Lamma Studios Presents
The Speakeasy
Orchestra
A 1920s Musical Revue
About the Ensemble
Close your eyes for a moment. The lights go low. A trumpet cuts through the dark, warm, brassy, and slightly dangerous — and suddenly it isn’t the 21st century anymore. It’s 1924. The floor is sticky. The gin is cold. And somewhere between the violin and the piano, the decade that invented cool is unfolding right in front of you.
That’s what the Speakeasy Orchestra does. They don’t just play the music of the Jazz Age, they rebuild the whole world of it, song by song, note by note, until the audience stops being an audience and starts being a room full of people who can’t sit still. The Charleston. West End Blues. Stardust. S’Wonderful. Tango. Klezmer. The Great American Songbook. Each piece arrives with the weight of its era intact with the swagger, the heartbreak, and the sheer, irrepressible joy of a generation that decided to dance right through its troubles.
One night with the Speakeasy Orchestra and you’ll understand exactly why the twenties roared. The Speakeasy Orchestra keeps it alive onstage, drawing from the golden age of jazz with the sass, swagger, and genuine chops the era demands.
At the core of the enterprise: Farley Sangels on trumpet and flugelhorn, whose tone could make a speakeasy go quiet; Eric Silberger on violin, a protégé of the great Itzhak Perlman who plays jazz like he was born in a Harlem ballroom; Jason Sherbundy on piano, the kind of keyboard man who makes it look easy and sound inevitable; Joey Carroll on bass, holding down the bottom with the steady authority of a bouncer who also happens to love Gershwin; and Jesse Snyder on saxes, clarinet, drums, and voice, equally at home in the front line or behind the kit.
Together they play the music of their namesake era with the ease of professionals who’ve played everything, everywhere. Whether as an intimate combo or a full-on revue, the Speakeasy Orchestra adapts to the room, the moment, and the occasion and always delivers the era whole. The show is woven together by an MC script rich with stories and history about the music and the era that made it, turning each performance into a genuine journey back to the twenties. And for those who come dressed the part in fedoras, flapper dresses, suspenders and all there’s one more tradition: at the end of the night, the best-dressed couple takes the crown.
The Musicians
Eric Silberger
Violin
Prize winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition, Eric Silberger is one of the most decorated violinists of his generation. He has performed as soloist with the San Francisco Symphony, the Mariinsky Orchestra, the London Philharmonia, the Danish National Symphony, and dozens more of the world’s great orchestras. Mentors have included Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, and Lorin Maazel. Critics have called his playing “spine-tingling… astonishing” (The Guardian) and “dazzling virtuoso playing” (The Washington Post). A graduate of the Juilliard School, Eric performs on a rare 1757 J.B. Guadagnini violin on generous loan. Eric is also co-founder and director of the Hawai’i International Music Festival.
Farley Sangels
Trumpet & Flugelhorn
Farley Sangels spent two decades at the top of the orchestral world — Principal Trumpet of the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Colorado Symphony, and the Baltimore Symphony, a longtime member of the Saint Louis Symphony and a busy guest principal in many major Asian orchestras. On the jazz and commercial side, he has performed in twenty-five countries across six continents, bringing the same command and musical intelligence to a jazz standard or a Mahler symphony. A conductor, composer and music producer, he is Artistic Director of the Chamber Orchestra of Kona, Director of Lamma Studios and author of the Holistic Musicianship blog on Substack. In the Speakeasy Orchestra, he steps out front as bandleader and lead arranger.
Jesse Snyder
Saxophones, Clarinet, Flute, Drums & Voice
One of the most sought-after musicians on Hawaii’s Big Island, Jesse Snyder is a Grammy-nominated arranger, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist. Originally from Pennsylvania, he grew up on his grandfather’s big band records — Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller — and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, where he also had the distinction of opening for McCoy Tyner. He moved to Hawaii in 2009 and quickly became indispensable to the island’s music scene. His horn arrangements helped earn Kahulanui a Grammy nomination in 2014. His 2020 solo album MUSE showcases the full depth of his artistry. In the Speakeasy Orchestra, he covers more ground than any one musician has a right to.
Jason Sherbundy
Piano & Voice
Jason Sherbundy started piano at age 5 and got into jazz in his early teens. He had the opportunity to study privately with the great Mark Levine in college and to play with many jazz icons in the SF Bay Area in his late teens and early 20’s including Carl Allen, Steve Cardenas, Chuck Sher, Eddie Marshall, Adam Theis, Kai Eckhardt, and Steve Smith. Jason worked over a decade as a music director and pianist in musical theater, touring and working on Broadway with such shows as The Lion King, Wicked, Chorus Line, Catch Me if You Can, recorded Grammy-nominated cast albums, played The Tonys, and worked on and off-screen for NBC’s SMASH with Marc Shaiman. Now Jason is delighted to be in Hawaii and involved in all styles of music from jazz, funk & soul, blues, rock & jam bands, classical and orchestral. Keep swinging!
Joey Carroll
Bass
Joey Carroll is an ambitious upright bass player born in Austin, Texas, the live music capital of the world. His backgrounds in both classical music and jazz weave together a tapestry of dulcet improvised melodies that bring beauty to the bottom end. Joey plays regularly with Matt Spencer in an intimate duo setting. He is a regular at the Kukuau Jazz Jam and encourages community members to engage with and find their voice and happiness in the great tradition of jazz. He continues to gig across the island with other musicians such as Big Island-renowned percussionist Russell Lundgren and pianist Loren Wilkin. As a professional botanist by day his keen eye for detail, balance and a reverence for those that came before express themselves in his playing and philosophy of music.
Angel Prince
MC & Narrator
Angel Prince is the Founder and Executive Director of Prince Dance Company and Institute. She has written, choreographed, and directed more than 30 evening-length works for the stage, spanning traditional theater, site-specific performances, and storytelling for the screen. Known for her creative vision and collaborative spirit, she is a dynamic force in contemporary performance. Ms. Prince holds a Master’s degree in Contemporary Performance from the Universidad Nacional de las Artes in Buenos Aires and a B.A. in Dance and Psychology from Hofstra University. As the narrator of the Speakeasy Orchestra, she brings years of performance experience and a deep passion for public speaking, crafting immersive worlds that invite audiences not just to observe, but to fully experience the stories she helps bring to life.
Watch & Listen
Highlights from the Honoka’a People’s Theater, January 2026
Upcoming Appearances
| Date | Venue | Time | Location | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu Apr 2, 2026 |
Uila Records
|
6:30–8:30 PM | Waimea, HI | — |
| Fri Apr 3, 2026 |
Coffee Notes (benefit)
|
7–9 PM | Hilo, HI | — |
| Fri Jan 15, 2027 |
Honoka’a People’s Theater
|
7–9:30 PM | Honoka’a, HI | — |
| Sun Jan 17, 2027 |
The Aloha Theater — The Kona Jazz Experience
|
2:30–5 PM | Kealakekua, HI | — |