Tal Yahalom is an Israeli guitarist and composer based in NYC since 2014. His work explores and fuses the worlds of alternative rock, free improvisation, impressionistic classical music and various streams of jazz into a distinct musical language, committed to engaging storytelling and attentive interplay. Looking to expand the sonic and textural vocabulary of the guitar, he pursues unconventional, creative ways of instrumental playing – both acoustically and through a flexible array of effects. He is drawn to the elusive balance between composition and improvisation, clarity and mystery, the subtle and the intense.
Yahalom’s new solo program integrates sampling and prerecorded material into the spontaneous live performance – unexpectedly combining multiple parts and soundscapes to maximize the element of surprise. Original compositions, improvisations and other selected pieces.
Christopher White, also known as Isto, is a musician and music teacher currently based in New York City and Newark, NJ. His primary instruments are guitar, voice, ukulele, and Hawaiian guitar. He plays many different styles of music, but is best known for his jazz and ragtime guitar with crooning, his fingerstyle arrangements of classic American song, his humorous and thoughtful original songs, his stage antics, and more recently for his work with King Isto's Tropical String Band.
Originally from Hamilton, a small town in the Leatherstocking Region of New York State, Isto began studying guitar with local legend Ed Vollmer in 1993 at the age of 9. Later, he went on to study Music at Wesleyan with a concentration in composition. While at Wesleyan, he was able to study under Tony Lombardozzi, Neely Bruce, Anthony Braxton, Alvin Lucier, and many other great musicians. After graduating in 2006, Isto moved to Brooklyn, where he began teaching guitar and ukulele full time. Around the same time, he also began posting videos to youtube. Since his Banana Song was featured on youtube's homepage in 2007, Isto's videos have received a few million hits.
Soon after moving to Brooklyn, Isto became associated with the Jalopy Theatre in Red Hook. He teaches group guitar classes there and performs frequently, often as part of their Wednesday night Roots and Ruckus showcase. Isto also performs at various other venues around the city. In 2017, he moved to Newark, NJ, where he teaches out of his home, and continues to teach and perform regularly in Brooklyn and Manhattan.