me, alice. (seth fruiterman, kyle saulnier, amali premawardana, rohin khemani, mike macallister, moppa elliot), lyrica chamber orchestra, others (in bio) string chamber music, church folk band, orchestras and operas occasionally, my husband - adam waite, my brother - adam gilbert. yes - two adams in my life
Influences
MUSIC: sigur ros, rachael yamagata, alison krauss, martin sexton, peter mulvey, edgar meyer, the bad plus, happy apple, jason moran, tori amos, ween, ben allison, dave douglas, masada string trio, bela fleck, yo-yo ma, brahms, debussy, ysaye, bach, beck, bjork, ben folds, jonatha brooke, bobby mcferrin, arp of the covenant, brad mehldau, andres cardenes, elliot smith, jeff buckley, kanye west, gabe dixon band, mahler, maria schneider, willy porter, the music of my friends......AUTHORS/BOOKS: anne lamott, eat pray love - elizabeth gilbert, chuck klosterman, take this bread - sara miles, dietrich bonhoeffer, jennifer niven, harvey cox, why new orleans matters - tom piazza......TV: the daily show, the colbert report, boston legal, scrubs, hgtv - house hunters (it's so annoying but fun to live vicariously), planet green, sex and the city, the office......RANDOM: yoga, cooking, chai lattes, food, food shopping, hiking, biking, skiing, outdoors, theology
Hailing from that place across the Hudson River called New Jersey, violinist Leena Waite (formerly Gilbert) has returned to her home state after receiving her Masters in Violin Performance and Improvisation from the University of Michigan and a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University. She is thrilled to be collaborating with such groups as Alice (a 7 piece elastic hybrid chamber pop band), Lyrica Chamber Orchestra (directed by Adam Waite), Tom Swafford’s String Power, Steve Hudson’s Outer Bridge Ensemble, Jenny Scheinman’s upcoming CD, Alan Ferber’s Nonet with String Quartet, her brother singer/songwriter Adam Gilbert, Natalie Riccio's upcoming CD and more. After spending a year in the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and another year as a Teaching Artist of the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Education and Community Partnership Program, Leena is now settling into Madison, NJ where she teaches and freelances. As always though, she finds it a privilege to ride the train across the river or drive her car throughout the garden state to work with such talented artists as those listed above.
Glad to see that your brother is still doing music! He sounds terrific! The first time I ever went to your house, he was playing piano and singing and I thought he was fantastic! Hugs! :)
I WAS going to add an alice. song to my profile, but alas I couldn't add it. So, out of support for your band I've added the song "Alice" by Tom Waits to my profile. Hopefully everyone will get the subliminal message.
Thanks for being my friend Leena. Even though I don't have a top friends list I can put you on, I'll tell you what I'll do instead: I'll add alice. to my list of friends and it will be the one and only band on my friends list. How's that for special? That's special AND awesome actually. Peace out, sis.
Hey Leena! So happy to see you on here! Just wanted to say hello, hope all is well with you! congratulations on your engagement, that's so exciting!!! Drop a message sometime I'd love to hear from you! Take Care! ~Jess
hahaha that's funny, because people always assume that...dirty. haha anyways. I'll be up w/ a.g (i think i should start calling him that) and we should all get together if you're not doing anything : )
