MUSIC
Steven Salcedo
Bio
Salcedo has shared the stage and/or recorded with Miley Cyrus, Dolly Parton, David Byrne, Brandi Carlile, Noah Cyrus, Saweetie, Sia, 24kGoldn, Anitta, Dove Cameron, Little Steven Van Zandt, Darlene Love, Victor Victor, Fletcher, A Great Big World, Dana Fuchs, Gedeon Luke & the People and Aurea amongst many others. He has performed on The 64th Annual Grammys (Miley Cyrus), Saturday Night Live (Miley Cyrus), Miley’s New Years Eve Party (2021 & 2022), The Tonight Show (Dove Cameron), BBC’s Later…With Jools Holland with Gedeon Luke, and ABC’s Live! w/ Kelly & Ryan (AGBW). Salcedo has also served as musical director on film shoots for MTV & Disney/Pixar.
Students of his have gone on to some of the top conservatories & universities across the continent, including Manhattan School of Music, Berklee, USC, UNT, U of Miami & Eastman. In addition to his private instruction studio, Steven has implemented the curriculum for The Mosaic Project since 2021 & CuBop to Hip Hop since 2023 for KCA. Through these programs, Salcedo has had the opportunity to reach over 15,000 students in the greater Queens community.
Tyreek McDOle
Bio
Tyreek, a 24-year-old Haitian-American vocalist/percussionist from sunny Florida, shines brilliantly as his star rises in the bustling New York Scene. With a string of prestigious awards to his name, Tyreek stands out as a rising star in the music world.
It was during the acclaimed Jazz at Lincoln Center’s 2018 Essentially Ellington National Competition that Tyreek made his vocal debut, leaving an indelible mark as he walked away with the prestigious Outstanding Vocalist Award, presented by none other than the iconic Wynton Marsalis. He has been recently declared the 1st place winner of the Sarah International Jazz Vocal Competition. Noted as one of the most anticipated events in jazz, McDole’s accolade now ranks him among the competition’s previous winners including the standout artists Samara Joy (2019 winner) and Jazzmeia Horn (2013 winner). Tyreek is the 2nd male to ever win in the competition’s 12 year history. Tyreek currently teaches for the Mosaic Project After-school residency in three Queens Public Schools, inspiring the next generation of young artists.
Evan Atwell-Harris
Bio
Originally from Sydney, Australia, Evan has established himself with performance credits ranging from Miguel Zenon’s Identities are Changeable to the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, and the Wynton Marsalis Quintet. At the formative age of 26, Evan has been acknowledged with a number of accolades, including the title of 2018 Young Australian Jazz Musician of the Year, a grant from the Arts Council of Australia, and the Gerry and Franca Mulligan Scholarship. Evan maintains an active performance calendar locally in New York City at venues such as the Blue Note, Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Minton’s Playhouse, and Smalls Jazz Club, and has toured metropolitan and regional Australia, the USA, and Switzerland.
Having graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Music (Honours First Class), Evan was awarded the University Medal, a credit recognising the most distinguished graduate. He subsequently completed a Master of Music (Jazz Studies) degree at The Juilliard School in 2018 and was awarded the William Schuman Prize, which recognises a graduate student of music for outstanding achievement and leadership. Evan continues his studies at Juilliard where he is completing an Artist Diploma in Jazz Studies, a two-year performance-based post-graduate program.
Kofi Hunter
Bio
Kofi Hunter imagines a world where Art can transform lives. As an in-demand multi-percussionist Kofi has been given the opportunity to support some of the biggest names in music, from Jazz Saxophonist Casey Benjamin to Hip Hop Superstar Big Daddy Kane. Kofi along with his brother established an Afro-Diasporic Neo-Folk Percussion and Vocal Group named ‘Akoko Nante Ensemble. ‘ Akoko Nante has performed at BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn Concert Series, and has been featured as a musical guest on VICE’s The Untitled Action Bronson Show. Their debut album ‘Nkrabea: Destiny” is available on all streaming platforms. When he’s not on the bandstand or in the recording studio he’s in a classroom as a teaching artist for our Mosaic Project After-School residencies, teaching West African folkloric music.
Rohin Khemani
Bio
Rohin Khemani is a drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and educator based in New York City. Known as an extremely versatile and eclectic musician, Rohin’s sound can be heard on a wide variety of projects weaving through jazz, world music, rock, folk, electronica and beyond. His principal instruments include the drum set, tabla, and an extensive collection of percussion and found objects from around the world. Rohin was a founding member of Red Baraat and co-leads the band Surface to Air Trio with guitarist Jonathan Goldberger and bassist Jonti Siman. Most recently, Rohin has produced an EP for a collaborative project, The Lore Dogs, with songwriter D.B. Rielly. A full-length album is currently in production for fall 2021. He has performed for audiences at some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, Sauti Za Busara in Zanzibar, Tanzania, The Monterey Jazz Festival, The London 2012 Olympic Games, and Peter Gabriel’s WOMAD Festivals in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Rohin holds a bachelor’s from Berklee College of Music and a master’s from the Manhattan School of Music.
Ivan Llanes
Bio
Originally hailing from Camaguey, Cuba, Ivan has earned himself a top tier reputation in New York City for both his broad range of percussion skills as well as his distinctive voice and song writing style. As a Teaching Artist, Ivan has collaborated with KCA and other organizations including 92Y, Carnegie Hall, and Marquis Studios to share his passion and knowledge with young people throughout New York and New Jersey. In Ivan’s words: “I play all Cuban music genres, as well as styles from the United States and beyond. There is always a message of love, peace, joy and acceptance in my playing and I believe that when I share my music, art and culture with the world I can make an impact”.
Dance
Amanda Krische
Bio
Known for insightful performance that renegotiates the audience/performer relationship, Amanda Krische is an interdisciplinary movement artist, writer, educator, and herbalist creating socially-engaged work at the intersection of gender studies, mythopoetics, neuroscience, and ecology. Through the prism of dance and multidisciplinary performance, she creates transformative ritual experiences that tell spectacular stories of the everyday while imagining new possibilities of community healing.
Her work has been shown nationally at such venues as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Moody Performance Hall, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, and The Kitchen, as well as in public spaces such as shopping malls, public parks, and gallery spaces. Her work has been commissioned and supported by the National YoungArts Foundation, Grace Farms Foundation, and Bombshell Dance Project. She was the recipient of a 2018 Grant from the Jerome Foundation to support research on mental time travel and the subjective experience of thinking for a new choreographic process at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Amanda has conducted residencies at Art:Omi, Keshet Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Arts Center, Kaatsbaan Cultural Park. She just completed a Spring 2023 residency at The Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France where her research focused on the grieving rituals and mythologies of the feminine genealogies of the Mediterranean basin, to inform a new multidisciplinary performance work.
Brenda Flores
Bio
Brenda Flores is the Administrative Coordinator and Project Manager of the Mexican Studies Institute supporting all projects, initiatives and activities that impact the academic and administrative department. She holds an associate degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in criminal justice from Heald College. As a former dancer of the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico de Amalia Hernández, she is currently focused in combining her dance experience with her business knowledge to create artistic opportunities for her local community working closely with local educational and rehabilitation programs. Flores is an accomplished teaching artist, providing cultural knowledge to children through song and dance not only for the Kupferberg Center but also with programs such as Mexico Beyond Mariachi, and Midori & Friends. Brenda is a first-generation Mexican American.
Tierney Sorensen
Bio
Tierney worked as a Kenan Fellow with Lincoln Center Education where she continued to learn skills to be a teaching artist and presented her first full-length work at Lincoln Center’s Clark Studio Theater. Tierney performed professionally with Bryce Dance Company based in New York City and taught in New York City public schools with Dancing Classrooms and FEMCHO. Tierney has taught the Mosaic Project Dance curriculum for our in-school residencies across Long Island and Queens.
Preya Patel
Bio
Preya Patel is a North Indian Classical Kathak dancer based in New York City trained under the guidance of Guru Smt. Jamuna Mitcham. Preya is one of the rare teachers born in the US who has pursued Kathak dance form full-time as a profession. She continues to evolve in her art form by further studying under the world-renowned kathak Guru Smt. Vaishali Trivedi, a disciple of kathak legend Padma Vibhushan Smt. Kumudini Lakhia.
In 2006, Preya completed her Rang Manch Pravesh, or formal graduation performance with a live orchestra. Since then, she has performed in a variety of venues in the US, Canada and India. Among these are the United Nations, MTV3, Queensboro Dance Festival, Celebrity Centre NYC, Rockland County Music Conservatory, the Outlet Project and the NY Times Travel Show.
Juana Cala
Bio
Juana Cala has been performing and teaching Flamenco in the United States and Europe for more than 20 years, and for . She performed as a soloist in the Maria Benitez Dance Company under the direction of Mario Maya, and then went on to form her own company touring Europe for 16 years. Juana has had the opportunity to work closely with acclaimed Flamenco artists such as; Antonio Canales, Javier Baron, El Junco, Alfredo Lagos, to name a few. She sat on the panel of judges, 3 years in a row, for annual Flamenco Dance competitions organized by “La Pena Flamenca” de Milan. In 1999 Juana was professor of Flamenco in a Professional Arts Program for the European Community (a European equivalent to “The High School of Performing Arts”. Juana enjoys sharing her experience by teaching Flamenco, from introductory courses to Master workshops for professionals.
Mesha Millington
Bio
Mesha Millington is a professional actress, singer and dancer. She has spent over the past 20 years as an arts educator while performing in film, television and theatre for over 35 years. Recent projects include NEW AMSTERDAM (NBC), Dance Africa 2022, Redeemables (Pilot) and Feature Film Dope King. Mesha is currently recording an album set for release in 2023.
Sashalie Rios
Bio
Sashalie Rios was born and raised in Miami, FL where she received her BFA in dance at New World School of the Arts College. While earning her degree she trained in various styles of movement at intensives with Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, San Francisco Conservatory and Mark Morris Dance Group. She has since worked professionally with Eryc Taylor Dance Company as a company member and with Mari Meade Dance Collective in both New York & France. Sashalie began dancing for Laura Halzack in 2021 and currently freelances with artists in various styles such as Robert Taylor Jr. & Abigail Raasch. Sashalie currently teaches dance for the Mosaic Project in several Queens Public Schools.
Christiana Hunte
Bio
Christiana Hunte is a multifaceted artistic being born and raised in Brooklyn. During her senior year at LaGuardia High School, Christiana joined the National YoungArts Foundation as a Winner in Modern Dance. She graduated from SUNY Purchase College in 2018, receiving her BFA in Dance; and a minor in Arts Management. She is a recent alumn of Springboard Danse Montreal studying/performing work by Ohad Naharin. She joined AntonioBrownDance as a company member in 2018 and has recently joined Esperanza Spalding on tour as a movement research artist. Christiana is currently a teacher at MOVE|NYC| where she was previously the company manager and an artistic intern.
Visual Arts
James Allister Sprang
Bio
The son of Caribbean immigrants, Sprang considers his relationship to Diasporic timelines while weaving together his multimedia work, to create sensory poems for the spirit. This work is informed by the Black interior as well as radical and experimental traditions. Sprang’s work lives in gallery spaces, theater spaces and the space between the ears. In 2022, Sprang was awarded both the Pew Fellowship and the Knight Foundation Art + Tech Fellowship for his work with the only 4DSound system in America. As an educator, James inspires the next generation through creating cyanotypes, collage, and multimedia works collaboratively and individually.
Tahmina Norin Sharmin
Bio
Born and raised in Bangladesh, Tahmina Norin Sharmin is a Visual Artist that has been teaching for KCA’s Mosaic Project Program in after-school residencies, and Su-Casa programs at multiple Senior Centers across Queens. She completed her MFA from University of Development Alternative in Bangladesh. Her teaching artist practice centers around concepts of community and cultural exchange, with projects that range from tandoori clay to block prints to murals.
Dimitri Saari
Bio
Dimitri is a teaching artist for our after-school residencies through the Mosaic Project. His expertise is with ESL and Bilingual students from K-6th grade, focusing on the art of Puppetry and Mask Making.