Graham Reynolds & Sonya Cote

 

Called “the quintessential modern composer” by the London Independent, Austin-based composer-bandleader Graham Reynolds creates, performs, and records music for film, theater, dance, rock clubs and concert halls with collaborators ranging from Richard Linklater and Jack Black to DJ Spooky and Ballet Austin. Heard throughout the world in films, on TV, on stage, and on radio, from HBO to Showtime, Cannes Film Festival to the Kennedy Center, and BBC to NPR, he recently scored “Bernie” featuring Jack Black as well as the Hulu TV series “Up To Speed”, and his score to the Robert Downey, Jr. feature “A Scanner Darkly” was named Best Soundtrack of the Decade by Cinema Retro magazine. With Golden Arm Trio, Reynolds has repeatedly toured the country and released four critically acclaimed albums. As Co-Artistic Director of Golden Hornet Project with Peter Stopschinski, Reynolds has produced more than fifty concerts of world-premier alt-classical music by more than sixty composers, as well as five symphonies, two concertos and countless chamber pieces of his own. With Forklift Danceworks, Reynolds has scored pieces involving 18 trash trucks, 200 two-steppers, and a solo piece for traffic cop. A company member of the internationally acclaimed Rude Mechs and resident composer with Salvage Vanguard Theater, Reynolds last released two albums simultaneously: “The Difference Engine: A Triple Concerto” and “DUKE! Three Portraits of Ellington” on Innova Records with distribution by Naxos, the world’s biggest classical label.

Sonya Cote

For Chef Sonya Coté, one of “Top 10 Badass Women Chefs in America” and Executive Chef of both Austin’s Hillside Farmacy and The Homegrown Revival supper club dinner series, cooking is more than just putting food on a plate – it’s about creating “edible pieces of art”, utilizing locally grown products for freshness and nutrition and educating future generations.

Growing up in Rhode Island, Chef Coté’s French chef grandfather shared his love for fresh and simple gourmet dishes that would spark her inspiration for years to come. Sonya’s interest in cooking continued to grow while living on an Iowa commune with her mom where she learned the exchange of food from garden to mouth, the craft of foraging for food and the family and comminuty bonding that goes into creating a meal – all philosophies that continue to shape Coté’s culinary vision. Her degree in graphic arts from the Art Institute of Dallas led to a marketing career with Whole Foods Market. During that time, Chef Coté founded her first catering company, supplying bites for art openings and pairing expertly matched cuisine to artwork at the Dallas Contemporary Art Museum. Sonya’s first apprenticeship was under Chef Dominico Biasi and later, Coté worked under Chef Leslie Washburn and served as Executive Chef for the Hoffman Haus and The Natural Palette Cooking School in Fredricksburg where she honed her daily, local food menus.

After years of culinary training, Sonya arrived in Austin, became sous chef under Chef Andrew Brookes and went on to work with Jesse Griffith of Dai Due before running the kitchen as Executive Chef at East Side Showroom. In the Les Dames d’Escoffier member and her partners opened Hillside 2012, Farmacy, an artisanal eatery and speciality grocery store in East Austin that Bon Appétit calls one of “The Best Spots in America to Taste the Revival”. Coté was also named as one of Marie Claire’s “Women on Top”; the national award recognizing women who have shown “unparalleled talent, vision and backbone in blazing their own trails.” Coté earned the distinguished award for her creative cuisine and as a tireless champion of local food.

“She looks like a grown-up spaghetti Western version of Shirley Temple, complete with blonde curls and dirndls, but runs her kitchen with Big Texas- style…one of the Top 10 Badass Women Chefs in America” – THE DAILY MEAL

“Few chefs command the kitchen as confidently and calmly as Sonya Coté…she has enlivened the local food scene and transformed it into more than just a short-lived trend.” – TEXAS MONTHLY

WEBSITE: http://grahamreynolds.com/