“Rarely are performers as at home at Lincoln Center as they are in a sweat lodge. Composer, cellist, vocalist, educator and Grammy-nominated performer Dawn Avery is equally comfortable with either. Working with musical luminaries from Luciano Pavarotti to Sting, Dawn spent years honing her musical talents, collaborating and performing with John Cage, Glen Velez, Joanne Shenandoah, David Darling, Ustad Sultan Kahn, Sussan Deyhim, Karsh Kale, Baba Olatunji, Reza Derakshani, John Cale, Jeff Ball, Ron Warren, and Mischa Maisky.

Dawn Avery has performed at the Montreux, Copenhagen, Helsinki and Banlieu Bleu Jazz Festivals in Europe. She’s played uptown at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, as well as in New York’s thriving downtown music stages like the Knitting Factory, La Mama and Thread Waxing Space.

Dawn Avery specializes in the performance of Native American music with her own ensemble OKENTI, indigenous classical music with her cello, voice and percussion duo CELLOVISION! and in a Persian Duo with Reza Derakshani.

As an educator, Dawn helps to nurture future generations of musicians as Professor of Music at Montgomery College where she also produces an annual World Arts Festival.

Dawn Avery’s compositions span from orchestral ro chamber to contemporary. She has collected awards for her works from the American Dance Festival at Duke University, NYU, Meet the Composer, the Maryland Flute Association and the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County in Maryland.

Dawn’s exploration of sacred music led her to study the relationship between music and spirituality, especially in meditative practice. She has led meditation groups and spiritual music performances at the Milan Sacred Music Festival, the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies, The Open Center in NYC and Musicales Visuales in Mexico City.” As leader of meditation and creativity workshops, she has worked with such great healers as the Dalai Lama, Rick Jarow, Ron Young, and Hilda Charleton."

Virginia Prescott, radio producer and journalist.

 

“Magical, passionate and virtuosic exploration of ethnic song and extended technique.”
Kitty Brazelton,

“Sumptuous vocalizing, a style we associate with Meredith Monk.” Linda Belans,

“Ms. Buckholz Avery’s work evokes the confusion and pathos of city life, incorporating thorny jazz textures, folk songs, fierce rock rhythms, and performance-art set pieces. The composer dominated her instrumental ensemble, drawing weird sounds from her cello and singing forcefully. Alex Ross,

“. . .the public was enchanted, demanding an encore!” Cesar Delgado Martinez,

“. . .her voice produces chants, strongly reminiscent of medieval song, bringing to mind the Australian duet, Dead Can Dance, only more daring!” New Music Across America,
MUSICALES VISUALES

“She plucks, bows and sometimes sings in a strange language of her own. There’s a freshness to this work. Suzanne Sloat,