Karma Roulette Quartet
(USA)
Slinky Proverb
(2024, California Premiere)
Date(s) & Time(s): Sun May 4, 7:00pm
Duration: 105 mins with Intermission
Venue: Red Poppy Art House
Location: 2698 Folsom St, SF, CA 94110
Ticket Information
Early Bird: $20, Advance: $25, Door: $28
For the best deals, see multiple shows with a discount Festival Pass.
TICKETS FESTIVAL PASS
Artist Information
Composer/Arranger/Flute: Michael Smolens
Violins/Strings: Michèle Walther
Percussion: Michaelle Goerlitz, Brian Rice
Artist Website
Social Media Accounts

Production Details
Slinky ProverbSlinky Proverb is the title of one of two new works by Michael Smolens that will be performed for the first time in California as part of this evening length concert. Slinky Proverb combines West-African groove with blusey, contemporary jazz and 20th century classical-influenced melodies. The second new composition is titled Abakim. It is a chamber work that features the kalimba and progresses into a jazz waltz.
Karma Roulette Quartet
The Karma Roulette Quartet is made up of four veteran multi-instrumentalists, composers, and bandleaders. The group features compositions by award-winning composer/arranger Michael Smolens, work by renowned Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti and musically-related poetry, and soundscapes created on-the-spot. Their sound includes nearly 30 different instruments and draws from the worlds of West-Africa, Afro-Cuba, North-India, Turkey, and Brazil — as well as jazz, funk, and classical styles. The violinist's solo looping piece with voice and the two-percussion duet are audience favorites.
Artist Biographies
Michael Smolens
Michael has been composing, arranging, and performing for six decades. He has been commissioned by Meet The Composer, Fleishhacker & Bernard Osher Foundations, National Public Radio, Occidental Community Choir, UCSC Dance Department, and many vocalists, contemporary churches, and festivals. Michael has six CDs of original work and has performed or recorded instrumentally with Stefon Harris (vibes), Paul McCandless, Paul Hanson, Sheldon Brown (reeds), David Balakrishnan & Evan Price (jazz violin/viola), Steve Erquiaga (guitar), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Akira Tana & Alan Hall (drums), and Claudia Schmidt, Raz Kennedy & Rhiannon (voice); and as a vocalist with Pollyanna Bush, David Worm & Bryan Dyer (Bobby McFerrin collaborators).
Michèle Walther
Violinist Michèle Walther is a performer, composer, arranger, and educator from Switzerland and San Francisco. Michèle has performed in venues throughout Europe and North America with Ian Anderson/Jethro Tull, Gloria Estefan, Joe Lovano, Oscar Stagnaro (Paquito D’Rivera), John Cage, Basel Sinfonietta, Mark Feldman, LaMuseMent, and more. Recent performances include Resonance at SFJazz and Yoshi’s, and “A Living Tribute to Carla Bley” at SFJazz, where she was featured in “Birds of Paradise”. Ms. Walther earned her M.M. at the Conservatory of Music in Basel, Switzerland, and later graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston, majoring in jazz violin performance.
Michaelle Goerlitz
Michaelle has been performing, touring, recording and studying drums & percussion since 1970, exploring Brazilian, Afro Cuban, Venezuelan, Peruvian and Middle Eastern rhythms (plus American idioms jazz, R & B and funk). She was a founding member of two renowned & long-term projects, the Blazing Redheads and Wild Mango. Both groups blended many different styles which showcased Michaelle's versatile percussive skills. She has collaborated with artists that encompass a huge range of styles: Latin jazz, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, Afro-Peruvian, Broadway, singer-songwriter, and New Music. They include: Mark Levine, Wayne Wallace, Houston Pearson, Denise Perrier and Joan Jeanrenaud to name but a few.
Brian Rice
Brian is a freelance percussionist. He currently performs with Tres Baia (which he founded), Cascada de Flores, Danilo Brito, Mike Marshall and Choro Famoso, Wake the Dead, The Berkeley Choro Ensemble, Samba Rio, Mariah Parker Indo-Latin Ensemble, and Orchestrating Excellence. Brian's classical music background and expertise on a vast array of hand drums came into play when he performed in over seventy shows of "The Lion King", the Santa Rosa Symphony's rendition of the silent film "Metropolis", and John Luther Adams' "Inuksuit". Brian has a B.M. in Percussion Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.