Just Virtual Course Offerings
For many years Michael taught devoted students around the world Raga, composition, and the art of listening. His dedication to sharing his knowledge and learning from others resulted in a nurturing, warm and joyful teaching environment. In honor of Michael's dedication to his students, we are delighted to announce that the Foundation will kick off its online series of courses with the following offerings starting in September.
Singing in a Relaxed and Holistic WAY WITH IRENE KURKA
Schedule
4 weeks-Mondays, September 7, 14, 21, 28
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ET
Cost
$120
This 4-week, zoom-based course will cover breathing, posture and body, and what can support or block healthy singing. Learn how to expand your vocal range to enjoy an easier, more relaxed and a deeper singing experience. All students have an option to sing individually and be coached by Irene.
With singular dedication and uncommon courage to break new ground, Irene Kurka has developed programs for soprano solo that embrace the whole performance space. Powerful and at the same time delicate, her clear voice rings out, at times projecting a majestic presence, but other times not shy to take risks by laying bear her voice’s touching fragility. In her lively interpretations, Irene Kurka is always experimenting and seeking new ways to present contemporary and classic music in concert.
As an interpreter of new music, Irene Kurka is an internationally sought-after singer for concerts and stage productions. Numerous composers (such as Eggert, Corbett, Weeks, Muntendorf, Pisaro, Fox, Weeks, Vantzou, Seither, Beuger, Brass, Frey, and other) have written works for and dedicated to her, including works written for CD and radio productions. To date, she has sung over 380 world premieres.
In April 2018 she succesfully started the first independent podcast for new music: “neue musik leben”, cooperating with the nmz (Neue Musikzeitung). German and english episodes are listened to worldwide. Based on her podcast she published three books with “ARE Edition”.
The Architecture of Sangeet: History, Structure, and Improvisation with Jake Charkey
Schedule
6 weeks-Thursdays, September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM ET
This six-week introductory course offers trained musicians and professionals a clear window into the structural foundations and creative philosophies of the raga tradition. Meeting for 75 minutes each week, the class traces the historical trajectory of Sangeet and explores the foundational concepts that separate the Hindustani and Carnatic systems, with a primary focus on Hindustani music. Participants will be introduced to sargam (the Indian solfège system) and the cyclic nature of the tala rhythmic framework. Through practical vocal exercises, sequencing patterns (palta), and close analytical listening, we will explore the anatomy of raga Yaman, look at basic composition, and demystify the three core pathways of Hindustani improvisation. Each session concludes with 15 minutes dedicated to open question-and-answer and collaborative discussion.
Jake Charkey is a pioneering cellist who has developed innovative techniques to adapt the cello to Hindustani music, blending Indian classical traditions with contemporary genres. Described by composer Clinton Cerejo as someone who "redefines the sound of cello," Jake's performances explore the space between these two musical worlds.
Since returning to the U.S. in 2016, Jake has been a strong advocate for new music for solo cello, actively commissioning works that merge Hindustani music with modern compositions. In 2023, he received an award from the New Music USA Creator Fund for his upcoming double album Rasika: Beyond the Bounded Territories, which will be released in 2025. His work with composer, Michael Harrison, was supported by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts in 2025.
Jake’s sound has been featured in over 100 Bollywood soundtracks and songs, as well as on the title theme of the Emmy-nominated Netflix series Sacred Games, season 2 of MTV’s Coke Studio, and multiple episodes of MTV Unplugged. In India, he collaborated with leading musicians such as Zakir Hussain, Hariharan, and Arijit Singh.
Jake has performed as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and Lincoln Center and appeared on radio shows such as WQXR’s Meet the Composer podcast and KEXP. As an educator, he teaches at Marlboro College and serves as Education Director for Brooklyn Raga Massive. Jake holds degrees from Rice University and the California.
Cost
$180
The Listening Circle with Stacy Fahrion
Schedule
90 minutes, monthly- September 4, October 2, November 6, December 4
11:30 AM - 1:00PM ET
The listening circle is a community where musicians, poets, artists of all kinds, and most importantly, listeners, gather to share their work in a friendly, safe and encouraging space. We will begin each session by listening together to music by Michael Harrison, honoring his memory. Then participants are invited to share their creations with ample time for silence and discussion afterwards. The group is inclusive of all, you do not need to be a musician in order to attend, and you may always come to listen. Participants are especially encouraged to share music that is in just intonation or raga-inspired, but all varieties of creativity are welcome!
Cost
$120 FOR 4 SESSIONS
$30 PER SINGLE SESSION
Your Body is a gigantic ear—scale degrees have feelings too
with daisy press
Schedule
Wednesdays 10/7–11/11, 7–8 PM ET (6 sessions)
The story of music is what happens when we leave Sa - or the tonic, or Do, or whatever you prefer to call it - and how we get home.
But WHERE does it happen? In the ear, the soul, the mind?I say it happens in the body.
And how should it feel? Really good.
During our six weeks together, we'll sing slowly through the major scale against a tanpura drone and explore the gravitational pull of each scale degree. What does it say about being away from home, and the way it might long to return. We'll pay attention to its weight, its speed, its color, its shape, its personality, and where it chooses to live in our own bodies.
We'll ask questions that don't usually appear in music theory classes. Where do you feel this note? What does it want? Is it balanced or unbalanced? Restless or at peace? If it were a person, who would it be? Have you sat with it long enough for it to introduce itself to you? After twenty minutes together, you may even decide it deserves a different name, or it’s the one you’d choose to be stranded with on a desert island.
This is a game, an experience, and a deepening of perception. There is no way to mess this up. Trained and untrained artists of all disciplines are welcome!
Daisy Press is a vocalist, performer, and educator working at the intersection of contemporary classical music, Hindustani raga, improvisation, and Hildegard von Bingen. A longtime student of Michael Harrison, she believes music theory belongs in the body. Her workshop Your Body is a Gigantic Ear / Scale Degrees Have Feelings,Too grew out of a transformative raga lesson in 2005 and has become one of her signature classes, inviting musicians and non-musicians alike to experience harmony through sustained listening, play, and curiosity.
Following Daisy's 2024 world premiere performance as the lead in the Alberto Carretero opera, La Bella Susona, in Seville Spain, she was praised throughout the Spanish press for being "In full command of the stage," having "made the lead role her own, singing with exquisite attention to phrasing, dynamics, and a projection that reached moments of majesty," "shining in her own special light," and being "in full command of the stage."
Daisy was raised on buses, planes, in hotels, and hidden under the stage of the large-scale international rock and roll tour of which both her parents were band members for over 40 years. These days, she is a ferocious, passionate voice in experimental, pop, and classical music in the United States and Europe.
Cost
$180
SINGING INDIAN RAGAS WITH PREMSHEELA
SCHEDULE
6 WEEKS 10/12 - 11/16 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM
This 6-week zoom-based course will focus on Raag Bhīmapalāsī and Raag Paṭadīp. It is suitable for professionals and amateurs and is a perfect complement to the raga singing classes Michael taught for many years. Premsheela will guide participants to go beyond the structural foundations and notes of the ragas, and show them how to enhance their singing to evoke the emotional and spiritual nature of each raga. Both of the ragas covered in this class share the Kāfī Thāṭ (scale) and strong structural similarities, making them ideal for a comparative study in Hindustānī Classical Music.
Premsheela began her music studies with her principal music guru, the late Devi Karunamayee of Sri Aurobindo Ashram – Delhi Branch, who was a devoted student of Pandit Pran Nath in the Kirana Gharana lineage. Under the golden wings of her tutelage and with the spiritual orientation of Sri Aurobindo and Mirra Alfassa, Premsheela assimilated deep foundations of both classical and devotional music. She continued her classical studies under the guidance of Dr. Arindam Mukhopadhyay to complete her Visharad Purna music degree at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya.
Premsheela is also a songwriter, composer and singer, with an additional expertise in children's music. She has been a sought-after educator and performer for over 20 years.
COST
$180
CONNECTING TRADITIONS WITH PAYTON MACDONALD
These sessions explore compositional techniques, aesthetics, and practices that bring together the musical traditions of North Indian Hindustani music and Western Classical music, including the American Experimental tradition.
Seasoned educator and composer, Payton MadDonald, will discuss music of composers working in this space, including Michael Harrison, Reena Esmail, Asha Srinivasan, Aakash Mittal, La Monte Young and himself.
SCHEDULE
TUESDAYS 10/13 & 10/20 2026 8 - 9:15 PM ET
Numerous ensembles have performed Payton MacDonald’s music around the world, including Alarm Will Sound, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Bergamot Quartet, JACK Quartet, New Jersey Percussion Ensemble, C4 choir, So Percussion, To Hit Duo, Young Voices of Colorado, Quintet Mont Royal, Classical Jam, Composers Concordance Ensemble, guitarists Mak Grgic and Eliot Fisk, tabla soloist Shawn Mativetsky, accordionist Bill Schimmel, french hornist John Clark, and frame drummer Glen Velez.
He has received grants and awards from ASCAP, Meet the Composer, American Music Center, American Institute of Indian Studies, as well as fellowships from Yaddo, Avaloch, Marble House, and Ragdale.
MacDonald has composed music for the Silken Dance Company and for filmmaker Susan Skoog. He has also created one of the single largest bodies of graphic scores of any living composer, with over 70 works and counting, including stand-alone scores and as part of his newest large-scale interdisciplinary work Sonic Peaks. His graphic scores have been performed by numerous ensembles around the world and exhibited in art galleries in Ontario, Vermont, and New Jersey.
COST
$60
FUN WITH PALTAS WITH RAYA CHATTERJEE
SCHEDULE
COST
Monthly: Thursdays 10/29, 11/19, 12/17 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM ET
$90 for 3 sessions
$30 per session
Phenom, Raya Chatterjee, leads monthly sessions focusing on improvisation and paltas, structured patterns of notes moving progressively up and down the scale. In India, learning paltas lays the groundwork all musicians need to develop pitch, agility, speed, rhythm and improvisation skills, before learning their first raga or bandish. Raya will thoughtfully guide participants wanting to develop this skill, an essential feature of Indian classical music, to ultimately enhance their appreciation and understanding
for the music.
Raya Chatterjee is an Indian classical vocalist and multi-instrumentalist from West Bengal, India. She won the Classical Voice of India 2021 competition and other state competitions. She has honed her vocal skills from a very young age through rigorous training. Raya has studied raga within the same lineage as Michael Harrison, under Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, and has been deeply influenced by Michael's work as a composer. She has had the opportunity to learn western classical music and the adaptation of Indian classical music on the piano under Michael's guidance. Raya has also learned other aspects of composition and improvisation from Stacy Fahrion, and violin from Ledah Finck. She is also highly skilled at guiding others to improve their vocal technique and was selected by Michael to conduct practice sessions and teach paltas for his raga classes. Beyond the classical realm, Raya explores popular music, finding inspiration in the contemporary sound.