About Us
- Steve
- Agatha
- Chris
- Kelly
- Dean
- Past
Members - Good
Friends
Steve Werthner has been playing guitar for a long time in a variety of genres and contexts. Hearing Eddie Van Halen inspired him to begin playing. He played in Albany-based ska band The Mixers in the 1990s, as well as several party bands, all while working on other original music projects with friends in the Capital Region as well as his former home state of Pennsylvania. Steve enjoys working with the like-minded members of Shadow Estate, where everyone contributes to ideas, concepts and arrangements.
(Steve finds it difficult to write about himself in the third person without feeling like a complete wanker.)
After many, many years as a devoted theater nerd, Agatha went looking for a longer-term creative project where she could enjoy performing and establish a collaborative relationship with other musicians for writing original songs. Instead, she found a family.
Her music adventures began with piano lessons as a child, and later included flute, clarinet, saxophone, cello, guitar, ukulele, and even occasional flirtations with a hurdy gurdy that refuses to stay entirely in tune.
Above all else, she believes that music is the most potent force for human connection in the world, and she wants nothing more than to pull the audience into each song, and make them feel more seen, and less alone.
She is immensely grateful to have met her bandmates and have the opportunity to work with them, and looks forward to sharing their music with the community.
After four lackluster years of piano lessons, Chris was introduced to drums his freshman year of high school through a friend who played drums and guitar. As Ringo would say, he taught him the old boom, bap, boom, bap; and Chris was hooked for life.
Chris began playing seriously in the mid “90s in a succession of original bands in styles ranging from post alternative to Americana, and did some recording during that period as well. A highlight is a live recording with “Aka George” recorded at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.
He’s been active on and off in the Albany music scene since 2010. He recorded an album with the short lived “Heddy Brothers” and played around Albany with them for a couple years including appearances at Bellstock two years in a row.
He’s no pianist, but he still plays keyboards and has 5 synths in my home studio. As Shadow Estate evolves, he plans on bringing some ideas to the band. Who knows, you may see him on stage on keys and drums.
Kelly is a classically trained soprano with a 35-year violin habit, a lifelong performing obsession, and an unhealthy appreciation for loud music. With a degree in Voice and a background spanning opera, musical theater, rock, and everything in between, Kelly has spent years chasing harmonies, inhabiting characters, and finding increasingly creative ways to make a violin belong in a rock band.
As vocalist and violinist for Shadow Estate, Kelly brings the theatricality of opera, the precision of classical music, and the chaotic energy of a lifelong rock nerd to the band’s witchy math/prog rock sound. She likes music that takes a left turn—songs that twist, build, break, and occasionally make you wonder what the hell just happened. And she loves to pepper in insane harmonies because it’s fun.
She’s also a longtime seamstress and costume designer… all while somehow holding down a day job in the world of legal and finance.
After playing guitar in high school and college, Dean picked up the bass and found the instrument he was truly meant for. In his early 20s, he gigged heavily in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill music scene before “retiring” to earn a couple graduate degrees. He picked up the bass again during the COVID shutdown and got hooked all over again. Dean joined Shadow Estate in February 2026 and loves being the quiet, steady presence that lets his instrument do the talking. His versatile playing reflects his wide range of influences, from the pick playing of Interpol’s Carlos D. to the funky fingerstyle of Bernard Edwards.
Chris Appel was a founding member of Shadow Estate, and played with the band until 2025. He co-wrote many of our songs, and helped establish our sound during the early years.
Marc Bachorik played with Shadow Estate for a while in 2025, bringing a ton of energy to our gigs.
Coming soon!