Musician Bios

STEPHEN SLAWEK
Professor Emeritus Stephen Slawek, a senior disciple of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar, enjoys an international reputation as a foremost exponent and teacher of the Indian sitar. During his four-decade career at the University of Texas at Austin he added an Asianist perspective to the curricular offerings of the ethnomusicology program in the Butler School of Music, specializing in the musical traditions of South Asia, but with secondary interests in Southeast Asian music and American popular music. His publications draw upon extensive field experience and personal studies of performance practice in India. He has supervised numerous doctoral students, many of whom are now enjoying careers in academia. He is a past editor of Asian Music, the Journal of the Society for Asian Music, and has served as Second Vice President of the Board of the Society for Ethnomusicology, and as Chair of the Ethnomusicology Committee of the American Institute of Indian Studies.

SWAPAN CHAUDHURI
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, with two Grammy nominations, is one of the world’s most respected tabla players. He is a recipient of the prestigious Padma Shree Award and Sangeet Natak Academy Award from the Government of India, the American Academy of Artists Award, and a Doctorate of Letters from Rabindra Bharathi University in Kolkata, India.

DEEPIKA SLAWEK
Deepika Slawek, MD, MS is Assistant Professor of Medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center. She is a physician and clinical researcher in the Bronx, NY and her work focuses on HIV care and addiction medicine. Outside of work, Deepika has learned Hindustani music since childhood from her parents, and engaged in formal sitar training throughout college and medical school. She is privileged to have learned from Dr. Stephen Slawek, Anita Slawek, and Pandit Ravi Shankar.

TIAGO SOUZA
Tiago Souza follows in the footsteps of his father, Ronaldo do Bandolim, an icon of the Brazilian mandolin. Playing with emotion and freedom, Tiago is part of a school of musicians formed in the Lapa district in Rio during the 2000s that mixes traditional choro with other musical styles like baião, samba, tango, and jazz, while creating a new style of interpretation and improvisation. He has participated in several recordings of choro and samba, among them “Regional Carioca,” “Callado, the Father of the Chorões,” the DVD “Brasileirinho” and “Histórias de um João de Barro with Bia Bedran.” He is a regular participant in the biggest choro festivals in Brazil as well as touring regularly throughout Europe and the U.S. with samba groups such as Unha de Gato, Pé de Moleque, and Semente Choro-Jazz. 

ROGÉRIO SOUZA
Guitarist, composer, and arranger Rogério Souza is one of the great representatives of the carioca language as well as the Brazilian guitar. He has been involved in the largest events related to MPB (Música popular brasileira, Brazilian popular music), mainly in choro and samba.

STEPHEN GUERRA
Stephen Guerra is a band leader, accompanist, composer, arranger, and educator based in New York City. He performs at music clubs, cultural centers, universities, and guitar societies and has shared the stage with Rogério Souza, Duo Violão, Ami Molinelli, Tiago do Bandolim, Q Morrow, and Regional de NY.