Carla Kihlstedt

“Witness of All” - song written for Michelle Obama

-- read poem (by Jacqueline Suskin)

-- read lyrics

Carla Kihlstedt is a composer, songwriter, improviser, singer and violinist. She is veteran of folk/pop, contemporary/classical, and improvised/experimental music. She is a founding member of the bands Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat, Rabbit Rabbit Radio, The Book of Knots, Minamo and 2 Foot Yard. She enjoys writing large-scale collaborative song cycles that pull from her various musical influences and explore a single idea from many angles. Her most recent compositions, including Black Inscription (written with Jeremy Flower and Matthias Bossi) and Herring Run, investigate our connection to the natural world.

Carla is on the faculty of the Contemporary Improvisation Department of the New England Conservatory, and of the MFA composition program of the Vermont College of Fine Arts.