Gwen Laster
Laster relocated to NYC after earning two music degrees from the University of Michigan. She began collaborating, performing and recording with internationally-known creative and commercial artists that include Anthony Braxton, Nona Hendryx, Aretha Franklin, Wadada Leo Smith, William Parker, Danny Elfman, Sun Ra Arkestra, Tyler, the Creator, Gladys Knight, Emeline Michel, Andrea Bocelli, David Foster, Alicia Keys, Rhianna, Shaggy, Andrew Baba Lamb, Natalie Cole, Solange, Mark Anthony, J Lo and Shakira at President Obama’s Inaugural Neighborhood Ball. Playing local jazz clubs and subbing Broadway shows (Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Carousel, Wicked, Porgy and Bess, The King and I) were woven around Gwen's NYC performing and teaching rhythm.
With this momentum, Laster began leading original music ensembles, orchestrating and composing string arrangements.
She’s the visionary founder of the Creative Strings Improvisers Orchestra (CSIO), a music education ensemble rooted in teaching young strings players improvisation, composition and global ensemble music. The CSIO concept has been presented through residencies and workshops at various institutions that include El Sistema Ravinia, Harlem School of the Arts (Director of Jazz Strings), St. Ann's School, the Blue Mountain Chamber Music Festival, Wappingers Schools, Poughkeepsie Day School, Interlochen Summer Institute, the Sphinx Performance and Preparatory Academy, Eastman School of Music, the Center for Creative Education, the Howland Cultural Center, Bard College/adjunct Jazz Violin professor and the Beacon CSIO online classes.
Her symphonic, and creative chamber ensemble work includes the Sphinx Symphony, Sun Ra Arkestra, Go: Organic Orchestra, and the Colour of Music Virtuosi Chamber orchestra. She's co-collaborator with the We Free Strings sextet, and leader of New MUSE4tet, an improvising string quartet offering 20th/21st century works and original compositions as a vehicle for social activism. Her feature in Chamber Music America magazine for her commissioned work Black Lives Matter Suite (composed for New Muse4tet) shares her personal reflection and experiences that motivated the work.
Awards
National Endowment for the Arts, Jubilation Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Arts Mid Hudson, Lila Wallace, and 1st place in the Cognac Hennessey Jazz Search.