Projects
Whole Heart
WHOLE HEART, the debut album from cellist Claire Bryant, features seven bold works for solo cello and string duo written by a luminary slate of diverse living composers: Caroline Shaw, Jessie Montgomery, Andrea Casarrubios, Adam Schoenberg, Jessica Meyer, Reena Esmail, and Tanner Porter. These works reflect love and the human experience. Whole Heart is a reminder of the collective challenges we face and the resilience and strength that live inside each of us. It will be released September 9, 2022 on Bright Shiny Things.
music for transformation - DECODA’s annual Residency at Lee Correctional Institution
Lee Correctional Institution is a maximum security facility in South Carolina, just 20 miles from Claire Bryant’s home. Since 2013, Claire and her ensemble Decoda have had an annual residency at Lee, inspired by the power of music to help with rehabilitation and anti-recidivism. The residency promotes self-expression in a creative space, strengthens citizenship within the prison community, and uses collaborative activities to foster social and analytical skills for success. “Music has a way of touching our minds, our hearts, even our very souls. It can cause a vortex of emotions to swell inside of us. It must be wielded carefully and responsibly. So, through music, even a prison’s climate can be changed.” -Jimbo, incarcerated participant
Read about the residency HERE.
University of south carolina Lullaby Project
Carolina Lullaby Project is a national partner of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute Lullaby Project and a program that faculty member Claire Bryant brought to the University of South Carolina School of Music in the Fall of 2022. Teams of music students and faculty partner with participants experiencing pregnancy at community venues including a women’s correctional facility (Camille Graham) and a women’s shelter (Toby’s Place) to help each individual write a new lullaby for their baby. The result is a beautiful original song, professionally recorded by USC students and faculty. Listen to the first three original lullabies below: Mama’s World, My Little Shining Stars, and My Superhuman.
Decoda
As an artist-led collective, Decoda seeks to create a more compassionate and connected world through music—thoughtfully curating outstanding performances of live chamber music, facilitating creative community projects, and training the next generation of musical artists to rethink and reimagine their role in society.
Decoda was founded in 2012 by musicians who first collaborated as members of Ensemble Connect, a two-year fellowship program of Carnegie Hall, The Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. Its work as an ensemble has grown out of this collective training, which focused on developing skills as exemplary performers, dedicated teachers, and passionate advocates for music in communities around the world.
Decoda’s versatile musicians are equally committed to virtuosic performance and audience engagement. Its flexible instrumentation, from trios to large mixed ensemble, allows for unique, inspiring and engaging concert experiences for a vast array of audiences, from concert halls to schools, hospitals, and correctional facilities. As alumni of Ensemble Connect and in recognition of its members’ ongoing success as artists, educators, and advocates for music, Decoda is the only independent ensemble to be recognized as an affiliate ensemble of Carnegie Hall.
Congaree Trio
Named after the 53-mile river formed by the convergence of the Saluda and Broad Rivers that flows from Columbia to Charleston, the Congaree Trio was formed in 2021 by University of South Carolina faculty members Phillip Bush, Ari Streisfeld, and Claire Bryant. United by a shared vision, the trio is committed to performing music that spans generations—championing living composers, seminal contemporary works, and overlooked gems from the past. With a spirit of convergence at its core, Congaree seeks to expand the traditional piano trio repertoire while celebrating its rich history. Collectively, its members have performed on leading concert stages worldwide, holding membership with esteemed ensembles such as JACK Quartet, Phillip Glass ensemble, and Decoda, among others. The members of the Congaree Trio appear on numerous acclaimed recordings across both contemporary and classical traditions.
Ari Streisfeld, violin | Claire Bryant, cello | Phillip Bush, piano
Excerpt from Reena Esmail’s Piano Trio; Movement III (L); Yiorgos Vassilandonakis’ “Topsy-Turvy”
