Praised by the New York Times for his “graceful touch,” “rhythmic precision,” and “hypnotic charm,” pianist Han Chen has established himself in both the classical music and contemporary music worlds with his versatile programming and effortless technique…
A native of Detroit, Michigan, Joe is a performer, educator, audio engineer, repair tech, and general musical mercenary. A multi-faceted percussionist, Joe has performed with Talujon, Innovox, the Curiosity Cabinet, S.E.M. Ensemble, and others. He also plays in Gamelan Dharma Swara and Gamelan Yowana Sari, as well as playing in various jazz combos, Balkans groups, and accompanies Arabic dancers.
Nate Jasensky is a guitarist, composer, producer, arranger, and music educator born and raised in sunny Tucson, Arizona, and currently living in Brooklyn, New York. Nathan first started his music education at the age of three, when he was enrolled in regular music classes with musicians in the local symphony orchestra. Learning how to read music before written english, Nate quickly became proficient in the guitar and the saxophone…
Titilayo Ayangade, cellist, has spent more than two decades behind the instrument, enjoying performances in orchestras and chamber ensembles as well commissioning new music. Holding degrees in performance from University of Cincinnati-CCM and University of Texas at Austin, she has also worked closely with members of the Artemis Quartet at Queen Elisabeth Chapel in Belgium. Titilayo currently resides close to Washington, D.C. and is pursuing a D.M.A. at the University of Maryland as part of the fellowship ensemble in residence, Thalea String Quartet.
Dominican-American saxophonist and composer, Alfredo Colon is a proud New York City native. His distinct sound lives at the crossroads of a wide range of experiences and inspirations, from his upbringing in Upper Manhattan, to his Dominican heritage, to his love of musicians with melodic approaches to improvisation, including Sonny Sharrock, Ornette Coleman, and Pharoah Sanders…
Radical self-love, compassion, laughter and the drive to promote and amplify Black art-makers and noise-makers are at the core of Clifton Joseph Guidry III’s work. The New York City-based bassoonist, composer, and activist excels in many spheres, with performances hailed by the San Diego Tribune as “lyrical and haunting… hair-raising and unsettling…” Clifton is not only a versatile and acclaimed bassoonist, but they are also an improviser and composer of experimental and daring new works that proclaim Clifton’s love of storytelling. In all aspects of his work, Clifton is supporting, hiring and promoting Black artists within their practice. In honoring their ancestors and those who came before them Clifton’s compositions channel their inner child.
Kalia Vandever is a trombonist, composer, and educator living in Brooklyn, NY. She released her debut album, "In Bloom" in May, 2019 which features all of her original compositions written for quartet and duo with guitar. She has toured and performed internationally with her quartet, as well as a side-woman. Kalia is also an active composer and arranger. She has been commissioned to write works for groups and individuals including Tesla Quartet, The Westerlies, Katherine Kyu Hyeon Lim, and Hats & Heels Duo.
Flutist, singer, and occasional visual artist Justine Lee Hooper (she/they) covers the music of Soul greats, Black spirituals, and meditative improvisations over live looped beats. She has performed for the United Nations and has been featured in The New York Times.
(They/Them: Anishinaabe, Nipissing First Nation) Olivia Shortt is a Tkarón:to and US-based multi/trans-disciplinary performing artist. They are a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, noisemaker, improviser, composer, sound designer, curator, administrator, and producer. Highlights include their Lincoln Center (NYC) debut in 2018 with the International Contemporary Ensemble, their film debut performing in Atom Egoyan’s 2019 film ‘Guest of Honour’, as well as recording an album two kilometres underground with Stereoscope in the SnoLAB (Neutrino Lab in Sudbury, Canada). Recent commissions include Long Beach Opera (Songbook 2020), the JACK Quartet (JACK Studio), a new opera for Loose Tea Music Theatre (Toronto), and Arraymusic Ensemble (Toronto, 2022). Shortt was a finalist for the 2021 Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award as well as awarded and named one of the 2020 Buddies in Bad Times Theatre's Emerging Queer Artists. Shortt is featured in the 2020 Winter edition of Musicworks Magazine.
Kenny Warren grew up in Denver CO, where he was inspired at a young age by local trumpet greats Ron Miles, Al Hood and Greg Gisbert. In 2002 he moved to New York to study jazz at SUNY Purchase where he met collaborators like Bobby Avey and JP Schlegelmilch. After graduating in 2006, he moved to Brooklyn and quickly became an active member of the improvised music scene. He has performed with a who’s who of improvisors from his generation as well as with luminaries like Tony Malaby, Chris Speed, Angelica Sanchez and Brad Shepik.
Yuma Uesaka (b. 1991) is a saxophonist, clarinetist, and improviser-composer mostly known for his work in jazz and creative music. Since his arrival to New York City in 2014, Yuma quickly built a reputation for his tenacious yet adaptable improvisational sensibilities. As an advocate for music that celebrates modernity, hybridity, and rigor, Yuma works across diverse musical communities including jazz, creative music, and new classical music…
Jeremy Viner is a Brooklyn-based performer, composer, and educator involved in a wide range of musical idioms. As a saxophonist and clarinetist, Jeremy has performed nationally and internationally with ensembles led by John Hollenbeck, Steve Lehman, Tyshawn Sorey, and Rafiq Bhatia among many others. Jeremy is also a member of the genre-bending tenor saxophone quartet Battle Trance and the chamber minimalist ensemble Bing & Ruth.
Charlotte Greve is a Brooklyn-based alto saxophonist, composer, and singer originally from Germany. She has released eight albums as a leader, two of which received the ECHO Jazz Prize (German equivalent of a GRAMMY). In April 2022 she was awarded the German Jazz Prize as Artist of the Year…
Performing on alto saxophone, alto flute, and soprano saxophone, David Leon leads the ensemble. In his compositions and woodwind playing alike, he explores the use of alternate timbres and the ways in which those sounds can combine to generate new hybrids…
Stephen Boegehold is a drummer and composer based in New York City. As a collaborator, Stephen has worked with many of his generation’s forward-thinking jazz and improvising artists including Roulette Intermedium Artists in Residence Sonya Belaya and Nick Dunston, whose 2020 release Atlantic Extraction: Live at Threes appeared on Downbeat’s best albums of 2020 list…
Tal Yahalom is an Israeli guitarist, composer and bandleader based in Brooklyn, New York.
In his music he seeks to create engaging storytelling, attentive interplay and distinct sonic environments, weaving together influences and elements of hard-bop, alternative-rock, impressionistic classical music and improvised music…
Florian Herzog, (1989) bassist and composer, is a pioneer of the German and international jazz and avant-garde scenes. After living and working in the Netherlands, Cologne and finally New York, he now writes for projects that are avant-garde jazz, pop or electronic, but also always all of the above. His bass playing has been described by the press as "emancipated, spirited and sensitive.”…
Born in Boston, MA in 1991, Henry Fraser grew up immersed in music - singing, playing piano and cello, studying theory and ear training. He began playing the double bass at 14, sparking an interest in improvisation via the music of Charles Mingus. Fraser moved to NYC in 2014, after graduating from New England Conservatory of Music, and has been actively working in the areas of jazz, free-improv, noise, and spectral music…
Miranda Agnew is a trumpet player, composer, and improviser entering her final year of the dual degree program between Harvard and the New England Conservatory of Music. She has performed and recorded original compositions with musicians from her hometown Tucson, Arizona, Boston, and Amsterdam, and recently took part in a ten day improvisation centered gathering held at the Institute for the Musical Arts. Miranda has been mentored by musicians such as Kris Davis, Vijay Iyer, Claire Chase, and Jason Palmer, and attended the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. In addition to performing, she taught at the University of Arizona’s summer jazz workshop and designed an educational project for highschoolers that centers women in the history of Jazz and Creative Music. She is deeply invested in building welcoming, supportive, and bold spaces for music-making, and hopes to spend a lifetime building connections to other people through art.
Isabel Crespo Pardo (they/them) is an NYC-based latinx vocalist, improviser, and composer creating art that constantly evolves to reflect the intra/interpersonal spaces they inhabit. Their practice is nourished by curiosity and (dis)comfort. Reveling in soft chaos, they embrace openness and specificity to create poetic work.
