MEET
THE
MANTI
Guitar Player
Always attentive to the exploits and failures of his companions, Matteo (from Italy) accompanies them with humor with his intrepid musical distortions. Often with a laughing eye, he is not shy about winking at an audience he knows how to charm.
Matteo Cerboncini is a guitarist who enjoys participating in many projects. He is a musician and composer for the Mama Suya trio with which he recorded two albums, as well as the group Blind Jesus. An attentive and curious teacher, he teaches at the Rock Guitar Academy in Milan, at La Nota Blu in Tortona (AL) and gives individual lessons in Genoa.
CATALINA
Multi-instrumentalist / women's rights activist
Catalina (played by Cynthia Martinez from Mexico) is a mysterious woman: sometimes she’ll give you a sharp look, sometimes a bright smile; at other times she’ll convey her opinion through her cello or bass guitar.
Cynthia was responsible for Snowapple’s La Llorona project, which reached 100,000 women worldwide; she is now an important activist for women’s rights in Mexico. Cynthia was a member of the band ‘Polka Madre’ for many years, touring with them in Europe and the USA. She also writes music for the theater and the circus.
GREGG MOORE
Brass Player / Arranger
This melancholic and poetic character will touch your soul with his piercing eye. Changing instruments at will, handling brass instruments with incredible skill, he seems to be a Pierrot, a direct descendant of the stars...
Gregg Moore (from California) played in local bands and orchestras and jazz big bands. He concentrates on composing and arranging and his long interest in how music might accompany theater and dance led to an association with the Great Salt Lake Mime Troupe and the Festival of Fools in Amsterdam in 1975. Gregg plays a wide variety of musics for theater, circus and dance as well as music directing. He teaches, coordinates community arts initiatives and is a longterm collaborator of Snowapple as arranger and musician.
PINKPoster.jpg)
BOMBINI
Brass player
Elegantly and slightly detached, Bombini (played by Alberto Pérez from Spain) observes the convolutions of our troubadours. Will he intervene? Beneath his gentle, dreamy smile, he hides ambitions that may at some point in the show prove to be... surprising. “I also used to be very shy but I hated that, so I became quite an extrovert.” Alberto is an entrepreneur, performer, and creator in equal parts. Alberto plays all the brass instruments. He love jamming, arranging, composing, recording, and producing music. Trained as a classical tuba player, he now founded his own music academy in Utrecht, in which he teaches students to be open-minded and to experiment with music.
ALAN GUNGA PURVES
Multi-instrumentalist and inventor
Gunga (from Scotland) scrutinizes the others behind his percussion, and thinks he is the center of the show. He grumbles and growls, not appreciating the liberties that others take with the progress of the show. When he finds himself in the centre of the stage, his seriousness does not fail to make the audience laugh, making it all the more circumspect. Alan Gunga Purves is not only a percussionist, he is an inventor, creator of most of his instruments. As a long-time partner of the Moon family, he experiments with surreal humor and outstanding virtuosity, giving amazing and captivating concerts.
MRS. MOON
Singer and Snowapple’s artistic leader
Mrs Moon (Played by Laurien from Amsterdam) is the family’s matriarch and leader, a singer of operatic arias and folk cumbias, and the band’s clarinetist. She strongly believes in the old adage ‘the show must go on’ and encourages the others to follow suit with her sweet smile. Laurien is the artistic leader of the Snowapple collective. She studied experimental physics at the University of Amsterdam, then opera singing and mime acting in Holland and Los Angeles. Laurien has performed at Eurosonic (NL), Glastonbury (UK) and Vive Latino (MX).
SELENE
Mime / clown / puppeteer
Selene (played by Nora from Amsterdam) is a clown who is always wondering which road to take and whether to keep on travelling. She is also the alter ego of The Moon, a mysterious character who is trying to get back in the sky. Nora studied Visual Arts at (Gerrit Rietveld Academy) as well as mime and physical theater; she also trained as a puppeteer with the Philippe Genty Company (FR). She collaborates with both the Snowapple collective and the Duda Paiva Company (NL).
MR. MOON
Mime / clown
Mr Moon (played by Osito Moro von Ropi) likes to talk about the creation of the world and play a thousand notes per minute on his silver flute. Sometimes he plays with the truth or improvises a song using one of the multiple instruments he likes to use. A trained mime artist and clown, Osito played in the Mexican ska band ‘Los de Abajo’ for more than 12 years. He received a Master’s degree at the Utrecht Conservatory of Music. Osito has performed at festivals including Lowlands (NL), Sziget (HN), Glastonbury (UK) and more.
EVA SCHUMACHER
Artistic director
La directora (Eva Schumacher from France) ensures that there is order amid the chaos. She translates (and invents) words for this collective without borders and keeps the creative juices flowing through writing sessions squeezed into train rides. Eva studied philosophy at University, then physical theater with the Lecoq Pedagogy (BE). She first worked with actors with mental disabilities, and now writes and directs shows with the TSQP company (FR),
and the Snowapple collective.
EXTENDED
FAMILY
ARNO BAKKER
Trombone and sousaphone player
This unpredictable circus regular knows how to make every moment and every piece of music exceptional, carrying Selene with one arm while playing the sousaphone with the other. Don't be impressed by his stature, he is actually the most delicate of all.
Arno Bakker (from the Netherlands) is an autodidact musician, theater-maker, songwriter, house builder, chatterbox, festival appearer, rule cousin and cookie gunner. He plays big bells such as trombone and sousaphone, and occasionally makes a throat. He played in the circus, in TV series, in gyms for unwashed children and in the Koninklijke Schouwburg for money. He traveled honking from America to China, from Sweden to South Africa. If you are looking for him, he can be found in the impro-jazz circuit, on the largest pop stages, as well as at the most remote fair.
.jpg)
STRAMINSKY
Mime / Clown
Clumsy and acrobatic, Straminsky (played by Santiago Baculima from Ecuador) tries to help as best he can. Unless he is actually trying to steal the public’s attention for his very special act that he has been preparing in secret since the Moon family took him in....
Santiago Baculima trained as a theater actor in Brazil with the LUME theatre company and then as a clown with numerous masters in South America, Europe and the United States. He also trained in physical theater at the MAGENIA Studio and in clowning at the Ecole du Samovar in Paris. Santiago uses the language of physical theater, clowning, puppetry and dance in his creations with the companies Teatrovando and Clowndestinos and in the different companies with which he collaborates (DIRTZ theatre, Teatro de las Entranas...).
PORCELAINE
Dancer and contortionist
Porcelaine (played by Joséphine Terme from France) stretches and twists in all directions to bring the members of the family together. As a new member of the family, she is still learning the rules of the trade and is trying (often without success) to find her place in a well-oiled organization. She sets up, prepares and takes care of all the tasks that fall to the youngest member of the gang, but within her, questions and uncertainties bubble up.
Joséphine combines two disciplines: dance and contortion. She started ballet as a child: she studied contemporary dance in Spain, and trained all around Europe, before opening to circus and contortion training. Next to her performances as part of Moon Cabaret, where she is also experimenting as a puppeteer, Joséphine works with dance companies in Belgium (Sandman) and France (Virgule).
COLLABORATIONS
CUARTETO DEL
VIENTO FLORIDO
Mujeres del Viento Florido is a Mexican regional group, formed in 2006 by Maestra Lety, bringing together more than 40 women from different communities in the state of Oaxaca, together taking up a repertoire traditionally performed exclusively by men. The Moon family crossed paths with Mujeres del Viento Florido in 2021 and had the chance to perform with them during Mr Moon tour throughout Mexico in October 2021.
Since then, we have collaborated with four of these talented musicians:
Regina López, Yessica Hernández, Flor Gutíerrez, Diana Martínez: el Cuarteto del Viento Florido. Sharing the stage and playing with these women is an important factor in their empowerment.
