“HYPER-ACCURATE YET FIERCELY VIVACIOUS” (i care if you listen), ”Smart as a fox” (Limelight Magazine), and more fascinating than a jar of lightning, Sybarite5 is dazzling audiences around the world with their luxurious sound and unexpected programming.
Equal parts passion, grit, and musical ecstasy, Sybarite5 is an intoxicating cocktail of post-genre musical goodness expressed through the virtuosity of Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins; Angela Pickett, viola; Laura Metcalf, cello; and Louis Levitt, bass. This exciting quintet is constantly evolving, defying categorization, and has been keeping audiences on their toes for 10 years.
Always searching for new sounds and projects to bring to life, nothing is off limits. Their most recent album, OUTLIERS, consists entirely of new music written for them and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Traditional Classical Chart. Expect to see Sybarite5 collaborating with Iranian santoor player Ehsan Matoori, world percussionist and Silkroad co-artistic director Shane Shanahan, Hacked Theremins creator & composer Jakub Ciupinski, a troupe of burlesque dancers, or vocal chameleons Clarice Assad and Blythe Gaissert.
The group has performed in 44 states and counting,"from the Library of Congress, (Washington DC) to Anchorage Concert Association, (Alaska) as well as concerts in Sybarite5’s home of New York City at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, National Sawdust, the Apple Store and a decade residency at Nancy Manocherian’s Cell Theatre. In addition to its own groundbreaking, portable music festival, Forward Festival, Sybarite5 has appeared at festivals including Ravinia, Caramoor, Wolf Trap, Grand Teton, Aspen, Interlochen, Chautauqua and many others. International appearances include Canada’s Tuckamore Music Festival, the New Docta International Music Festival in Cordoba, Argentina, and the Osaka Festa in Osaka, Japan.
Committed to community engagement and educational activities, Sybarite5 works with over 5000 students annually and is known for their engaging corporate presentations in entrepreneurship and communication.
Recently dubbed “the millennial Kronos” (Theater Jones), Sybarite5 is chamber music’s most dynamic ensemble taking listeners on a musical journey of staggering breadth and depth with new works by living composers, as well as the group’s favorite selections from Radiohead, Coltrane, Komitas, Piazzolla, and Pete Seeger... but as Strings Magazine says “that doesn’t even begin to describe the range of their eclecticism or the depth of their repertoire. “
