(see also www.serasmolen.net)
- Performance Schedule
- Biographies
To view Tom and Sera's Press Kit - click
here
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Original acoustic folk, blues and improvisation:
Tom Mank - guitar, vocals
Sera Jane Smolen - cello
Tom and Sera first met during recording sessions in 1993 (Tom's "Some Big Town"). Sera played cello on four of this recording's tracks - Blue Country, Angel in the Rain, One of Those Times and Rain Day. Tom left Ithaca for a few years and didn't return until 2000, at which time Tom and Sera began playing and recording music again. The recording sessions this time resulted in the four new songs that appear on the 2000 CD release, "Almost Time" - Baltimore the Blues, Almost Time, New Mown Hay and Margo's Garden. The latter two songs were also written together. Also, included on this CD are three re-mastered songs which Tom and Sera had recorded together for "Some Big Town".
Over the past eight years, Tom and Sera have been playing music as a duo - mainly throughout the Northeast, but also in the Midwest and overseas (The Netherlands and Belgium). They played a number of venues including: Underground at Ron's in Philadelphia PA; The Roundroom in Mont Vernon NH; Fire and Water in Northampton MA; Billy Goodes in Newport RI, the Cyber Café in Binghamton NY, the Perfect Cup and the Tanglewood Nature Center in Elmira NY, at Happy Endings in Syracuse NY, at the Onondaga Nation Arts and Crafts Festival, south of Syracuse NY, the Dreamcoat Cafe in Stillwater MN, Ginkgo's Coffeehouse in St. Paul, MN, at the New Directions Cello Festival at Lawrence University in Wisconsin, the Rockwood Music Hall in NYC, at a Katrina Benefit in Madison CT, at the Colony Cafe and at Fletcher's Gallery in Woodstock NY, and two tours of Belgium and The Netherlands.
Tom and Sera spent the spring and summer of 2001 in the Electric Wilburland
Studio recording a "duo" album of original compositions, called
"Conversations in Waves". The CD was officially released
in November of 2001 and included 11 new compositions - six written by
Tom, two written by Sera, one written by Tom and Ithacan Annie Burns,
and two composed together by Tom and Sera. The songs on "Conversations
in Waves" include Silver Rose, Great Aunt Betty Died With
Her Shoes On, Hearts and Souls, Conversations in Waves, Love's In Motion,
Tazmanian 5, Always Roses, Waiting for the Sky to Break, International
Waters, lanfairpwllgwyngllgogerychwyndrobwyllllantisyliogogogoch (this
is the name of a city in Wales!), and Going to new York.
In April 2004 they completed their 3rd CD, "Souls of Birds",
which was released on I-Town Records. They travelled to Belgium and The
Netherlands during November of 2005 to promote the CD.
In April 2007 they completed their 4th CD, "Where the Sun Meets the Blue", which was recorded at Julie Last's studio in Bearsville NY. They will again travel to The Netherlands and Belgium and Germany in 2009 to promote this CD.
Dr. Sera Jane Smolen was born in Rome, NY and moved to Ithaca, NY in 1974. In addition to teaching cello at Mansfield University (PA), Sera performs with the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra, with the Tri-Cities Opera Orchestra, and is an active soloist, chamber musician and recitalist in NY State. She is an active composer and recording artist, recording music in a number of different genres in collaboration with composers and improvisors. She is on the steering committee of the following annual festivals: New Directions Cello Festival, The New Directions Young People's Cello-bration, the Binghamton Cello Festival, and Chiron Festival of the Creative Spirit. Sera studied at the Meadowmount School of Music and the Aspen Summer Music Festival and is a graduate from David Darling's Music for People musicianship and leadership program. She did graduate work at both Ithaca College and Cornell University and in 2000 received her Ph.D. in Music Education from the Union Institute in Cincinnati. "Where the Sun Meets the Blue", a duo CDs with Tom Mank, is her latest music release.
Tom Mank was born in Baltimore, MD. He is a singer/self-taught guitarist
and independent songwriter who spent the 1980's and 1990's playing in
folk, blues and progressive bluegrass bands in Ithaca - he has lived and
played original music in Ithaca, NY, Washington, DC, Boston, MA, Brattleboro,
VT and Keene, NH. He has been playing and writing music for 20 years.
Tom recorded two albums, "Blowin' Me Away" (1991) and "Some
Big Town" (1994) which were released on cassette only. His 2000 recording,
"Almost Time" was his first album available on CD. "Conversations
in Waves" (2002), "Souls of Birds" (2004) and "Where
the Sun Meets the Blue" (2007), duo CDs with Sera Smolen, are his
latest music releases.
