Fiddle-dancing for thousands in Tiananmen Square.  A flute concert on skis in the mountains of Vermont.  Couchsurfing parties in the Arctic Circle.  A cross-country caper in a busted $500 minivan.  Adventure abounds when art rules life, and sharing it with the world is what Sonic Escape’s about!

Shawn Wyckoff and Maria Kaneko Millar founded Sonic Escape in 2009.  Armed with flute & violin, their game plan – use hyper-instrumentals to fill hearts with indescribable joy – has landed them on hundreds of stages across 40+ North American states, provinces and beyond!  Maria and Shawn push themselves to the brink – singing, dancing, telling stories, and above all, playing their hearts out with a “wonderfully imaginative… anything goes sense of fun.” (The Washington Post)

They met at The Juilliard School.  A love of blading the streets of New York (and a spring break in Ireland) forged a romance powered by fun.  But playing the flute & violin together?  No way!  Too shrill, hard to tune.  Temptation kicked in, though, and Shawn and Maria gave it a go.  Tuning took 2 years; matching breath & bow took even longer.  Composing music that amplifies the virtuosity, range and emotion of the flute & violin – that’s when the real fun began.  They knew they’d arrived when an audience exclaimed, “Hurry, lock the doors! Don’t let them leave!!”

Performing arts centers such as Lincoln Center (NYC), Chautauqua Institution (Chautauqua, NY), Irish Arts Center (NYC), Oxnard Performing Arts & Convention Center (Oxnard, CA) and the Imperial Theatre (Sarnia, ON) have provided formidable stages for Sonic Escape’s larger-than-life sounds and moves.  Concerts and workshops at the University of Missouri (St. Louis, MO), University of Wisconsin (Whitewater, WI), Penn State (Erie, PA), Hofstra University (Hempstead, NY) and The Juilliard School (NYC) have enabled them to share with audiences and students alike!  Then there’s festivals… whether thousands camp without running water or gather in idyllic town squares, Sonic Escape loves them all and has performed at the Summer Arts Festival (Huntington, NY), Blue Skies Music Festival (Clarendon, ON), Elora Festival (Elora, ON) and Cherry Blossom Festival (Philadelphia, PA).  Sonic Escape’s original works have traveled the world, selling as sheet music in over 30 countries.

Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Chamber Music America and the Puffin Foundation have generously funded Sonic Escape’s compositions, travels, and the creation of a 5-day community residency.  So look out!  When you see that green minivan rolling into town, make way for the 2 nomads (and maybe even 2 traveling cats) that are Sonic Escape: good times and superb music are sure to follow!