Crossing Borders Music

Founded in 2011, Crossing Borders Music has become a leading, critically acclaimed interpreter of chamber music by composers from under-represented cultures. Crossing Borders Music was a Headline Artist at the African Festival of the Arts, a Resident Arts Organization at the Chicago Cultural Center, and has been presented by the Old Town School of Folk, Montréal’s Society for the Research and Promotion of Haitian Music (SRDMH), United World College of South East Asia, and at Chicago’s Symphony Center through the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s African American Network. Crossing Borders Music has been featured on NBC-5 and ABC-7 Chicago News, on WFMT, on WBEZ, in the Chicago Tribune, and as a Critic’s Pick in TimeOut Chicago. Through a grant from The Chicago Community Trust, in August, 2016, Crossing Borders Music released a world premiere album of newly commissioned string quartet music by Haitian composers Jean “Rudy” Perrault and Sabrina C. D. Jean Louis. 

The mission of Crossing Borders Music is to use music to promote the dignity of people from all cultures.

We envision a more harmonious world in which people experience musical and artistic dimensions of cultures in such a way that influences how they shop, invest, travel, volunteer, do business, and live their day-to-day lives.

To this end, Crossing Borders Music shares moving music and compelling stories of people from under-represented cultures in a way that affirms and uplifts. Crossing Borders Music also presents educational programs to foster young people’s awareness of the diversity and richness of cultures and their music.

Crossing Borders Music is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization.

Grammy-nominated sitarist and composer Gaurav Mazumdar is one of the most sought-after and versatile musicians today. Recent performances include concerts at the BBC Proms at London's Royal Albert Hall, including a world premiere performance of Phillip Glass' Passages. Other recent solo performances have taken Gaurav to Chennai, London, Allahabad, Switzerland, Delhi, and Shenzhen, where he performed the world premiere of his sitar concerto “Celebration” with the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra, as well as performing as a soloist with the Paris Philharmonie, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, and the Seattle Symphony.

Gaurav has collaborated numerous times with Western musicians including recording projects with violinist Daniel Hope, composer Philip Glass, and Kenny Werner, and has been featured as a soloist with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra, with whom he premiered his own musical compositions. He is the only Indian to have performed at the Vatican.

Growing up in a musical family, Gaurav first learned the violin before the legendary maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar discovered Gaurav’s talent and inspired, taught, and guided him in learning the sitar. His jugalbandis (duets) with some of the best-known musicians of India from both the North-Indian (Hindustani) and South-Indian (Carnatic) traditions are a real treat. Gaurav now lives with his family in Wisconsin.

Maya Shiraishi left her native Japan to attend Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she received an Artist Diploma under the guidance of Jasmine Lin, Grammy-nominated violinist of the Chicago Chamber Musicians and Formosa Quartet, and studied chamber music under Shmuel Ashkenasi, founding violinist of the Vermeer Quartet. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, she collaborated with Yo-Yo Ma and played under conductors such as Riccardo Muti, Carlos Miguel Prieto, and Sir Andrew Davis.

Tom Clowes is a Chicago cellist and chamber musician. Of his chamber music performance and WFMT broadcast Voyage to Haiti, late Chicago music critic Andrew Patner wrote: “Wow.  I was amazed at the overall quality of the music making... the simplicity and soft–sell of the whole performance and broadcast wound up being deeply moving and inspiring… some performers and composers we can take notice of in the future, too!” His chamber playing was praised by Chicago Classical Review as “compelling” in a performance it named one of the year's “top 10 performances.” Clowes was a student of internationally acclaimed cellist Wendy Warner, former Detroit Symphony Orchestra Principal Cellist Italo Babini, and Lawrence University Conservatory of Music Professor Janet Anthony. As a member of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he played under conductors Riccardo Muti, Peter Oundjian, and Cliff Colnot. Before moving to Chicago, Tom was a member of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra.

Jagannath Roy is a leading Indian tabla player who has collaborated with leading Indian classical musicians in the Carnatic tradition.

Crossing Cultures: India and the West | July 14, 2023

Composer: Gaurav Mazumdar
Performers:
Gaurav Mazumdar, sitar

Maya Shiraishi, violin

Tom Clowes, cello

Jagannath Roy, tabla

Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Eric Arunas. Recorded at the WFMT Studios, Chicago, IL. 

Major funding for the recording was provided by the Sparkplug Foundation, with additional support from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. Crossing Borders Music acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.