ABOUT US
Astral Mixtape is a band that creates groundbreaking original music with classical instruments and electronics. By combining their wide-ranging listening interests with a lifetime of classical training, they have created a personal musical language all their own. Their live performances synthesize the spectacle of pop, the spontaneity of jazz, and the experimentation of contemporary music.
Winners of the 2023 Astral Artists Competition, and the 2024 Beverly Hills National Auditions, the band enjoys sharing their music in eclectic venues across the country. Recent highlights include engagements at the Banff Centre’s Martha Greenham Theater (Alberta), the Eagles Theater (Indiana), Hugh’s Room (Toronto) The 1905 (Portland), Rockwood Music Hall (NYC), World Cafe Live (Philadelphia) and Hotel Cafe (Los Angeles,). Over the summers, they have performed as resident artists at festivals such as the Meadowlark Music Festival, Caroga Lake Festival, Benefic Chamber Music Camp at Ball State University, and the Vancouver Music and Arts Festival where they opened for artists such as VSO USA and Time for Three as the ensemble in-residence.
Astral Mixtape has also scored soundtracks for several acclaimed short films including prizewinners at Cannes and BAFTA film festivals. Astral Mixtape has joined forces with filmmakers, visual artists, and electronic producers to create music videos and animations. In August of 2021, they released a visual album titled Astral Plains, produced in collaboration with the Santa Monica College Film Department and support from the Banff Centre.
As passionate educators, Astral Mixtape enjoys sharing music at institutions across the nation. Recent residencies have included Idyllwild Arts Academy, University of Southern California, Pasadena City College, University of Nebraska, Depauw University, Pacific University, Pasadena City College, and numerous public schools throughout the country. They are sharing how one can use the collaborative tools of music education to create projects that are both personal and original.
Astral Mixtape currently partners with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra for fiscal receivership.
In March 2025, they will release an album of seven original works called Biolumy.
Misha Vayman
Misha Vayman is a professional violinist, educator, and dog lover. He has performed in a wide variety of contexts, from opening for Dorian Electra to soloing with various orchestras in the United States, Mexico, Russia, and China. In 2023, he joined the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra.
Misha is part of Delirium Musicum, an award winning dynamic chamber orchestra known to bend time and space to their will, with no regard for anyone's safety. He is prominently featured in many rehearsal outtakes, “keeping it light”. The orchestra released an album in April 2023 on the Warner Classics label.
He has twice won the Grand Prize in the international ENKOR Competition, once in the Solo division, and once in the Chamber Music division with the Benefic Piano Trio. In June of 2022, the trio released an album of works by composer Daniel Carr on the MSR Classics label.
As a recording artist, he has appeared on tracks by Plini, String Theory, Jamie Drake, Ryan Dilmore and Porter Robinson, among others.
Misha is a graduate of the USC Thornton School of Music. Previously he attended the Colburn Conservatory, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. A lot of practice was done at all three, and now he’s good, and doesn’t need to practice at all.
mishavayman.com
Juan-Salvador Carrasco
Juan-Salvador Carrasco is the cellist and co-founder of Astral Mixtape. The group collaboratively composes and performs original works that draw inspiration from multiple musical genres. Juan-Salvador has performed as a soloist with orchestra in Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Broad Stage, and Auditorio Blas Galindo (Mexico City). He has performed chamber music with Itzhak Perlman, Phil Setzer (Emerson Quartet), Anthony McGill (NY Phil principal clarinetist), and Robert Chen (CSO concertmaster). His orchestral experience includes performances with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Delirium Musicum, and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra. Juan-Salvador was awarded First Prize at USC Thornton’s 2019 Solo Bach Competition. He has also competed as a semi-finalist in the Nationwide Sphinx Competition. Juan-Salvador has attended summer festivals such as the Heifetz Institute Chamber Music Seminar, PyeongChang Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, and the Perlman Music Program. He has also performed as a member of the Heifetz Ensemble in Residence (HEIR). Juan-Salvador's primary cello teachers were Ralph Kirshbaum (USC’s Thornton School of Music, M.M. and G.C.), Hans Jorgen Jensen (Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music, B.M.), Ron Leonard (Colburn Academy), and Eleonore Schoenfeld.
Nathan Ben-Yehuda
Nathan Ben-Yehuda has been recognized as an emerging musician of impassioned energy and integrity. He has been a prize winner at the Yamaha Young Performing Artist award and the Seattle International Piano Competition, among many others.
He has worked closely with such composers as George Lewis, Kaija Saariaho, Oliver Knussen and Thomas Ades. Nathan has held a fellowship at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he performed in a variety of new music and chamber music groups, and took part in a complete performance of Olivier Messiaen’s Catalogue d’Oiseaux alongside pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, and performed Nancarrow Studies on two pianos with composer/pianist Thomas Adès.
He has been featured in live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 “In Tune” as well as on WMHT Radio. He has appeared on Musiqu3 TV in Beligium as a competitor in the 2021 Queen Elisabeth competition. He recently was one of two pianists invited to the Taos School of Music, directed by Robert McDonald, and perform as part of their young artist chamber music series.
He is also the pianist for the Victory Players, a recently formed new music ensemble based in Holyoke, MA. Having earned degrees from Juilliard and Royal Academy of Music in London, he is now faculty at Cal Lutheran University.
Michael Siess
Michael Siess enjoys a dynamic career as a professional violinist, having performed in eclectic venues across the world as a soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician.
He joined the Pacific Symphony in 2022, and has collaborated across Southern California with acclaimed ensembles such as the Mainly Mozart All-Star Orchestra, Delirium Musicum, LA Chamber Orchestra, and SMC Ballet. An active recording artist, Michael has played on numerous Hollywood soundtracks and albums. Recent highlights have included work on Avatar 2, The Orville, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, and upcoming albums with Seth MacFarlane.
Beginning his musical studies in Portland, OR, Michael holds degrees from the Cleveland Institute of Music and USC Thornton School of Music, studying with Margaret Batjer, William Preucil, and Itzhak Perlman. Over the summers he has performed at a variety of festivals including the Perlman Music Program, Aspen Music Festival, the Pacific Music Festival and the Banff Centre’s Evolution: Classical.
Michael is a founding member of the dynamic crossover band, Astral Mixtape. Their original music and arrangements can be heard in numerous film soundtracks, animated shorts, music videos, electronic productions, and in live venues across the country.