- ABOUT TAK -

Regarded as “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen), TAK delivers energetic performances "that combine crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex” (The WIRE), and “impresses with the organicity of their sound, their dynamism and virtuosity” (New Sounds, WQXR).  

Founded on the principles of curiosity, change, and caring communication, TAK is dedicated to the commissioning of new works and direct collaboration with composers and other artists and they have premiered hundreds of works to date. TAK is Laura Cocks, flute; Madison Greenstone, clarinet; Charlotte Mundy, voice; Marina Kifferstein, violin; Ellery Trafford, percussion.

2022-2023 marks TAK’s 10th anniversary season, celebrating a decade of cultivating creative programming at the highest level. Upcoming projects include a new commission from Tyshawn Sorey to be premiered at Lincoln Center in fall 2022, commissions from Michelle Lou and DM R with Joy Guidry to be premiered at TAK’s 10th anniversary celebration in May 2023, and new works from Eric Wubbels, Seth Cluett, Natacha Diels, Bryan Jacobs, Elaine Mitchener, Ann Cleare, Weston Olencki, and Jessie Cox. This season will also see the release of TAK's first collaboratively composed work on dinzu artefacts.

The quintet has released seven albums to critical acclaim; recent records have been described as “sublime art… a masterpiece,” (AnEarful), and “one of the most distinct and eclectic releases of the year” (I Care If You Listen). Their recorded output fosters a “deep sense of connection and communication” (Bandcamp Daily), and features collaborations with Mario Diaz de Leon, Taylor Brook, Erin Gee, Brandon López, Ann Cleare, Tyshawn Sorey, Natacha Diels, Scott L. Miller, David Bird, and Ashkan Behzadi. Their most recent release, Love, Crystal and Stone brought together composer Ashkan Behzadi, scholar Saharnaz Samaienejad, painter Mehrdad Jafari, and design-house Sonnenzimmer to fuse poetry, visual art, original essays, and music into an experience-based hybrid publication. The ensemble’s 2019 album Oor launched their in-house media label, TAK editions, that aims to support recorded musical endeavors from across the experimental music communities, highlighting direct conversations with artists through the TAK editions Podcast. Recent TAK editions releases have included those of Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Nina Dante + Bethany Younge, and several of TAK’s own recordings. 

Deeply committed to educational collaborations, TAK has conducted residencies at institutions such as Harvard University, Stanford University, Columbia University, Oberlin Conservatory, Cornell University, Wesleyan University, New York University, The Delian Academy for New Music, and many others. The ensemble has also collaborated with the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program and Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. TAK served as the the Long-term Visiting Ensemble in Residence at University of Pennsylvania from 2022-23. 

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TAK’s operations occur on Lenape lands—Lenapehoking; we acknowledge the Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory.

LAURA COCKS  |  FLUTE

Laura Cocks (they/she) is a flutist with “febrile instrumental prowess” (The New York Times), who works in a wide array of environments as a performer of experimental music and “creates intricate, spellbinding works that have a visceral physicality to them” (Foxy Digitalis).
Laura is the executive director and flutist of TAK ensemble, and a member of Talea Ensemble, noted for their “astonishing fluidity,” “compelling lucidity, ” and “precise control” (the New York Times). As a soloist, improviser, and chamber musician, they have performed with musicians such as DoYeon Kim, Shara Lunon, yuniya eddy kwon, Timothy Angulo, Luke Stewart, Wendy Eisenberg, Lester St. Louis, Brandon Lopez, and Madison Greenstone, the International Contemporary Ensemble, Sun Ra Arkestra, Wet Ink Ensemble, and many others in NYC and abroad.
Their recent solo album, field anatomies (Carrier Records), noted as one of Stereogum’s top-ten experimental releases of the year, charted in the Billboard top ten “Classical Crossover” releases and was praised for its “superhuman physicality” and “disciplined patience” (Bandcamp Best Contemporary Release and Experimental Release). Laura can be heard on labels such as ECM, Denovali Records, Catalytic Sound, TAK editions, Tripticks Tapes, Carrier Records, Chambray Records, Double Whammy Whammy, New Focus Records, Sound American, Orange Mountain Music, Supertrain, Gold Bolus, Hideous Replica, Sideband Records, and many others.
Laura has been in residence at institutions such as Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, The Centre for Research in New Music at Huddersfield University, University of Chicago, The Delian Academy for New Music, and many others. They have given masterclasses and taught seminars in performance practice, composition, professional development, and applied critical theory at institutions such as Oberlin Conservatory, California Institute of the Arts, University of California San Diego, Columbia University, and at University of Pennsylvania, where TAK held the position of Long-term Visiting Ensemble in Residence from 2022-2023. They have served on the faculty of The New School and The Washington Heights Conservatory. Laura holds a doctorate from The Graduate Center and continues their writing and research in corporeal analyses of art and musical praxis.

MADISON GREENSTONE  |  CLARINET

Madison Greenstone is a clarinetist currently based between San Diego and New York City. Their creative practice encompasses contemporary & experimental music, improvisation, noise & acoustic feedback, and band-like collaborations with other creative performers. They have performed as a featured artist of the Darmstadt Ferienkurse für Neue Musik and the Lucerne Festival Academy. Notable performances have been as a soloist presented by ISSUE Project Room, as part of the Merce Cunningham Centennial in Los Angeles, and in recital at the Vigeland Mausoleum (Oslo). Madison is the clarinetist of TAK Ensemble, a founding member of the [Switch~ Ensemble], and can be heard on Wandelweiser Editions and Another Timbre.

Madison is a doctoral candidate at UC San Diego and received their Bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music. 

CHARLOTTE MUNDY  |  VOICE

Canadian soprano Charlotte Mundy has been dubbed a "daredevil with an unbreakable spine" (SF Classical Voice), “mesmerizing” (New York Times), and is the only awardee of the Jan Degaetani prize for Contemporary Song from the Joy in Singing Competition. She is the vocal soloist on the recording of Bekah Simms’ 2022 Juno award winning composition Bestiary I & II.

In addition to her work with TAK, Mundy is a core member of the microtonally focused vocal ensemble, Ekmeles, described as “almost frightening in their precision” by Fanfare magazine.

Mundy has made plays, dances and installations with theater makers Paul Lazar, Cynthia Hopkins, Katherine Brook and Rachel Chavkin, visual artist Martin Creed and choreographer Miro Magloire, at venues including the Park Avenue Armory, BAM Next Wave Festival, and The Kitchen.

Her 23/24 season includes the world premiere of site-specific opera Newtown Odyssey by Kurt Rohde and Marie Lorenz; world premieres by Francisco del Pino, Alyssa Regent, Lainie Fefferman and Aida Shirazi, a solo recital at The Americas Society; and the debut of a new collaborative multimedia ensemble, Pixeltongue, with Christian Quiñones.

MARINA KIFFERSTEIN  |  VIOLIN

Marina Kifferstein (she/they) is a violinist and generative artist based in NYC. Equally comfortable in major international halls and intimate DIY venues, she enjoys a diverse career with a focus on contemporary chamber music. Marina is a founding member of TAK ensemble and The Rhythm Method string quartet, a principal member of the Lucerne Festival Contemporary Orchestra, and is a regular guest with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Wet Ink, and Talea.

A strong supporter of new music, Marina has performed and commissioned an extensive repertoire of music by living composers; as a soloist and chamber musician, they have premiered hundreds of new works. Her own compositions have been performed across the U.S. and Europe. Marina has been a featured performer at international music festivals including the Lincoln Center Festival, Donaueschinger Musiktage, Festival Musiques Démesurées, Musiikin Aika, and the Lucerne Festival. She has held residencies with TAK and the Rhythm Method at dozens of universities across the U.S. and Europe, including the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, New York University, McGill, and Zürich Hochschule der Künst. 

Marina is currently a DMA candidate at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she is researching contemporary performance practice of extended just intonation tuning for strings. She holds an MM in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music, a BM in Violin from Oberlin Conservatory, and a BA in English from Oberlin College. She is on violin faculty at the United Nations International School, the Composers Conference, and the Lucerne Festival Academy. 

ELLERY TRAFFORD  |  PERCUSSION

Ellery Trafford is a New York-based percussionist specializing in contemporary chamber music who thrives on the search for new means of expression, musical and otherwise.  Originally from Georgia, he holds degrees from Georgia State University, Bowling Green State University and The Manhattan School of Music and has studied with Stuart Gerber, Roger Schupp, Jeffrey Milarsky and John Ferrari.  Trafford has attended festivals such as the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, the Bang On A Can Summer Festival, the Third Practice Electroacoustic Festival, the Spark Electronic Arts Festival and the Beijing Modern Music Festival.  He has performed at venues in New York and abroad from the eminent to the underground: from Beijing’s National Performing Arts Center to Carnegie Hall, The Stone, Roulette and many more in New York.  Special projects include co-founding ensembles like TAK, a quintet + electronics, and OUTLAW, a percussion/piano performance art duo.  

LAURA COCKS  |  EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

TAYLOR BROOK  |  TECHNICAL DIRECTOR

DAVID BIRD  |  CREATIVE RESEARCH

Taylor Brook writes music for the concert stage, electronic music, music for robotic instruments, as well as music for video, theatre, and dance.

Described as “gripping” and “engrossing” by the New York Times, Brook’s compositions have been performed around the world by ensembles and soloists such as the Ensemble Ascolta, JACK Quartet, Mivos Quartet, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Quatuor Bozzini, TAK ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and others.

Brook studied composition with Brian Cherney in Montreal, with Luc Brewaeys in Brussels, and with George Lewis and Georg Haas in New York. In 2008, he studied Hindustani music and performance with Debashish Bhattacharya in Kolkata. His music is often concerned with finely tuned microtonal sonorities.

In 2018 Brook completed a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) in music composition at Columbia University with Fred Lerdahl and was a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow in music composition. Currently Brook is a Banting Fellow at the University of Victoria and the technical director of TAK ensemble.

David Bird is a composer and multimedia artist based in New York City. His work explores the dramatic potential of electroacoustic and multimedia environments, often highlighting the relationships between technology and the individual. His work has been performed internationally, at venues and festivals such as the MATA festival in New York City; the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands; the Wien Modern Festival in Vienna, Austria; the SPOR festival in Aarhus, Denmark; the IRCAM Manifeste Festival in Paris, France; the Musica Electronica Nova Festival in Wrocław, Poland; and the Festival Mixtur in Barcelona, Spain. He has composed and collaborated with groups like the Ensemble Intercontemporain, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Jack Quartet, the Bozzini Quartet, Yarn/Wire, the Talea Ensemble, Mantra Percussion, the Mivos Quartet, the Austrian Ensemble for Contemporary Music (OENM), AUDITIVVOKAL Dresden, Ensemble Proton Bern, loadbang, andPlay, and the Nouveau Classical Project. davidbird.tv

FOUNDING MEMBER EMERITUS

LIAM KINSON | CLARINET

Liam Kinson  was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1988, and began playing the clarinet at the age of 12. He studied at the University of Western Australia, where he holds a Bachelor in Music, Australian National Academy in Melbourne, and Manhattan School of Music where he received his Masters in Contemporary Music.  Liam has performed with Wet Ink, International Contemporary Ensemble, Ecce Ensemble, and is a founding member of TAK ensemble.  He has collaborated with dancers and actors and artists alike, and thrives on exploring new methods of expression through interdisciplinary means. Liam is currently in Australia, studying for advanced degree in nursing, so he can continue being the super-hero of our dreams.

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TAK’s operations occur on Lenape lands—Lenapehoking; we acknowledge the Lenape as the original people of this land and their continuing relationship with their territory.