EIGHT EIGHT TIME
SHOW TIMES • APRIL 3 @ 7:30PM | APRIL 4 @ 7:30PM | APRIL 5 @ 2 PM (relaxed performance**) | APRIL 5 @ 7:30PM
MANDELL THEATER • 3220 Chestnut St, Philadelphia, PA 19104
Eight Eight Time unites four fiercely talented composer-pianists— Kendrah Butler-Waters, Sumi Tonooka, Suzzette Ortiz, and Terry Klinefelter—to premiere a unique suite inspired by real-life stories shared by Philadelphians. Written for eight hands on four grand pianos, with poetry by Yolanda Wisher, Eight Eight Time is both intimate and epic, honoring the profound intricacy of life's pivotal moments.
**We are excited to offer a relaxed performance on Saturday, April 5 at 2 PM. We will have a special know-before-the-show guide available, as well as a space with a performance audio feed for audience members who wish to take a break mid-performance.
The Women of Eight Eight Time, photographed by Tshay Williams.
MEET THE ARTISTS
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Pianist, composer, violinist and vocalist Kendrah E. Butler-Waters grew up in a household surrounded by jazz, Motown, classical, and gospel classics.
In 2020, Kendrah released her first feature solo album, “Faith Walk,” and was most recently commissioned to compose a soundscape score for former poet laureates of Philadelphia, Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson titled, "Sisterly Affection."
Kendrah was awarded the prestigious Kimmel Center Jazz Residency in 2015-2016. Kendrah composed and produced a body of work focused on sacred jazz music, and working with vocalist Shamika Byrd, the World Premier of their work was received to a sold out audience at the Kimmel Center.
Kendrah has scored music for the documentary titled, “The LaMott Community Garden” sponsored by PBS’s, “Our Community Stories” which is featured and recurrently played on PBS and WHYY. Kendrah performed and composed new work for LeVar Burton and his “LeVar Burton Reads” Tour episode titled, “Driftglass”; a work by famed author/Sci-Fi Innovator Samuel L. Delany. This performance was received by a sold out audience at the Scottish Rite Auditorium in New Jersey and is streaming on all major media platforms (Apple, Spotify, etc.).
Kendrah has performed with her trio or quartet at countless jazz venues and festivals including the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts, The Philadelphia Clef Club, The International House, The Museum of the American Revolution, The Philadelphia Art Museum, The Mandel Theater, Venice Island Performing Arts Center, The Cape May Jazz Festival, The Lancaster Avenue Jazz Festival, The Ardmore Jazz Festival, the Community Education Center and abroad. Kendrah has also performed solo piano performances, one of which was a solo piano tribute to Mary Lou Williams at the Pennsylvania premier of producer/director Carol Bash’s documentary film on Mary Lou Williams. To learn more, visit https://www.kendrahbw.com/
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Described by the Philadelphia Inquirer as “on the cosmic cusp where Mozart might meet Mingus,” Terry Klinefelter is a versatile artist, at home in jazz clubs as well as the classical concert stage. She has performed at the Kimmel Center, the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, the Chadds Ford Winery Jazz Festival, Jazz at the Springs, COTA Festival, Endless Mountain Music Festival, and Exuberance, among many others. She has made several appearances on the Philadelphia Orchestra Chamber Music Series and also performed abroad in Mexico and Italy.
Terry served as Principal Keyboard with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra for many years, accompanying guest artists such as Ann Hampton Calloway, Dee Daniels, and Capathia Jenkins (Aretha Tribute), as well as performing on all Masterworks concerts in such works as Petrouchka. Terry has also performed with George Shearing,, renowned early music soprano Julianne Baird, and Ronan Tynan. She recently presented a performance of Maria Schneider’s triple Grammy-winning song cycle, Winter Morning Walks with an ensemble including soprano Anne Sciolla and tenor saxophonist Scott Robinson.
As a recording artist, Terry has produced three albums, Simple Gifts, Zingaro, which reached #30 on the national jazz radio charts. Her 2024 release on Vectordisc Records, Sonic Landscapes, features all new music written for or commissioned by the artist. Terry recently retired from West Chester University, where she served for 25 years as an Associate Professor of Piano and Jazz Studies. She is a Steinway Artist.
To learn more, visit: https://terryklinefelter.com/
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Suzzette Ortiz is an accomplished pianist, composer, arranger, choral conductor, recording artist, and music educator. Suzzette retired from full-time teaching after 32 award-winning years of service, including 27 in the City of Camden, New Jersey, with her high school choirs achieving first and second place awards in competitions around the world.
Suzzette holds a Bachelor degree in piano performance with a minor in composition from the Conservatory of Puerto Rico, and a Master Degree in music education from Temple University in Philadelphia. She has arranged and composed choral music for Hal Leonard, J.W.Pepper, La Voz Publishing company, GIA, Oregon Catholic Press and World Library publications. Her work has been commissioned by Chorus America, Eugene Rodgers, Rollo Dillworth and Singing City in Philadelphia.
Suzzette is the former Artistic Director at Artistas y Musicos Latino Americanos (AMLA) music school, and a certified music practitioner providing harp comfort music at bedsides in hospitals, nursing facilities and hospice.
To learn more, visit: https://suzzetteortiz.com/
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Sumi Tonooka is a veteran improviser, pianist, composer, and bandleader.
In 2023, Sumi was a recipient of a prestigious Pew Fellowship. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra premiered her “Only the Midnight Sky and Silent Stars,” a work commissioned by the Emerging Black Composers Project. And after the in-person premiere of “Under the Surface” with the Alchemy Sound Project collective at The Painted Bride in Philadelphia, she toured the West Coast with the jazz chamber ensemble. The work and tour were supported by a Chamber Music America, New Jazz Works Grant and South Arts Jazz Roads grant.
Since emerging on the Philadelphia scene in the 1970s Tonooka has covered a lot of ground, geographically, stylistically and emotionally, encompassing stints in Boston, Detroit, New York and Seattle. While once again ensconced in Philly’s vital jazz scene, she’s put down creative roots everywhere she’s lived, developing a polymorphous body of work that has drawn numerous accolades from jazz writers and fellow musicians.
In addition to her symphonic and chamber works, jazz recordings and performances, Tonooka has composed more than 20 film scores, including Lise Yasui’s Academy Award-nominated “Family Gathering” and most recently Carol Bash’s Mary Lou Williams, the Lady Who Swings the Band and Phil Bertelson’s The Picture Taker.
Learn more at sumitonooka.com/
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Yolanda Wisher is a poet, musician, educator, and the author of Monk Eats an Afro (Hanging Loose Press, 2014). Wisher was named inaugural Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania in 1999 and third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia for 2016 and 2017. A Pew and Cave Canem Fellow, Wisher received the Leeway Foundation's Transformation Award in 2019 for her commitment to art for social change and was honored as a Philadelphia Cultural Treasures Artist Fellow in 2022. Wisher performs a blend of poetry and song with her band Yolanda Wisher & The Afroeaters; their debut album Doublehanded Suite, was released in 2022. Wisher taught high school English for a decade, co-founded the youth-led Germantown Poetry Festival, and served as Director of Art Education for Philadelphia Mural Arts. She is also the founder of the School of Guerrilla Poetics, a training ground for folks interested in nurturing and mobilizing communities through poetry. Along with Trapeta B. Mayson, Wisher leads ConsenSIS (consensisphl.com), an initiative that seeks to count, gather, and memorialize Black femme poets in the Philadelphia area. She works as the Senior Curator at Monument Lab.
To learn more, visit: https://www.yolandawisher.com/
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Lunise Cerin is a writer, director, editor, and story producer from Port-au-Prince and Philadelphia. Cerin began her film career in Los Angeles in 2012, working for the SVOD Black and Sexy TV. In 2018, Cerin pivoted to documentary filmmaking, taking on roles as a feature documentary editor and story producer. She graduated with an MFA in screenwriting from Columbia University in February 2024. Cerin is currently in post-production on her documentary directorial debut, Miwa, and serves as an adjunct professor at Haverford College, teaching in the Visual Studies Department.
Eight Eight Time has been supported by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia, Settlement Music School, Cunningham Piano, Creative Philadelphia, and Mid Atlantic Arts..