ABOUT EXTENSITY
MISSION
EXTENSITY is a musician-founded series presenting cutting-edge programming by emerging and established artists working across a range of disciplines including music, fine art and multimedia. EXTENSITY aims to foster connections between musical traditions, artistic practices and time periods with emphasis on underrepresented and new voices.
We also create platforms for artists and audiences to interact and make new discoveries through receptions, interviews, panels, lectures and special events. EXTENSITY hinges on this fluid, immersive perspective, both in programming and in experience; our goal is to promote a free flow of ideas, stimulate dialogue, and forge meaningful links between artists and engaged, active audiences.
STAFF
FRANCESCA KHALIFA, Co-Founder | Director
The Italian-Egyptian pianist Francesca Khalifa was the winner of the Ferrara International Piano Festival in 2014, awarded by renowned pianist and musicologist Paul Badura-Skoda. Highlights of her recent concertizing activity include solo concerts in China, Cuba, Colombia and in the United States, as well as performances as soloist with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra (Egypt) and the Orchestra Filarmonica E. Pozzoli (Italy), the Guido d’Arezzo Symphonic Orchestra (Italy), the Oosterkerk Festival Chamber Orchestra (The Netherlands) and the MET Opera Orchestra string quartet in the realization of Mozart piano concertos (New York City).
Francesca is the founder and artistic director of the Beethoven Fest New York City, a fiscally sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts. Her mentors are the Cuban pianist and pedagogue German Diez (1924-2014) and pianist Ena Bronstein-Barton, both former pupils of Claudio Arrau. Her research on German Diez is at the base of the documentary Piano Lessons, directed by Antongiulio Panizzi and produced by Moving Garden. The movie has obtained the official endorsement of the American Liszt Society, which premiered the documentary at the ALS Festival at the University of Michigan in October 2021. The film was also selected at the Silicon Beach Film Festival 2021 and will be presented in a tour of concerts and talks in 2022 through Spain, Italy, Chile, Cuba, Brazil, New Zealand and Australia. Francesca's first album, Legado, will be released in January for Sheva Collection. www.francescakalifa.com
CHELSEA RANDALL, Co-Founder | Director
Chelsea Randall is a pianist, educator and collaborator based in New York City. A dedicated advocate of underrepresented composers and new music, she seeks to create dialogues between the old, new and undiscovered as a performer. Chelsea has concertized at venues including Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Steinway Hall, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, The Kaufmann Center, The Princeton Club, Yamaha Piano Salon, Mannes School of Music, The New School, Saint Peters Church, Hammersmith in London, Clare College at Cambridge University, and Théâtre Adyar in Paris. She has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician at the Pacific, Colby, Orvieto and Salluzo festivals, among others. Chelsea is the recipient of performance and research grants from Scuola Alto Perfezionamento Musicale in Italy, the Allegro Festival, Conservatoire de Paris, and recently, Live From Our Living Rooms in partnership with Music Talks, which culminated in a livestream performance.
Chelsea received her musical education from New York University, the Royal College of Music in London and The Juilliard School. Her mentors included Herbert Stessin and Neil Immelman. Chelsea is also an accomplished editor and has worked at Soft Skull Press, Columbia University Press, Little Brown and Company and The New York Quarterly. She holds a degree in English from The Gallatin School of Individualized Study, NYU. www.chelsearandall.com
TONY MULANIX, Lighting Designer
Tony Mulanix is a multi-disciplinary artist and lighting designer based in New York City. He brings his sculptural, immersive lighting environments to the fields of theater, dance, music, and multi-media installation. Tony has designed for national and international venues, ensembles and institutes including: The Guggenheim, Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center, REDCAT, P.S. 122, St. Ann’s Warehouse, La MaMa, Phoenix Theatre Ensemble, Jean Cocteau Repertory, Arcane Collective, evidEnce Room, Yerba Buena Center For The Arts, Compagnia de' Colombri, Eyebeam, University Settlement and Carnegie Mellon. Tony received his MFA from California Institute of the Arts.