Aurora & Antheia

Aurora & Antheia is a trio dedicated to cultivating the beauty of melody, rhythm, texture, and in-the-moment improvisation. Their work creates immersive soundscapes that invite peace, transcendence, self-reflection, and love. Formed in the fall of 2023, the ensemble originally came together to compose and perform a full-length work for Wellspring/Cori Terry & Dancers in Kalamazoo, Michigan (May 2024). Since then, they have expanded into concert venues across Michigan and beyond, developing new artistic partnerships and multidisciplinary collaborations.

Their most recent project, Threading Moonbows, was presented in collaboration with Happendance Dance Company and poet Lisa Sarno in November 2025. Aurora & Antheia released their debut full-length recording, Sonic Intimacy, in April 2025. The album is available through Goldenrod Music and Bandcamp, and can be streamed on Apple Music, Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and additional platforms.

The ensemble features violinist Cori Beth Somers, cellist and multi-instrumentalist Laurie Jarski, and percussionist Carolyn Koebel. Together, they bring over a century of collective musical experience, performing both as a trio and in countless ensembles over the past 15 years. 

Aurora & Antheia Artists

Cori Beth Somers received her MM in violin performance from Western Michigan University in 2002 and began exploring non-classical musical training in jazz and traditional Irish in 1998. From there she has gone on to become a seasoned electric violin player, focusing her improvisation energy in folk, rock, blues, and Americana genres. Cori is currently a violinist for Grace Theisen, a member of the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra (since 1999), and the Red Sea Pedestrians (since 2013). Cori performed with international singer-songwriter and professional dancer, Dacia Bridges, in The Dacia Bridges Project from 2017-2019. Cori can be often found collaborating with other Michigan artists in both live performances and in the recording studio. In addition to her performance career, Cori runs her own teaching studio, is the Executive Director of Kalamazoo Choral Arts, and the BRAVO! competition manager for Fontana Chamber Arts. She is the co-owner of Isobel and Ernest – a retail artist business specializing in hand-dyed clothing, apothecary, and accessories. She is also the co-founder of the new concert venue, The Clover Room, in Kalamazoo MI. Cori is passionate about giving back to the community, collaborating with artists, and lifting her community up through the arts.

Laurie Jarski is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. She is owner/director of Broughton Music Center, Northville Center for Music & Art, and WPI Festival On the Land Music Camp for Women & Girls. She is a cellist/and or multi-instrumentalist for the Blues Aside Project, C•O•R•E tet String Quartet, Octocelli Cello Ensemble, Presence of Three Trio, Red Willow Dream, and the Battle Creek Symphony. She currently coaches a ‘String Quartet Plus’ program for youth and adult students in Northville and in Kalamazoo. Laurie is co-producing an original album for release in 2026. Her recent commissions include Safe Days for mandolin & bass, and Flipside Records for cello, minstrel banjo & cajón for the Ripple Effect exhibit at Kalamazoo Valley Museum, Connecting Chords, 2025, the Nine Trees of KL Ave Sent Underground for mandolin, banjo, minstrel banjo, string quartet and percussion, commissioned by Michigan Festival of Sacred Music, 2021, and the Egyptian Blue Jazz Bowl for Solo Guitar, and Untitled Brazilian Mirage commissioned for the Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, 2020. Larger ensemble and orchestral compositions include God Rest Ye! Orchestral Renderings, 2015, Funky Blues for Cello Quartet, 2012, The Star to Every Wandering Bark, 2010, Travel Modalities for 16 Celli, 2012, The Star to Every Wandering Bark, 2010, and An Amethyst Remembrance, 1995. Laurie’s interplay of antiphonal, rhythmic, and colorful fabric is woven around lyrical melodies, a natural extension of Laurie’s folk music origin as singer/songwriter from age 9. A tendency to have percussive attributes cross over to instruments not usually slated as percussion is of particular interest and provide interesting sound textures.

Carolyn Koebel holds degrees of distinction in percussion and music therapy from Western Michigan University & Michigan State.  She has been creating music for silent film soundtracks and modern dance since 1999, most notably with the regional project Blue Dahlia. Since 2012, She has toured main-land China & Hong Kong in teaching and concert tours with Grammy award-winning flutist Rhonda Larson & Ventus. She is noted for her work with Celtic-world music ensembles Fonn Mor &  An Dro, and the Dacia Bridges Project, as well as her spirited accompaniment in improvisational world music styles with guitarist/vocalist Elden Kelly, Tia Imani Hanna, Samuel Nalangira, & a host of other collaborators.  For the past 22 years she has been traversing the globe in search of indigenous percussion traditions and synthesizing these learnings into her own teaching and performance.

 She has released over 30 recordings of diverse musical styles and continues her work as an adjunct professor of music therapy at Western Michigan University and Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College; She is a contractual music therapist working in both hospice and special needs settings. She is director of international percussion at Kalamazoo College & director of Michigan Hiryu Daiko Japanese taiko ensemble.  www.carolynkoebel.com

Scenes from Tendrils