Barry Oreck & Friends

Barry Oreck is a Brooklyn based singer songwriter known for evocative storytelling, rhythmic and stylistic variety, and songs that move and motivate. He explores a range of topics from the personal to the political, touching on societal and ecological issues as well as the perils of aging and long forgotten love. Oreck’s music does not fit neatly into a single genre; his major musical influences include Steve Goodman, Stephen Sondheim, Odetta and Tom Waits. Oreck is also a long time New York City performer and choreographer in dance and theater and a teacher and researcher in arts education.

Rima Fand is a Brooklyn based composer, musician, and educator. An innovator who is also strongly drawn to folk traditions, she creates on an edge where the traditional meets the experimental. She has created music for opera, puppet theater, large scale tableau vivant, contemporary musical theater and clown shows. Along with Barry Oreck & Friends, Rima plays with The Maybelles, a country blues trio, and with Timbila, exploring the traditions of Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

Jesse Miller, a founding member of the Brooklyn Guitar Quartet, taught guitar at James Madison High School for 25 years until 2020. Miller plays lead electric guitar in The Axiomatics, an all originals rock band, is a member of the New York City Guitar Orchestra and steel string acoustic in the duo Whiskey & Weed with his daughter Mollie.

Adam Armstrong, bassist and Australian ex pat, has played with a wide range of artists in his more than 30 year career and currently performs with groups led by Indian raga inspired pianist Richard X Bennett, jazz drummer Christian Finger, alt jazz composer and saxophonist Ken Thomson, and KJ Denhert’s Jazz Project. He appears on more than 70 albums, has played on the soundtracks of numerous feature films and theatre productions, and has given master classes and workshops at institutions around the world.