S & L DUO

S & L Duo is Adam Sarata (guitar) and Tom Lempner (saxophones, clarinet, flute). It also performs as a trio or quartet with double bass and/or drums. The ensemble performs jazz standards, original pieces, or classical compositions at small venues, restaurants, private events, and various art and music festivals.

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Adam Sarata is currently an Academic Advisor II at the Buchtel College of Arts and Sciences and the director of the Summit Music School. Mr. Sarata has previously served on the music faculties at the University of Mount Union, Ashland University, Muskingum University and the Community Music School of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. He studied classical and jazz guitar with James Piorkowski, Dean Newton and Stephen Aron. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Akron in 2001 under a full scholarship. Sarata has performed at Severance Hall, Warner Hall, Elizabeth Pastor Hall and numerous other locations. Sarata was a featured performer at the Wooster Jam Music and Arts Festival, Ingenuity Festival and the Rantucci International Guitar Festival. He has adjudicated the James Stroud Guitar Competition, the Burning River Electric Guitar Festival and the Rantucci International Guitar Competition. Sarata has released three classical guitar recordings: Guitar at Akron, Cavata and Sul Tasto. WCLV of Cleveland endorsed his playing as "lovely, colorful, [a] very nice performance." He has written articles published in Soundboard Magazine and Basically Bohlen.

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Tom Lempner has performed in the United Kingdom, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Dominican Republic, Serbia, and throughout the United States. He serves on the music faculty at Cleveland State University; he previously held positions at The College of Wooster, Notre Dame College, Kent State University, Western Reserve Academy, Lorain County Community College, and the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music. He has also served as a woodwind coach for the Cleveland Youth Wind Symphony at CIM - CWRU. Engaged with the community, he volunteers as Director of Music Entertainment for Mill St. Makers Market, with prior experience as a Trustee on the Medina County Arts Council and a board member of the Medina Southtown District Arts Committee.

As a Music Therapist, he has worked at the Prentiss Autism Center and has over ten years experience working with the urban youth population of Cleveland who have severe emotional disturbances. In addition to crisis intervention, re-education and sanctuary therapeutic models, he is also trained in applied behavioral analysis from the Cleveland Clinic and completed the Child Trauma Academy with Dr. Bruce Perry. Since 2015 Tom has been chosen by ORMACO (Ohio Regional Music Arts and Cultural Outreach) to facilitate annual grant-funded therapeutic music workshops with at-risk youth.

Tom performs locally as a member of Akron Symphonic Winds, Ekklésia Reed Quintet, Canton Comic Opera Company, Neo-Tessares Saxophone Quartet, Night Owls, Sarata & Lempner Duo, NEO Dixie, Dan Smith & Deep Cleveland Trio, Pen & Axe, MT Fraze, Hexapod, Freedom Jazz Collective, Dave Banks Big Band, and is host of the experimental project Inquiries Into Sound.
Tom earned a Masters of Music degree at Kent State University where he was awarded the Walter Watson Jazz Award, Outstanding Soloist at Elmhurst Jazz Festival, and Winner of the Graduate Student Soloists Competition. He also earned a double Bachelors degree in Music Therapy and Music Performance at the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, a Diploma from the Armed Forces School of Music, and is a U.S. Army Veteran with various awards and decorations. He is a Conn-Selmer Performing Artist, endorsing artist for Air Revelation, and is represented by Cleveland Music Group .