Donna Weng Friedman - pianist
Donna Weng Friedman is an award-winning pianist, producer, filmmaker and creative visionary. Her distinguished career spans dynamic performances, innovative projects, groundbreaking collaborations, and a steadfast dedication to advancing the arts through innovation, education and mentorship.
Donna was selected as one of Musical America's Top 30 Professionals of 2024 for her outstanding contribution to the performing arts.
"We asked the performing arts industry to nominate people who persistently and relentlessly strive to keep the performing arts vital. They are thoughtful, creative, and often innovative; they are the hard workers. You were chosen from among the nominations for your outstanding contributions."
— Musical America Worldwide, January 2025
https://www.donnawengfriedman.com
Gene Pritsker - composer, gitarist
There are so few composers of contemporary music who have expanded its idiom and its language that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Among those few, the shape-shifting guitarist/electronics manipulator Gene Pritsker is one of the only composers who continue to break down the barriers that still exist in the sometimes water-tight compartments that industry marketers revel in.
- Raul d'Gama Rose, All About Jazz, March 2012
He worked closely with jazz fusion legend Joe Zawinul and has orchestrated major Hollywood movies, including 'Cloud Atlas', for which he wrote additional music and composed his ''Cloud Atlas Symphony'.
Mark Kostabi, painter
Kostabi is most known for his paintings of faceless figures which often comment on contemporary political, social and psychological issues, and which have visual stylistic roots in the work of Giorgio de Chirico and Fernand Léger.[5] Beyond traditional art world exposure, Kostabi has designed album covers for Guns N' Roses (Use Your Illusion) and The Ramones (¡Adios Amigos!), Seether (Holding Onto Strings Better Left to Fray),[6] Jimmy Scott (Holding Back The Years), Glint (Sound in Silence), RK: Roman Klun (Kingsway), Psychotica (Espina) and numerous products including a Swatch watch,[2] Alessi vases, Rosenthal espresso cups, Ritzenhoff milk glasses, and a Giro d'Italia pink jersey.
Retrospective exhibitions of Kostabi's paintings have been held at the Mitsukoshi Museum in Tokyo (1992) and the Art Museum of Estonia in Tallinn (1998). Kostabi's work is in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Brooklyn Museum, the National Gallery in Washington D.C., the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Yale University Art Gallery the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome and the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands.
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Robert C Ford, Wall Street Poet
Robert C. Ford, known as the Wall Street Poet, is a globe-trotting poet, lyricist and spoken word artist based in New York City. His performances span Europe and the Americas, and he is recognized for blending poetry with music—collaborating with world-class performers across genres including pop, rock, jazz and opera. His words are delivered both in his own voice and interpreted by acclaimed vocalists.
He has released two albums of poetry set to music: The Music Between Us (2021) and Footprints of Steel (2025). These works feature collaborations with notable composers such as Charles Coleman (Paavo Järvi, London Symphony Orchestra), Adam Holzman (Miles Davis, Steven Wilson), Mark Kostabi (Guns N' Roses Use Your Illusion, Ornette Coleman), Carli Muñoz (Beach Boys, Wilson Pickett), Gene Pritsker (Matrix Resurrections, Joe Zawinul) and Jay Rodriguez Sierra (Groove Collective, Wu-Tang Clan).
Robert has performed alongside celebrated musicians including: Gerry Brown (drums--Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder), John Clark (horn--Gil Evans), Jane Getter (guitar--SNL Band), Adam Holzman (keyboards), Jason Kao Hwang (violin), Mark Kostabi (piano), Carli Muñoz (piano), Paul Nowinski (bass--Les Paul, Keith Richards), Gene Pritsker (guitar), Harvie S (bass), Rob Schwimmer (piano, theremin--Wayne Shorter, Paul Simon), Jay Rodriguez Sierra (saxophone), Dave Soldier (violin--Bo Diddley, John Cale) and David Taylor (bass trombone--Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones).
https://grokipedia.com/page/Robert_C_Ford_poet
Dorota Nvotová, singer
Dcéra herečky Anny Šiškovej, ktorá ju vychovávala spolu s divadelným i filmovým režisérom Jurajom Nvotom. Jej biologickým otcom bol hudobník Jaroslav Filip.[1] Jej sestrou je herečka a režisérka Tereza Nvotová.
Vyštudovala evanjelické lýceum v Bratislave.[2]
Bola 10 rokov pravidelnou autorkou novinárskeho stĺpčeka v týždenníku .týždeň. Živila sa aj ako moderátorka hudobnej hitparády televízie Joj, TOP 10 JOJ.
Ako šesťročná sa objavila v televíznom filme Tajomstvá pod viečkami v réžii Juraja Nvotu a v rozprávke Šípková Ruženka v réžii Stanislava Párnického. Ako deväťročná hrala v detskom muzikáli Bambi, ako desaťročná v divadle Astorka v hre Incident, ako 14-ročná v televíznom filme Prášky na spanie. V roku 2000 ju Martin Šulík obsadil do filmu Krajinka. Nasledovali úlohy v snímkach Děvčátko (2002) – Cena za ženský herecký výkon na MFF Thessaloniki, Perníková věž (2002), O život (2008), Muzika (2007) a Případ nevernej Kláry (2009).[9]
Bola členkou česko-slovenskej hudobnej formácie Overground, v ktorej spievala a hrala po boku svojho manžela Miloslava Lábera alias Whisky – speváka, textára, gitaristu i režiséra videoklipov, člena skupiny Slobodná Európa. Overground v roku 2003 vydal rovnomenný debutový album a Nvotová v roku 2004 vydala sólový album pod názvom Dorota Nvotová. V roku 2007 sa Nvotová a Láber rozišli a následne v roku 2008 Nvotová vydala svoj druhý album Sila vzlyku.
Keď začala Dorota žiť v Nepále, napísala autobiografiu Fulmaya a nahrala so svojou nepálskou skupinou album Just! (2012, gitara Bishnu Gurung – the Edge Band, basgitara Arjun Gurung – Damage Glitters, bicie Bimal Pariyar – Damage Glitters).
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Asia, singer
Neža, singer, ZWE Vienna
