KAYLA WILLIAMS & FRIENDS
Zachary Brown, Cello
Gabe Terracciano, Mandolin & Fiddle
Kayla Williams, Viola & Vocals
Fraunces Tavern Museum
54 Pearl Street
New York, NY 10022
Monday, November 30, 2026
6.30 p.m. - Gathering
7.00 p.m. - Performance
8.00 p.m. - Reception
ABOUT THE MUSICIANS
Kayla Williams is a dynamic violist celebrated for her warm tone, versatile collaborations across genres, and vibrant stage presence. Originally from Florida, she began playing violin at the age of four before discovering her true passion—the viola—at ten. In 2018, she made her concerto debut performing Bartók’s Viola Concerto as the winner of the Lynn Concerto Competition.
As a recitalist, Kayla has performed across the country in concert series such as the Lyric Chamber Music Society, GatherNYC at the MAD Museum, Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, St. Lawrence University, the Island Concert Association February Festival (St. Simons Island, GA), Trinity Concert Series, Warner Robins Community Concert Association, Lakeside Society for the Performing Arts, the Oxford College of Emory University, the Hobart and William Smith Colleges Guest Artist Series, and Rejoicing in Mayesville, SC.
As a resident of New York City, she has performed on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, The Daily Show, and Good Morning America, as well as at high-profile events including the TIME 100 Summit and the 2023 Heisman Trophy Ceremony. A frequent presence on Broadway, Kayla served as a violin chair holder for Gypsy on Broadway and has performed as a substitute violist on productions including Bad Cinderella, Once Upon a Mattress, The Wiz, and Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular. She currently serves as a substitute violist for Chess and Ragtime.
She has been featured at a wide range of festivals, including the Grand Teton Music Festival, the 2024 Ode to the Black Fiddler Music Festival, the Florida Folk Festival, the Roots Picnic, and the 2022 Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival. Kayla’s collaborative work spans both live and recorded performances with artists such as Grammy Award-winner Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Sigur Rós, Busta Rhymes at Carnegie Hall, Raye, Björk, The Jonas Brothers, Hayley Williams, Ben Platt, Halsey, the Late Show Band, Black Coffee at Madison Square Garden, and Kermit the Frog.
Kayla earned her Bachelor of Music in Viola Performance from the Lynn Conservatory of Music in Boca Raton, Florida, and her Master of Music from The Juilliard School in New York City. She was a recipient of the Juilliard Career Advancement Fellowship from 2021 to 2023.
Originally from Portland, Maine, Gabriel Terracciano currently resides in New York City, where he has established himself as an elite jazz and bluegrass violinist. Classically trained from a young age, Gabe has spent his career focusing on playing the violin in a variety of non-classical genres. Along with playing and composing for his own groups, he has been first violinist of the two-time Grammy winning Turtle Island Quartet since 2018, and has toured and recorded with them alongside other jazz luminaries including Cyrus Chestnut, Dianne Reeves, and Terence Blanchard.
Gabe has been the recipient of multiple honors throughout his career, including a 2021 Grammy nomination as a part of Terence Blanchard’s album “Absence”, featuring the Turtle Island Quartet. He was awarded First Prize in the 2018 Freshgrass Festival Fiddle Contest, and Third Prize in the 2018 Zbigniew Seifert International Jazz Violin Competition (Krakow, Poland). His festival credits include the Newport Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, among others.
Gabe has two albums released as a leader – In Flight (2020) and Three Part Invention (2021) – both of which are available on Bandcamp and other streaming services. He holds undergraduate degrees from Tufts University and the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Master’s degree from New York University. He has studied with teachers including Tanya Kalmanovitch, Don Doane, Cecil McBee, John Scofield, Ari Hoenig, and Rob Thomas.
Originally from Far Rockaway Queens, Zachary Brown is a NYC based cellist who focuses on pushing the "expected" musical paradigm of the cello. During his initial instruction at the conservatory at Ithaca College, he attended the Acoustic Music Seminar. There, under the influence and guidance of Mike Marshal, Julian Lage, Bryan Sutton, Edgar Meyer and more, he returned with a drive to do more with the cello, more than just western classical repertoire.
Zach began a concentration in Jazz studies for the remainder of his time to figure out how, as a cellist, to be musically flexible and malleable and not to be confined to a defined style. After school he helped start the group Westbound Situation, a progressive acoustic quartet that strives to seamlessly pull together the styles of music they have studied and are inspired by. Be it a constant, swirling mix of Jazz, bluegrass, funk, classical music etc., this has become his main project. With Westbound Situation, Zach has performed at both jazz venues like The Blue Llama, and as concerto guest artists with the Marquette symphony, trying to constantly push that typical and expected boundary of where string players belong.
Zach has been a guest artist and clinician at the New Directions Cello Festival, the Wintergrass Festival, and multiple education 'caravans' with the Riverfolk Music and Arts. In addition to performing with Westbound Situation, Zach has performed with artists Black Violin, Mike Marshall and Darol Anger, and Terrence Blanchard with the Turtle Island String Quartet.