Manhattanville Strings Chamber Music Duo from New York City, NY

We are a young mixed-repertoire string collective based in New York City led by Nathan Kamal and Ben Sutin. If you hire us we can play a mix of classical music, jazz, world, and pop music. Or we can play whatever type of music you want us to! We can play as a violin-duo, a violin-viola duo, violin-bass duo, string trio, or string quartet. Nathan Kamal: Nathan is a violinist, violist, and composer born and raised in Philadelphia. His compositions integrate improvisation into classical forms. A classically trained violinist from childhood, Nathan spent his teenage years immersed in Philadelphia's rich jazz tradition, studying with John Blake, a forefather of jazz violin. At age 18, Nathan moved to New York City, where he pursues degrees in Jazz and Contemporary Music at the New School. Now 22 years old, Nathan splits his efforts between composing and performing music. Recent performances include the Bern International Jazz Festival, and the San Fransisco Museum of Modern Art. He performs frequently in New York City with his improvising/mixed repertoire string quartet, Stratus Quartet. On most days and nights he can be found making music with and for his friends. Benjamin Sutin: Motivated by a diverse musical palate and burning passion to connect with people of all creeds through his music, violinist, pianist, composer and educator, Benjamin Sutin is currently living in New York City. He began his career in Philadelphia, where he studied with legendary jazz violinist, John Blake Jr. Sutin has since had the privilege of performing in venues such as: Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, NJPAC's Victoria Theater, Dizzy's Club Coca Cola, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Microsoft Theater, the Nassau Coliseum, Oracle Center, Clifford Brown Jazz Festival among many more. Sutin has performed with Distinguished Concerts International New York, the National Yiddish Theater Folksbiene, Tran-Siberian Orchestra, Arijit Singh, Larry Harlow, Bobby Sanabria, Pandit Samir Chatterjee, Ronnie Burrage, Benito Gonzalez, George Burton, Diane Monroe, and Tommy Byrnes. Finally, he has garnered acclaim in the jazz violin community from the likes of Jean Luc Ponty, Regina Carter, Christian Howes and Sara Caswell. On hearing Sutin for the first time, Caswell wrote, “his adventurous musical lines and underlying creative energy left me feeling that I had witnessed a unique voice destined for something great.” Sutin graduated from Manhattan School of Music in 2015 with a BM in Jazz Violin Performance. He has studied Klezmer and Jewish Music with David Krakauer, Alicia Svigals and Yale Strom. Benjamin currently teaches violin at Tone Academy of Music, Harlem School of the Arts, New Jersey School of Music and at the Elisabeth Morrow School's Annual Summer String Festival under the direction of Amelia Gold.