. An active performer of new and contemporary classical music, Alejandro has given local premieres by prominent composers such as Giacinto Scelsi, Steve Reich, and Jason Eckart, as well as world premieres by Drew Baker, Kirsten Broberg, and Nicholas DeMaison. As a composer, Alejandro received a Union League Civic and Arts Award for Composition in 2003 and the Sidney and Mary Kleinman Prize in Composition in 2007 for his work 'strangers in our own land'. His current work focuses on using music as a means of social transformation and is committed to playing new works, particularly by historically marginalized people.