PAULA JEANINE BENNETT vocalist, percussionist, composer, artist
Paula Jeanine Bennett is a multidisciplinary artist with a deep and soulful commitment to the creative path. Whether as a leader of her own ensembles or as a musician on a creative team in a variety of the arts, she consistently brings her unique vision and joyful spirit to all proceedings. In recent years she has performed at Pope Benedict XVI's Summit for Peace in Assisi, Italy, at the Art Summit Indonesia VII, at London's Nehru Centre, and was the American Voice of Peace for the World Conference of Religions in Kyoto, Japan. In New York City, she has graced the stages of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). She has been an American cultural ambassador in India where she performed with regional musicians on a five city tour sponsored by the American Consulate. Paula also headlined the Capital Jazz Festival as well as the Kala Ghoda Festival in Mumbai. Inspiration from these cross-cultural collaborations led to the formation of the Indi-pop group "Melody Sky", in which she is co-leader, lyricist and vocalist. "Melody Sky" has a 2012 cd release on India's Mystica Music, "Songs For The Global Soul". In 2012, Paula traveled to Indonesia where she premiered her original folk opera, "A Village Of One" at the Ceramic Music Festival presented by the Jatiwangi Art Factory in Jatisura, Central Java. "A Village Of One" was also presented at the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition in the autumn of 2013, adapted for a New York audience.    Paula has also presented a variety of concerts and lectures in Java, most recently at the Festival Budaya Anak Bangsa at the Taman Ismail Marzuki National Arts Center and at the U.S. State Department's @America Center in Jakarta. Paula is a musician on the staff of the Juilliard School as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center. She is the first-call musician for dance in New York City. In this capacity, she has also played many workshops at New York University for monologuist Anna Deavere Smith. She has recently composed music and soundscapes for choreographers Antonio Brown (Bill T. Jones), Freddie Moore (The Ailey School) and Thang Dao, whose recent work "Whisper To Me", set to Paula's score, premiered at the 2013 Beijing International Ballet & Choreography Competition (IBCC). Paula is also an accomplished visual artist who has exhibited her assemblages in several national shows. In the summer of 2013 she created "The Whisper Garden", a site-specific interactive art installation for sound, spoken word and movement in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Paula Jeanine Bennett, originally from Cleveland, Ohio, lives on the Brooklyn waterfront and can see the Statue of Liberty from her rooftop.