S.K. Thoth was born into a musical and medical family. His mother was tympanist for the New York City Opera, and his father was a doctor. He started playing the piano at 7 and the violin at 8. His violin teachers were Mara Dvonch, Harry Glickman, and David Schneider. At 17, S.K. graduated La Guardia High School of Music and Art and moved to San Francisco with his mother who got a job with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. There, S.K. went to San Francisco State University where he majo...
S.K. Thoth was born into a musical and medical family. His mother was tympanist for the New York City Opera, and his father was a doctor. He started playing the piano at 7 and the violin at 8. His violin teachers were Mara Dvonch, Harry Glickman, and David Schneider. At 17, S.K. graduated La Guardia High School of Music and Art and moved to San Francisco with his mother who got a job with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. There, S.K. went to San Francisco State University where he majored in music but ended up with a B.A. in Comparative Literature. In 1987, he began busking under the name S.K. Thoth. In 1991, he formed a band called “THOTH” with Michael Chiaravelotti. The band—with various musicians Scott Kungha Drengsen, Boris Goldman, and Rhan Wilson—recorded three CD’s. After the band dissolved in 1998, Thoth began performing solo and creating an original epic opera, THE HERMA: The Life and Land of Nular-in based on a mythical land called the Festad which he had been writing about since a child. In 1999, he moved to NYC where he continued writing and performing the opera at the Bethesda Terrace Arcade, a place he dubbed the Angel Tunnel. He claims that THE HERMA is the first new opera of the millenium having been recorded from 1999-2002. In 2001, director Sarah Kernochan made a documentary short about his life called “THOTH” which won the 2002 Academy Award.
Lila'Angelique or LA was born Caitlin Harkin in New York City. Her mother sang on Broadway, and her father runs a professional recording studio. She began studying classical violin and voice from the age of 7. She studied voice intensively under Elizabeth Carter, a former “Queen of the Night” at the Met. Well known for her unusually high register, LA landed a paid soprano position in her church choir when she was 17. She was featured in many solos, including the top soprano in Allegri Miserere. Briefly attending University of Kentucky to study opera, she performed the lead in several shows, including Amahl in Amahl and the Night Visitors and Ariel in The Tempest.
After moving to New York in 2009, Lila’Angelique’s focus wandered from opera and studying formal theatre at Circle in the Square Theatre School, to street performance. In Central Park, she met S.K. Thoth who was creating his own opera in his own voice. His work challenged and stimulated her, and inspired her to pursue him as a teacher and mentor. Amazed by their uncanny ability to sing together, they began performing as a duo just a few months after meeting. In 2009, they produced a CD called Lila’Angelique and Thoth Prayforming Live at the Bethesda Terrace. Then the duo took their act to Europe, touring many cities from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Lisbon, Portugal to Marrakech, Morocco. In Madeira, they earned their name when, because of a mis-communication, the producer of their show announced them as “Tribal Baroque.” The challenging trip immensely strengthened their bond, causing their music to evolve and take a clearer shape. The tour ended with Red Bull flying them to Sao Paulo, Brazil to participate in “Sounderground,” a Metro Music Festival, bringing together some of the best buskers around the world, and then back to New York. They are now touring the United States with a new name and a dream of spreading their unique sound and performance throughout the world. Their new CD entitled “Love and Devotion” was recorded by Brendan Harkin at renowned Wildwood Recording in Franklin, Tennessee and is scheduled to be released on January 15th, 2011.
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