New Moon Trio

Dan Cantrell, accordion
Schuyler Karr, bass
Morgan Nilsen, clarinet

The New Moon Trio is comprised of three mainstay musicians of San Francisco’s vibrant Balkan folk music community, with a mission to both preserve and develop new works in the language of this tradition.

Accordionist/pianist/saw player Dan Cantrell is an Emmy winning composer known for his soundtrack work on Cartoon Network's Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack series and his innovative and energetic approach to documentary film and television scoring. Recent collaborators include: Tom Waits, Joanna Newsom, Beats Antique, the San Francisco Symphony, members of the Klezmatics, Brave Old World, and Fishbone. 

Schuyler Karr is a bassist, composer, and arts administrator based in the San Francisco. Specializing in the classical and jazz traditions, he has performed with Brad Mehldau, Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, the California, Santa Cruz and Modesto Symphonies, is a member of the One Found Sound chamber orchestra, and has performed chamber music with the Musical Art Quintet, the Real Vocal String Quartet, and the Amaranth Quartet. He has spent years performing with Balkan folk groups, and is a proud member of this local folk community. As an arts administrator, he served for a year as the Director of Performance Programming at the Red Poppy Art House, and currently directs the Diablo Jazz Company in public and private events. 

Vermont born clarinetist Morgan Nilsen has quickly risen in the Bay Area music scene as one of the most diverse and in demand clarinetists in San Francisco. She holds a B.M. in clarinet performance and ethnomusicology from the Eastman School of Music. After moving to the Bay Area in 2009, Morgan furthered her studies in Arabic and Balkan music with the Aswat Ensemble and at Balkan Camp Mendocino, and worked at Zambaleta World Music School as the school's first music coordinator. Nilsen teaches clarinet at the San Francisco School, the Mark Studio, Union Music, and privately to 3rd graders to age 65. On the weekends she can be found performing with some of the West Coast's best global music bands, playing an opera, or zipping by while on a bicycle music tour.