BreatheLife for a Healthy People – Healthy Planet

Public Multimedia & Musical Awareness-Raising Event

Palais des Nations 31 October 2018

20:30 – 22:00 Salles des Assemblées

On the occasion of the

Featuring Grammy® Winner and ‘United Nations Humanitarian Artist’ Ricky Kej, this free, public concert event will expand awareness in Geneva international community about air pollution as a critical health, climate and environment issue through music, video and art. Known for his signature - ‘Music for the Planet’, Ricky Kej and his ensemble of musicians from countries as diverse as Ghana, India, Peru, Viet Nam, South Africa, and the USA will play compositions of ‘World Music for Healthy People and Planet’. See here for your free tickets: http://reg.unog.ch/e/breathlifeconcert

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Featured Artists

Ricky Kej & Musical Ensemble:

Grammy® Award Winner Ricky Kej is a well-

known Conservationist, an Ambassador to Earth Day

Network and a professor at the Indian National Institute

of advanced Studies (at the Indian Institute of Science).

Ricky Kej composed and produced his latest

album ‘SHANTI SAMSARA’, which was launched by

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French

President François Hollande in the presence of World

Leaders at the United Nations COP21 Climate Change

Conference in Paris. 

For Shanti Samsara, Ricky collaborated with over

500 musicians from over 40 countries, all coming together for Environmental Consciousness.

Ricky has performed at prestigious venues all over the world including thrice at the United

Nations General Assembly, NY.

Ricky has been awarded "Global Humanitarian Artist" by the United Nations,

"Outstanding Musical and Humanitarian Achievement" award by the The House of Commons,

Parliament of Canada, and several others. 'Real Leaders', a Signatory to the United Nations has

named Ricky Kej as one of the 100 Real Leaders. Ricky is also conferred with the title “Youth

Icon of India".

Wouter Kellerman, South Africa

Wouter Kellerman is a Grammy® Award-winning

South African flautist, producer and composer who has

won six South African Music Awards. Using his classical

training as a foundation, Kellerman has focused his

attention on World and Roots music, exploring the

versatility of the instrument and fusing classical and

contemporary sounds.

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Laura Dickinson, USA

Grammy® Winner from USA, Laura Dickinson infuses a unique freedom and laser-beam vocal precision into every song she performs. A hugely popular vocal contractor and voice actress in Hollywood, her vocals can be heard in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, War For The Planet Of The Apes, Sing, Pitch Perfect and the sequel, on commercials and popular TV series. She is credited for her work on Disney Channel's animated hits Phineas and Ferb, Jake and The Never Land Pirates and Sofia The First. She recently toured the United States with UK space rockers Spiritualized, performed on the The Talk with Andy Grammer, and opened for many artists including Tony Bennett, Lyle Lovett and Bob Newhart.

Ciro Hurtado, Peru

Grammy® Nominee Ciro Hurtado is a guitarist-

composer from Perú who has been actively performing

since the early seventies. He has scored for numerous

films including contributing tracks to the classic film,

“Baraka”. He has also performed on several Grammy®

winning albums and has worked with Strunz and Farah,

the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Alex Acuña among

others. Ciro's guitar work ranges from the very

traditional Latin American genres to the more

sophisticated fusion Latin-Jazz idioms, placing him

among a select generation of Latin American composers.

He has been awarded the prestigious Durfee Master Musician Fellowship.

Rocky Dawuni, Ghana

Grammy® Nominated Rocky Dawuni is a

Ghanaian singer and advocate for cleaner cooking

technologies. His signature is ‘Afro Roots’ sound which is

a mixture of Reggae, Afrobeat, Highlife and soul music.

He currently spends his time between Ghana and Los

Angeles. Dawuni’s sixth studio album titled ‘Branches of

The Same Tree’ was nominated for a Grammy® Award

for Best Reggae Album in December 2015 for the 58th

Annual Grammy® Awards.

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Lonnie Park, USA

Grammy® Nominee Lonnie Park is a vocalist, keyboardist, songwriter, engineer, producer, and plays a wide variety of instruments. Along with his solo career, and various collaborations, Lonnie is the lead singer of the band Ten Man Push. Lonnie also regularly collaborates with Grammy Winning producer and conservationist Ricky Kej for performances at United Nations summits and other world stages. Lonnie has also produced commissioned music for causes such as Autism Works, Autism Movement, Puzzle Solvers.

Hai Phuong, Viet Nam

Hai Phuong is one of the leading Dan Tranh

musicians in the world. A Graduate of HCMC

Conservatory (Zither Performance Department), she won

‘The First Prize’ and ‘The Best Contemporary Music

Performer Prize’ in ‘The First National Concours of

Young Zither talents 1992’. She has performed in several

National and International Music Festivals. Currently, Hai

Phuong is a teacher of Tranh Zither in HCMC

conservatory.

Other Ensemble Members/Orchestra – India

Manoj George, India

Manoj George is a violinist and composer

of repute. He has performed as a conductor,

string arranger and choral arranger in the

Grammy award winning album Winds of

Samsara. His wide repertoire include scoring

music for Malayalam and Kannada feature films,

documentaries, short films and commercials.

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Varijashree Venugopal, India

Varijashree Venugopal was found to have the rare

ability to identify about 40 ragas at the tender age of one

and a half years and about 200 ragas at the age of four

years. She was initially trained by her father. An award

winning vocalist and flute player, Varijashree is known for

her immense virtuosity as a cross-cultural musician and

performer.

Muthu Kumar, India

With over 20 years in the music industry, Muthu

Kumar has made a niche for himself as a percussionist

par excellence. Having studied under legends Ustad

Allarakha and Ustad Zakir hussain, Muthu has traveled

around the globe many times and performed on many

prestigious stages and festivals. He has collaborated

with musicians around the world, across genres and has

accompanied the likes of Alice Coltrane, Maynard

Ferguson, John Barnes, Bill Laswell, Dana Gillespie,

Bombay Jayashree, Mandolin U. Rajesh and Lucky Ali to

name a few.

B. S. Arun Kumar, India

Along with being a master of Carnatic percussion,

Arun Kumar is also a very well-known Jazz Drummer.

Has been in the field of Music since 1986 and rendered

percussion support to Carnatic Classical, Talavadya,

Jazz music, Light Music and Dance Performances. Has

given performances all over India, Hong Kong, Germany,

Holland, France, Switzerland, UK, Belgium, Spain,

Luxemburg, Sri Lanka, USA and Canada.

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String Orchestra - bringing together distinguished young musicians from France and

the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland under the baguette of the innovative

Franck Fontcouberte.

Franck Fontcouberte, Conductor

Franck Fontcouberte is both artistic director and

conductor of the instrumental ensemble Contrepoint, principal

conductor of United Strings of Europe, artistic director of the

festival "Musicasète", "Rencontres artistique Gigeantesques",

the “Chorale de Sète” and the Vocal Ensemble of Montpellier.

Holder of the State diploma of professor of percussions

and the Certificate of aptitude to the functions of professor of

direction of instrumental ensembles, he teaches the direction of

orchestra with the Regional Conservatory of Montpellier

Méditerranée Métropole.

Dorothée Fontcouberte, First violin

She studied violin with Pierre Yvanovitch, Marie-Claude

Theuveny at the CNR of Saint Maur, Tatiana Affanassief, Haik

Davtian and Pierre Hofer at the CNR of Créteil. She won several

first prizes in violin and chamber music.

Since then she has appeared as a soloist in various

ensembles to perform, among other things, Mozart's

"Symphonie Concertante", Corelli and Bach Concertos, Vivaldi's

"Four Seasons", and also the "Rondo Capriccioso" of Saint

Saëns on tournée in Prague with the Counterpoint Orchestra in

April 1997.

In addition to her activity as a violin teacher, she plays in numerous orchestras: the

Montpellier National Orchestra, the Toulon Opera, the Grand Théâtre de Reims and the Lyric

Orchestra of Paris at the Palais Garnier and at the Opéra Bastille.

Matthew Chin, First violin

Matthew Studied with renowned violinist Pierre Amoyal in

HEMU-lausanne under the support from ‘Association des Amis

du Conservatoire de Lausanne’, Max D.Jost foundation and

Lalive foundation for his Bachelor studies in which he graduated

with a perfect recital (6.0). He then continued his studies at the

Mozarteum University of music, Salzburg. Currently, he is

studying at the HEM-Geneve under Svetlin Roussev.

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Eric Mouret, Second violin

After studying violin in Avignon, his hometown, Eric

Mouret continued his training at the Conservatory of Boulogne-

Billancourt before finishing his career with the Geneva High

School of Music, in the class of Jean-Pierre Wallez. He also

holds an orchestration diploma from the HEM of Geneva (class

of Nicolas Bacri), the Diploma of Piano Study awarded by the

CRR of Boulogne-Billancourt, as well as the Diploma of Direction

of Orchestra of the École Normale de Musique de Paris, in the

class of Dominique Rouits.

His activities are divided between violin teaching and his

career as an interpreter with Camerata Alma Viva, of which he is

a founding member and arranger, as well as several

independent writing works, notably for the Verbier Festival

Orchestra and the Orchestre National de France.

Zoé Saubat, Cello

French cellist Zoé Saubat received her Diploma in Music

Education at the age of 15 years before leaving to study at the

RRC in Paris. At the same time, she studied Modern Literature

at the Sorbonne where she obtained a degree. She obtained her

Master of Performance at the prestigious Royal College of Music

in London under the guidance of Alexander Boyarsky.

As an accomplished orchestral musician, Zoé regularly

works in London with the orchestra of the BBC, the Birmingham

Orchestra, and participates in numerous collaborations with the

Royal Opera House, the London Symphony Orchestra and the

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Zoe has also performed as a

soloist with many orchestras such as London City Orchestra and Southbank Sinfonia, which she

was part of during 2016.

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Vilas Nayak, India – Visual Artist

Vilas Nayak, a self-taught artist, is one of the

most sought after speed painting artists in the world. He

has performed in over 28 countries on some of the most

prestigious stages. His performances on Asia’s Got

Talent on AXN and Got Talent World Stage Live have

caught attention of millions of art lovers across the world.

He was a finalist of India’s Got Talent season 3 and

winner of ‘EC live quotient Most Innovative Act Award’

2012.

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