MICHAEL ROTONDI

Michael Rotondi, FAIA, principal of RoTo Architects, is internationally recognized as an architect/educator. He has practiced and taught architecture for 35 years, and defines both as one activity. He has always been based in Los Angeles, co-founding two international practices, Morphosis (1975-1991) and RoTo Archinects (1991-present).

In 1972, he and 50 colleagues co-founded SCI-Arc under the direction of Ray Kappe. He started and was the first Director of Graduate Programs (1978-1987) and for ten years (1987-1997) served as the second director of SCI-Arc. He currently teaches as a Distinguished Faculty and is an Honorary Trustee.

RoTo Architects works range from contemplative, to cultural, to commercial. The works have received many awards and have been widely published. Rotondi has lectured and taught worldwide for many years. At SCI-Arc, he teaches thesis students, design studios and a lecture-seminar of creative imagination. After so many years of teaching, he believes he is in the 5th phase shifting his approach and delivery from that of a teacher to a mentor.

JON STATHAM

Jon Statham was raised on music.

One knew when they entered the Statham house, that this family treasured music. Whether it was dad playing guitar and singing country and folk songs from the 30’s and 40’s, to mom and the kids assigning vocal parts to an Irish ballad for church – there just always seemed to be music.

Jon has honed his singing, guitar playing and songwriting into a style that honors the classics, as well as offering a new voice that pushed music further.

After living in both New York and Nashville, playing and singing lots of styles of music, Jon has come to settle in Los Angeles to write the best songs anywhere.

ANNA DUSI

Anna Dusi was born in Milan (Italy). As an art curator she has been involved in the art world since 1996.

Since 2007 she was a Deputy Curator of Building Bridges Art Exchange in Los Angeles, a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating an understanding among cultures worldwide through international art exhibitions, artist exchange and residency programs.

Anna has curated numerous international exhibitions in USA, Europe and Mexico.

From 2015 she become an Independent curator collaborating with different Galleries, Organizations and Foundations between USA and Italy.

She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

ELIZABETH YOCHIM

Elizabeth Yochim is a performance artist, dancer, art historian and art world professional. She has a degree in Italian Renaissance Art History from the University of Michigan and for ten years directed the international art exhibitions for a gallery based in Beverly Hills, California.

She is a movement educator and studied dance since childhood. Authentic movement and “no fourth wall theatre” is the basis of her artistic practice. She creates solo and group performative works internationally that collaborate with the environment—be it the city or the natural world.  From the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to the edge of the Vatican City in Rome, from Berlin to Paris, the Angelbird, an enchanting, mythical figure, Elizabeth has offered a unique public engagement experience that begins with a specific performance and culminates with the invitation to “remember your wings” and metaphorically take flight.

These works explore the nature of human connection and disconnection, engaging the observer as a participant in equal measure. They provoke the spectrum of internal states, creating pockets of intimacy within the public sphere, to feel the emotional ecosystem we inhabit alongside our patterned life. This ecosystem becomes its own performative space to facilitate spiritual and practical insights into the micro- and the macrocosm.

The performative works engage story, tales and myth to reflect on our own nature within the invitation to participate and contribute as a equal creator and artist. Extinction and rebirth are themes. Love stories requisite.  

THE ANGELBIRD

The Angelbird is a mythical winged creature inspiring people to remember their dreams about flight and freedom. Through mesmerizing movement and spoken word, the Angelbird engages the audience in a tale compiled from her own migration, adding bits of science and symbolism from art history, ultimately encouraging the audience to engage the imagination and take flight. And they do. 

The experience is a highly entertaining, thought provoking, and deeply touching public performance ritual. Through the symbolism of taking flight, the Angelbird marries humankind’s mortality and divinity. The experience rekindles the imagination and catalyzes the power of the collective—to dream our highest hopes and aspirations into reality. 

As a public performance ritual, The Angelbird shows up on the streets from Los Angeles to Europe, from Croatia to Poland, from Germany to Italy, namely Berlin to Rome, distributing messages from a bird cage inviting people to remember their wings and to fly. 

The Angelbird was created by Elizabeth Yochim, a dancing art historian, who costumed as an all white-winged creature, performs amongst the piazzas and gardens, around museums and cathedrals, on trains and buses and within various congregations gently invading the spaces of our universal, communal psyche and infiltrating the pulse of the human spirit through the cadence of her artfully orchestrated wings. Asking the people that she meets, Do you remember your wings? & Will you fly with me?

RUTI CELLI

Classically trained cellist Ruti Machnai began her musical journey at the age of 8, exploring music at the highest establishments in Israel.

With an extensive orchestral & chamber music experience she moved to the US in 1997 to complete her degree in Cello Performance with Prof. Laurence Lesser at The New England conservatory of Music (Boston) after which she became a fellow cellist at The prestigious New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami (2000-2002).

Between the years 1997-2015 She participated in numerous acknowledged Summer programs such as The Tanglewood Music Festival, The Verbier Music Academy Festival, The Shleswig Holstein Music Festival and The New Direction Cello Festival.

In the past 13 years Ruti became involved in the fields of music production, developing a unique genre of songwriting- a cross between Classical, New Age/ Acid Jazz, Lounge, Trip hop & Dance music. Her productions eventually began including her own sultry vocals which led her to publish 2 solo albums- “Nocturnal Miniatures” and, “Its Just a Little Dream” (both published in 2015)- which she produced and performed on all instruments.

In 2014 Ruti established “Ruti Celli”, a brand expressing a meaningful connection with the cello as a songwriter, producer and performer.

In the summer of 2018 Ruti moved to LA. One her recent composition projects won an award for “The best soundtrack recording” at the Indie Music Channel Awards, 2019. The piece “Separate Journey” co-composed by Ruti will be placed on the soundtrack of the movie Raceland (2018).

Ruti is currently involved in 3 LA based collaborative projects:

1. Ferm & Celli- An improvisational duo with guitarist extraordinaire Fernando Perdomo. Together they improvise on some of the world’s finest platforms. In May 2017 Fern & Celli opened for Jazz Fusion Violinist Jean Luc Ponty at The Canyon Club in LA.  “Fern & Celli” also got to perform on “Cruise To The Edge 2019” as a Progressive rock act, after which they were voted on social media as “one the 5 best acts on the cruise that year”. They release their debut album “The Conversations” in February 2017.

2. “Into The Frequency”– A production project based on Ruti’s original material that expanded into a partnership with Keyboardist & songwriter Dave Schulz (Goo Dools/ Berlin) with whom Ruti plans to release & perform their entire new collection of songs. They have recently debuted their single “Handle All That” at the Viper Room in Hollywood.

3. Ruti will be touring this summer with International singer songwriter Caroline Waters (Norway/ LA) performing original material and improvisations all over Scandinavia, promoting both of their music.