Maria Logis » Collaborators

Maria Logis is a performance artist and singer/songwriter. She has written and produced three performance pieces. “Singing My Way Through It,” was performed at the Creative Center (2001) and the Blue Heron Arts Center (2002.) “And You Gave Me Music” was seen at the 2003 Fringe Festival. The performance piece, “Love, Longing and Separation: Songs and Stories was performed in January 2008 at the University Settlement House.

She has presented her story and songs at numerous venues including the World Congress of Music Therapy in Washington D.C., the Training Institute for Mental Health, the New School, Beth Israel Hospital,New York University and the The Moth at the BAM café. She was a guest on NPR radio, along with Oliver Sachs, in a program on Music and Healing and was the featured speaker on the Greek station, Cosmos FM. “Do I Dare Imagine,” her first CD was released in March 2002.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Greek immigrant parents, Ms. Logis graduated from Brooklyn College with a degree in political science and has a Master’s degree in career development and counseling from New York University. She is currently a Management Consultant with expertise in training, leadership development and succession planning. Previously she was the General Manager of Human Resource Development and was responsible for the design and development of Con Edison’s state of the art Learning Center.

Ms. Logis was diagnosed with non Hodgkins lymphoma in 1994. She turned to God for help. Out of the blue she found in herself the desire to sing. Searching for a singing teacher, she wound up in music therapy--a journey unlike anything she had experienced. Original songs and lyrics have come from the music therapy process. Her cancer was only the starting point as her life’s anguish and joy came pouring out in music. She continues to sing her way through her illness.

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Justin Flynn (music director for The Fringe, woodwinds for The Creative Center and Blue Heron), saxophonist and composer, is originally from upstate New York and currently lives in New York City. As a professional saxophonist, he has performed across the United States, Europe, and South America with a variety of groups ranging from the big bands of Toshiko Akiyoshi, Chico O’Farrill, and Bill Mobley, to small groups like singer Lea Delaria, Urban Survival, and Vinson Valega Quartet. On a recent tour of South America, Justin’s performances received rave reviews, and earlier performances in Germany and Switzerland have also garnered critical acclaim. Mr. Flynn’s musical background has allowed him to perform in some of NYC’s best venues including Birdland, Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street YMCA, Smoke, Smalls, Fat Cat, and Symphony Space. In addition, he has a busy recording career, encompassing original jazz projects, films and commercial work.

In addition to writing music for his own groups, which include a quintet and a sextet, Mr. Flynn has also composed and arranged music for groups as large as a studio orchestra, and as small as a string trio, and for venues ranging from films to Rolling Stone magazine. His arrangements have been performed with the NYC ballet, and at the NYC Fringe Festival and on numerous CD recordings. In 2005, Mr. Flynn was asked to be the Garth Newel Music Center’s first composer-in-residence, with a concert that fall of his newly completed jazz suite.

As a performer, Justin is a first call saxophonist and has performed with music greats including Benny Golson, Vincent Herring, Dave Liebman, Kenny Werner, Marian McPartland, the NYC Ballet, Rueben Rada, R&B star Lou Rawls, and Motown legends the Temptations. He has also recorded with some of today’s finest jazz musicians including Peter Erskine Randy Brecker Joe Locke, Jim Rotondi, and Bruce Barth . He has performed in some of NYC’s best venues including Birdland, Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Symphony Space. He also has a busy recording career, encompassing records, films and commercial work. In the fall of 2007 he will be releasing a new record featuring Jeremy Bacon, Ugonna Okegwo, and Jeff Ballard.

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Sophie Poletti (Chorus Member, And You Gave Me Music) grew up in Los Angeles, California where she graduated from the prestigious Lycee Francais and then pursued a Literature degree at UCLA. Her dance training began at the Stanley Holden Dance Center at age 13, extending to summer programs including Joffrey Ballet, NY, Burklyn Ballet, Vermont and at the Rosella Hightower school in Cannes, France. Sophie acquired a vast classical repertoire in her seven years with the Nevada Ballet Theatre, Las Vegas. Guesting includes dance companies throughout southern California and Nevada and touring to China, Copenhagen and The Fringe Festivals both in New York and Edinburgh. Since moving to NY in 2001, Sophie has worked with Gleich Dances, Michael Mao Dance, Terrain, Beth Soll and Dancers, Ballet Mink Colbert, Theresa Duhon and dancers, and Maria Logis troupe. She started studying the Pilates based method in 1994 and became a certified instructor in 1999 at the University of Nevada. She studied under Dolly Kelepecz and became proficient in the following Pilates apparatus: Cadillac, Reformer, Wunda Chair, Therapy Ball, and mat work. She started teaching at Sports Club Las Vegas where she initiated mat classes. She also taught equipment and mat work at the Nevada Ballet Theater, Dk Body Balancing, Sporting House and Cirque du Soleil all in Las Vegas. She also taught Pilates at Body Design in southern California. After moving to New York she coached people in Pilates privately and at the Sal Anthony Movement Salon in Manhattan. She has extensive experience coaching musicians, actors (Frank Langella,) athletes (Art Chamsky) and dancers as well as individuals with ailments, injuries and physical therapy needs. She continues to expand her knowledge of the body by attending continuing education courses in Pilates and other modalities. Most recently she attended a workshop on the “Elvis and Master Stretch Art Forms” in California and “Rotation in the Pilates Studio” taught by Elizabeth Larkam in New York City. Ms. Poletti speaks French fluently.

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Helen Yee (violin, The Fringe, The Creative Center and Blue Heron) is a violinist, multi-instrumentalist, composer residing in the worlds of music between East and West, traditional and new, "high" and "low." She is a member of Invert, a New York City based string quartet performing original new music by its members and unique arrangements of works by composers from all ages. Ms. Yee has also been a member for over ten years with Music From China, an ensemble that performs traditional and new music on traditional Chinese instruments, for which she performs on yangqin and percussion. Recently she appeared on the stage with Yo-Yo Ma and Music From China in a concert of new work by Zhou Long, at Washington D.C.'s Freer Gallery. She has also performed and recorded with a number of rock/pop bands including Twenty % Tippers, Too Cynical To Cry, Petro, and Mairead. With these groups she has performed extensively in the New York area in venues as diverse as CBGB’s and Lincoln Center. In addition to continued study of jazz violin, she has also explored improvisation in other contexts including Sound Painting (tm) as directed by Walter Thompson and vocal improvisation with various groups. Ms. Yee has performed in Off Off Broadway productions of experimental theatre, including work with Mabou Mines. As a session musician she has contributed to a number of movie soundtracks, including Cost of Living, Number One, Tug of War, and Martin Scorcese's Kundun.

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Cinzia Sarto (director and set designer, The Creative Center and Blue Heron) comes from Venice, Italy. She holds a bachelors degree in Architecture from the Cooper Union School. More recently she has attended programs in video at the University of Bologna and at Film Video Arts in New York. Although she has worked for many years as an architect she is now more involved in creating works of art using video. Her video The Wind and the Eye was selected and shown at the 2001 Malafeminna Film and Video Festival in New York City. Ms. Sarto is currently working on a documentary about a 17th Century female Italian painter, Artemisia Gentileschi. She created the set, video and directed the premiere production of "Singing My Way Through It" at the Creative Center for Women with Cancer.

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Jon Cowherd (Music Director, The Creative Center and Blue Heron) was born in Indianapolis, IN. and grew up in Paducah Ky. where he studied piano, voice and French horn. Cowherd earned bachelors degrees in both French horn performance and jazz studies on piano from Loyola Univ. of New Orleans where he studied with, Ellis Marsalis, John Mahoney, Mike Pellera, Jack Gardner and Steve Masakowski and played with local musicians on the scene such as Tony Dagradi, Rick Margitza, Bill Huntington, James Singleton, and Johnny Vidacovich. At this time Jon met Brian Blade who also attended Loyola. Soon after their first meeting, Jon formed his own quartet which featured Blade and trombonist Mark Mullins (Mulebone, Harry ConnickJr.) and featured Jon’s own compositions. His mentors and teachers influenced him to move to New York. In 1993 he entered Manhattan School of Music to pursue a degree in Jazz Studies on piano. While there he studied with Harold Danko and performed with Milt Hinton, George Coleman, Bobby Watson and others. In 1995 Cowherd received his Masters degree in Jazz Studies. In 1997 Blade and Cowherd formed the Fellowship featuring musicians Christopher Thomas, Myron Walden, Melvin Butler, Dave Easley, Jeff Parker and Kurt Rosenwinkel. They recorded an album in the fall of ‘97 produced by Daniel Lanois. The record included new compositions by Blade and Cowherd’s composition “Lifeline”. From ‘98-2000 they have toured the U.S. and Europe and performed in jazz clubs such as the Village Vanguard, Smalls and the Blue Note. In the fall of ‘99 their second release “Perceptual” was recorded and co-produced by Blade and Cowherd. It features the Fellowship with Joni Mitchell and Daniel Lanois as well as originals from Cowherd and Blade. Cowherd currently resides in New York and has also performed with Leni Stern, Nancy Marano, Carla Cook, Stacy Kent and Claudia Acuna. Cowherd was also arranger and assistant conductor/pianist for the Broadway show “Swing” featuring vocalist Anne Hampton Callaway.

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Todd Isler (percussion, The Creative Center and Blue Heron) has been a part of the New York music scene since the mid-eighties. His love of Jazz and World music has led to the study of Indian, African, and Brazilian music, including an apprenticeship in India under the master Mridangham player Karaikudi R. Mani, as well as the Brazilian great, Portino. Todd co-founded Savane with the award winning Danon O'Sow of the Ivory Coast. The group went on to win the Disc Makers Heavy Hitter Contest. He was also a winner of the Jazziz Percussion On Fire contest in '97. Mr. Isler has performed with such Jazz and Blues greats as Jack McDuff, Mark Murphy, and Melvin Sparks, to name a few. He has graced over fifty recordings with his unique feel on instruments like the Janoon, Kanjira, and Hadgini (the double-chambered Udu drum). Todd released his first CD as a leader in '99, a disc of duets that even the critics liked. He has written several scores for dance, the latest being Shades of Grey by Marcy Simon. It premiered at the Riverside Chuch Theatre in April, 2001. Mr. Isler has conducted master classes at the Drummer's Collective and New York University, using the South Indian rhythmic system to enhance all musicians' concept of rhythm.

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