Honeywell House in Wabash is a showcase venue with only 60 seats. 

On March 4, they’re presenting two singer-songwriters with distinct styles, all the way from New York City: Michael Shofi and Sofie Zamchick.

While tickets for this show are free — go to honeywellarts.org to check availability and reserve your spot — we wanted to tell you about it because it’s part of Honeywell Arts Academy, about whom we’ve written a lot. 

The academy has a new initiative, their Fellowship program, for five outstanding musicians who are alumni of the Resonance, Soundboard, and Wabass Institutes they conduct every June.

Fostering musical talent

I spoke with Emily Meyer, director of Honeywell Arts Academy and wife of artistic director Ranaan Meyer, upright bass player in the crossover string trio Time for Three. 

The Meyers brought their five Fellows to Sweetwater’s recording studios in January for an acoustic collaboration, and that’s where I met Shofi.

The academy’s new initiative provides year-round stipends and promotional support to these five Fellows. Starting this season with showcases in Indianapolis and Wabash, they are working on as-yet-unannounced dates elsewhere around the country.

“I think what makes Honeywell Arts Academy really special is we create intimate experiences with artists,” Emily Meyer said. “We really foster that direct connection. It’s not about how many people are in the audience.

“It’s quality and wonderful connection and wonderful music-making. That’s what we’re really looking to foster.”

Last month, we wrote about rock singer Beatrix, an alumna (but not actually a Fellow in this program) who came from California to perform at Eagles Theatre on Feb. 15. 

She explained how her first time in Wabash gave her career its direction: “The Resonance program is designed for people like me who studied classical music, but are then going on to do things outside the classical realm and experimenting. So, I got to meet a bunch of like-minded people and collaborate with them. It just kind of opened my mind into the way that I could use my voice and technique I learned in school in different ways.”

Professional collaboration

So, let’s meet these two singer-songwriters. 

Shofi is the Academy Fellow; Zamchick is an alumna of Resonance and a guest performer. Both from New Jersey (as is Beatrix), they play the same clubs in New York, even though their sounds couldn’t be more different.

“Shofi and I have been supporting each other like crazy for the last many years,” Zamchick said. “We’re always at each other’s gigs.”

“We recently actually wrote and released a song together,” Shofi said. “It’s called ‘Kids Again,’ and it’s a very special tune to us.”

Working across country

Shofi is a superb singer-songwriter, finger-picking acoustic guitar and singing in a hushed, kind of post-John Mayer voice, belying his musical theater chops. (Although he describes himself as having less formal education than his Academy peers, he has a degree in musical theater from Pace University.)

Working as a producer in New York, Shofi’s current recording studio project is new pieces for the famous and historical Medora Musical, staged in that tourist town in North Dakota since 1958. The new show opens at the end of May. 

He’s recently joined Project: Music Heals Us, which brings music education to prisons and juvenile detention centers, which will take him to California next month.

On his solo material, Shofi’s sound and delivery are straight-up Americana; he sounds like he could be from anywhere in the heartland.

Zamchick, on the other hand, is a modern cabaret pop chanteuse whose sensuous sound is as New York City as they come. 

On her YouTube videos, Zamchick sings while playing the VibeKAT, a variation of an electronic controller called the MalletKAT. It’s played like a marimba; Zamchick uses the four-mallet technique to play melodies and chords, reproducing the acoustic sounds of tuned percussion, layering on synthesizers as well.

Life in the arts

This goes back to Zamchick’s childhood music training at The Juilliard School, at the same time she was formally studying and working as an actress, singer, and voice-over artist.

At 7, Zamchick took on a contract to voice Linny the guinea pig on Nickelodeon’s Wonder Pets! 

“It was an eight-year gig, so it was like after school once to twice a week for eight years, my whole childhood,” she said. 

That lead to a lot more voice-over and singing work, most notably uncredited on (I shudder slightly) a long run of Kidz Bop albums.

In recent years, Zamchick has devoted herself full time to teaching music and acting. These days she selects just a few students so she can focus on her original music. 

You can hear her series of EPs and singles on all the streaming platforms.

‘Interesting and sweet set’

At Honeywell House, “It’s going to be super intimate … the two of us live playing originals and accompanying each other on our songs,” Zamchick said.

“We’re going to be utilizing pretty much all acoustic instruments, although Sofie’s VibeKAT may make an appearance,” Shofi said.

“Sofie’s a fantastic piano player as well,” he added, stating they’ll make use of a particularly fine Steinway grand in that hall.

“We each have a couple songs that already lend themselves to being duets, so that we can really make it a full two-person arrangement.”

“My original songs, his original songs, we’re going to just try to make a really interesting and sweet set for everyone,” Zamchick said.

“We’ve always wanted to perform together since we met.

“We’ve heard each other play a lot. So, it’ll be fun to engage with each other’s music and sing together and play together.”

Arts Academy 2025 around corner

Looking ahead to June, Honeywell Arts Academy will present this year’s Institute students, from across the U.S. and around the world, in concert at Eagles Theatre with Resonance on June 6, Soundboard on June 13, and Wabass on June 20. 

Unlike your typical stuffy classical music recitals, these events present up-and-coming professional musicians with a prodigious range of talent, collaborating in startling and very entertaining ways. 

Check out one or more of these shows and you’ll see the future of acoustic music, being nurtured right here in Indiana.