Tony Trischka was born in Syracuse, N.Y., in 1949, and raised in a home filled with music. There were Broadway scores and a sweeping range of classical music, from Stravinsky to Beethoven (the first thing Trischka learned to play on the banjo, in fact, was the Ninth Symphony). The wide-open American vistas of Aaron Copland had an especially potent spiritual and visceral impact on him, as did the folk music his left-leaning father held dear. The Almanac Singers, the solo work of its founding members Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and Lead Belly’s children’s LP were in constant rotation. Trischka fell in love with the banjo by way of the Kingston Trio’s 1959 recording of "M.T.A.," and was able to experience the New York-centered folk revival by trekking to the Newport Folk Festival in the early to mid-’60s. He moved to the city in the early ’70s and hit the ground running, settling in among a peer group of extraordinary musicians who saw American roots music as a thriving, living language that could be expanded and combined with other influences and sensibilities. Trischka found his purpose. Jaw-dropping musicianship was certainly encouraged, as was comic and literary irreverence, earnest songwriting and a record shop’s worth of touchstones beyond bluegrass, from the avant-garde to fusion and R&B.

Trischka has played extensively throughout the US and around the world. In addition to his GRAMMY nominations, he’s earned a number of honors over the years, including the International Bluegrass Music Award for Banjo Player of the Year in 2007, and he was named a United States Artists Friends Fellow in 2012. Symphony Space is proud to include him as their 2025/2026 Artist in Residence.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia, GRAMMY-nominee Michael Daves grew up playing bluegrass in the grand old tradition of staying up late & singing loud. Although he’s since moved north, the Southern roots permeate his music, however traditional or experimental. Heralded as “a leading light of the New York bluegrass scene” by The New York Times, Daves has garnered attention for his work with Chris Thile, Steve Martin, Tony Trischka, and others, in addition to his solo performances.

Although he is best known as a roots musician, Daves gravitated toward experimental music and jazz while studying at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. Relocating to Brooklyn in 2003, he began to crave the social interaction and musical challenges of bluegrass: "In Western Massachusetts, I was mostly doing jazz. By the time I moved to New York, I was ready to leave that behind, get back to my personal roots in bluegrass music. There were good jam sessions in New York and I was excited to reenter a regular jamming culture in the city. And I was getting back into rock music, too. The Brooklyn scene in 2003 and 2004 was pretty fertile. There was a lot of great, kind of raw, experimental rock music happening at that time, drawing me in, scratching an itch."

Daves is also a devoted teacher with over twenty-five years of experience whose instructional style is aimed at helping students develop and refine their own natural musical sensibilities while exploring a wealth of American roots traditions, particularly bluegrass.

Jared Engel is a professional musician and a 22-year mainstay of the New York City music scene. An accomplished multi-instrumentalist, he has appeared on GRAMMY-nominated recordings and is a familiar sight on subways, sidewalks, and bike paths hauling an arsenal of instruments that includes upright bass, bass guitar, tuba, 4-string plectrum banjo, and 5-string banjo. He has recorded and performed with artists such as Abigail Washburn, David Grisman, Tony Trischka, Kaïa Kater, Béla Fleck, Steve Martin, Naomi & Her Handsome Devils, and Stéphane Wrembel. He is a frequent collaborator with Tony Trischka, Sean Kiely, Baby Soda, Aurora Nealand, Mike Davis, and The High Society New Orleans Jazz Band.

Jacob Jolliff was born into a musical family in Newberg, OR. His dad started him on the mandolin at age seven and required him to practice ten minutes a day. But after six months of practicing this minimal amount, something clicked, and almost overnight he started putting in several hours of intense practice daily. And this hasn't really changed in the last 20 years. He has had the opportunity to meet and play with many of his heroes, including Ronnie McCoury, David Grisman, and Chris Thile. His main focus these days is The Jacob Jolliff Band, an ensemble of virtuosic pickers that play Jacob's original instrumentals, as well as showcase his singing. They tour nationally in the US and have also travelled to Scotland and Australia to perform. In 2022, Jacob was called on by world famous banjo player, Béla Fleck, to tour as part of My Bluegrass Heart. He performed around the country alongside Béla and some of the very best musicians in the genre: Bryan Sutton, Cody Kilby, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Michael Cleveland, Stuart Duncan, and Billy Contreras.

Sam Stage is a fiddler, singer, and songwriter from Raleigh, NC. Steeped in bluegrass and jazz but pulled apart by his love of all music, Sam aims to bring fresh ideas to the acoustic scene, placing creativity, joy, and precision at the center of his sound. Winner of the 2022 FreshGrass Fiddle Award, the 2021 RockyGrass Fiddle Competition, and a two-time IBMA nominee, Sam has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. From Hong Kong to Nashville to the Yukon Territory, he has played with bands including Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder, Tony Trischka’s Earl Jam, Nefesh Mountain, FreshGrass band winners the Cahaba Roots, the Tray Wellington Band, the Mountain Grass Unit, the Ruta Beggars, Jacob’s Ladder, and many others. An equally sought after session player having worked with producers including Alison Brown and Jim Van Cleve, Sam is also the recipient of a full scholarship to the renowned Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he has had the chance to learn from fiddle greats such as Jason Anick, Brittany Haas, Tristan Clarridge, Sara Caswell, and Bruce Molsky.

Farayi Malek is a jazz and contemporary vocalist, composer, and educator. She received her bachelor’s degree in contemporary improvisation from New England Conservatory of Music in 2017 where she studied with vocalist and composer Dominique Eade. She went on to receive a master’s degree in contemporary performance at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2018, under the tutelage of world-renowned pianist and composer Danilo Perez. Since 2018, Malek has been a member of Danilo Perez’s Global Messengers. Malek is also a passionate music educator. In September 2021, Malek joined the faculty at Berklee College of Music as an assistant professor in the ensemble department, as well as a pop ensemble teacher at Berklee’s City Music Boston High School Academy. In January 2022, she joined faculty at New England Conservatory as R&B ensemble coach and private studio instructor.