vocalist, improviser, composer
(she/her)

Lara Alarcón is a vocalist, composer and improviser. Her performances/compositions "VQ" implement the idea of prosthetic dialectics by the use and support of large amplifications, pedals, noise devices and other sonic complexities, with some extending to live video and live coding. Other formats include electronics and electroacoustic compositions with electric trio and string trio. Her music engages the listener in an intense way by using changes in dynamics, extended durations and a loud and strong stage presence. She has performed in venues and festivals such as Teatro Argentino, Prozess Bern, Maerzmusik Berlin, ACUD macht neu, Kunstraum Bethanien, Small Forms Vienna, Língua Fora São Paulo, and has participated in CTM Festival hacklab, SIM new york, among other residencies.

improvisor, cellist, guitarist, composer
(he/they)

Ishmael Ali is a first generation Filipino-Arab-American cellist, guitarist, improviser, composer, and electronic artist currently residing in Chicago. His work centers on exploring sound through improvisation, experimentation, collaboration, as well as a wide array of idiomatic approaches in an ever-changing, always-growing list of projects with diverse focuses and influences.

Though varying drastically from group to group, a common thread in his work is the juxtaposition of seemingly disparate elements to create something new: both foreign and familiar. Frequent collaborators include Bill Harris, Jeff Kimmel, Eli Namay, Je'raf, Fred Jackson, Avreeayl Ra, Adam Shead, Wills McKenna, Jakob Heinemann, Timothée Quost, Aaron Quinn, and Deric Dickens. In addition, Ishmael has played or recorded with Jim Baker, Ed Wilkerson, Carol Genetti, Peter Maunu, Josh Berman, Andrew Scott Young, Johanna Brock, Abhilasha Chebolu, and many others.

In addition to performing, Mr. Ali is a co-founder and audio engineer at the recording space Marmalade in Chicago and was the founder and director of the now inoperative music and art space, Orotund Music. He continues to work as an organizer and promoter with varying degrees of regularity.

Pianist
(she/her)

Liberian-Norwegian pianist Kamilla Arku draws on her diverse background as inspiration for her work as a performer, educator and scholar. 2021 saw her perform for the Royal Opera House and the Florence Price International Festival, as well as collaborate with choreographer Claudia Schreier for Works & Process at the Guggenheim. In the upcoming season, she looks forward to performances in Africa and Europe, as well as working with a collective of Black female musicians and filmmakers for the First Step project. Kamilla is also the founder and Director of charity Music for Liberia, a charity supporting young people in Liberia through music-based fundraising. Kamilla is a graduate of Yale University and the Royal Northern College of Music, and is currently a PhD student in Musicology at New York University.

Trombonist, Composer, Music Technologist
(he/him)

Ricardo Arbiza, an Uruguayan musician: trombonist, composer, and music technologist.
​As a performer, he has performed in multiple settings, from symphonic orchestras, salsa bands, chamber music, solo, big bands, military bands, and pop groups on tour throughout Latin America.
As a composer, he has premiered pieces in the Americas and has some of them awarded internationally. His explorative interests include experimental music; the design, and development of DIY music interfaces and virtual instruments, electronic circuits, and electronic hacking. In 2022, Ricardo has been invited to present a lecture, a recital, and compositions at the 2022 International Trombone Festival being held in Arkansas Central University, as well as to be a presenter at Trombonanza Festival in Argentina.
​Ricardo Arbiza holds a Bachelor's Degree in Music Composition from Uruguay, a Master's Degree in Music: Trombone from Mannes School of Music; and is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in Music Performance and Composition at NYU, under the advice of Dr. Tae Hong Park and the tutelage of David Taylor and Wayne DuMaine.

Improvisor, composer, woodwind specialist
(she/they)

Emily Beisel is a musician and improvisor specializing in woodwinds. Her focus centers on the bass clarinet, often in combination with amplification and timbral effects. Her work draws inspiration from noise music, mathcore, free jazz, contemporary classical and doom metal. Emily curates the Pleiades Series at Elastic Arts, which highlights the work of womxn and non-binary musicians. As a multi-instrumentalist, Emily performs for theater and orchestral productions, working for the Paramount and Marriott theaters as well as several productions with Chicago’s feminist musical theater company, Firebrand. She is also a member of the contemporary ensemble Fonema Consort. Emily holds her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 10-208. www.emilybeisel.com

composer, flutist
(she/her)

KiMani Bridges (age 20) is a composer and flutist from Louisville, Kentucky. She has has been commissioned, performed, and premiered by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, LA Philharmonic, and many others. Bridges has performed at venues including Auer Hall at Indiana University, Bird Hall at the University of Louisville, and the Kentucky Center for the Arts. In addition, KiMani has participated most notably in bespoken, the Luna Composition Lab, and the Umoja Flute Institute. In addition, she was named a NextNotes High School Creator Award Winner of 2020 by the American Composers Forum and was awarded the 2020 G. Schirmer Prize. KiMani currently attends the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and is pursuing a B.M. in composition and in flute performance under P.Q. Phan, Don Freund, and Thomas Robertello.

Improvisor/Composer
(he/him)

I have a healthy-order delusion about what the possibilities of my craft might be, and I cherish the opportunity to defy reason, reality, and good common sense to bring at least a modicum of an inspiration into sound relief. I am not afraid of wonder. And I marvel at the mastery and virtuosity of life that I can sometimes find in me because I find it abundantly in the practices of artists—and good people—around me. Indeed, I claim all of their work—all of your work—as my own as I seek to obtain it at levels where permission can’t be asked for or granted. Such is the nature of my malady. Ha ha! Let’s hope there is a practical outcome to all of this! We shall perhaps meet in ritual.

composer-improviser
(She/theY)

marie carroll is an american composer-improviser, electroacoustic musician, and koto player. they are the founder of the experimental zither trio "paulownia." her work is influenced by natural phenomena and explores themes of liminality and transience. they often live process their performances with effects pedals and MAX/MSP.

violist, improviser, electronics

“Music is my homing signal, reaching out to old souls and those ready to look within. This is my way of finding soulmates.
I’m a violist that uses improvisation to embrace instability and search for forgotten experiences and hidden energy. I invite the audience to join me in surrendering to the process of peeling back armor to reveal raw emotions without fear of judgment or imperfection.”

bass player, composer, improvisor
(he/him)

Ethan Cohn is a bass player, composer, improvisor, and avid explorer of the unknown. Known for his versatility across genres and his love of musical cross-pollination, Ethan has performed with groups from all over the musical map. He has carved a distinct voice for himself through his clear sound, strong groove, and consistently melodic approach to playing the bass. His own projects echo his sincere desire to spread joy to others through music. He has released three albums with his boundary-pushing psychedelic jazz group, The Plastic Waste Band. His recent artistic exploits involve integrating electroacoustic elements into his improvisational and compositional processes. Ethan is an alumnus of McGill University, The Banff Workshop for Jazz & Creative music, and Focusyear Basel. He is currently pursuing his Master’s degree at The New School’s Performer-Composer program.

Musician, Composer, Scholar
(she/her)

Mobile since her birth in Singapore, musician and composer Caroline Davis covers diverse musical styles. Recent albums include My Tree’s Where The Grace Is and Portals: Volume 1. She won Downbeat’s Critic’s Poll Rising Star Saxophonist (2018) and was listed in Downbeat’s Readers Poll (2021). Davis has shared the stage with Lee Konitz, The Femme Jam, Matt Mitchell, Terry Riley, Sara Serpa, and Billy Kaye, to name a few. She has been in residence at MacDowell and The Jazz Gallery; and awarded Jerome Hill, CMA, and NYFA grants. Her compositions integrate science and music, influenced by her Ph.D. Davis is an advocate for gender equity (This Is A Movement, The New School) and abolition (Justice for Keith Lamar).

Soprano, Composer
(she/her)

Marieke de Koker is a South African singer-composer and interdisciplinary artist who uses storytelling to create a dialogue about 21st century issues. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Vocal Performance at Mannes School of Music in New York. In South Africa she performed with Jozi Opera, Brooklyn Theatre TV, RSG Radio, Gauteng Philharmonic Orchestra and the Windybrow Arts Center’s Aluta Continua series in honor of Nelson Mandela. As recent winner of the Alsop Entrepreneurship Award, Marieke will be launching a new database for Pan-African vocal music. Marieke studied film production and screenwriting at the Interlochen Arts Academy and received her BM Vocal Performance degree from DePaul University.

Clarinetist, Composer, Electronics Improviser, Poet, Researcher
(They/he)

Armond (They/He) is a world-builder and interdisciplinary artist-researcher who synthesizes storytelling across mediums with research to deeply inquire “why not be free?”. Their creative work builds dream-like worlds as rituals for healing, social spaces fostering interconnection, and sites of fugitivity away from global antiBlackness through live performance, installation, and theater. Born and raised in Prince George’s County, MD, Armond amplifies intergenerational memory within his Black communities and the African diaspora at-large by drawing from archives & field recordings of the narratives Black folks have lived and continue living. Deeply listening to these narratives also ground their scholarly practice as an artist-researcher. Armond merges the fields of Black studies, music cognition, sound studies, and public health to develop music interventions and research methods that address racial stress and improve access to care for marginalized communities.

composer, improvisor, flutist, vocalizer, electronic instrument builder
(they/them)

astrid hubbard flynn (b. 1999, they/them) is a composer, flutist, vocalist and scholar. Their mediums include staff notation, fixed and live electronic setups, and improvisation based in text and graphics. Throughout their work, astrid is interested in facilitating collaborative scenarios and imagining alternative frameworks for music-making. In 2022, astrid received a B.A. in Music from Brown University, where they have studied composition with Wang Lu, Kristina Warren and Eric Nathan, music technology with Butch Rovan and Marcel Zaes, and flute with Kathy Boyd. Outside Brown, they have also studied with Libby Larsen, Abbie Betinis and Edie Hill. As a music educator, astrid has designed and facilitated discussion sections on popular music, and co-organized concerts of student music at Brown. Their compositions have been performed by professional ensembles such as Zeitgeist, YarnWire and the Kukuruz Quartet. astrid lives on Dakota land (Saint Paul, Minnesota).

Multimedia artist, composer, researcher
(she/her)

Ivy Fu is a multimedia artist, musician and sound designer currently studying at Oberlin Conservatory under Eli Stine. She’s interested in using experimental mediums, technology, and the narrative gestures of sounds to explore topics of diaspora, female body, intelligent machines, posthumanism, and the disidentification of self. Recently, her growing interest in “slow looking” has led her to create immersive soundscapes in museums that seek to provide an exploratory space for unconventional audiences.

In her writing and playing she likes experiencing the fluidity of improvisation and the gradual metamorphosis of sounds, in which she finds vulnerability tested and authenticity being present.

composer, performer, sound artist
(he/him)

Andrés Guadarrama (1991) is a composer, performer and sound artist based in Mexico City. He is currently interested in creating an experimental artistic practice that incorporates orality and the body as generators and containers of knowledge and collective memory. Through the creation of physical networks of interaction and interdependence between people, instruments, objects, spaces and natural forces, Andrés seeks a participatory experience close to the rituality of traditional music.
His music has been performed through the Americas, Europe and Asia by musicians such as Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart, Yarn/Wire, Joseph Houston, UMS 'n JIP, Eva Zöllner, Taller Sonoro, Boglárka Nagy, Irvine Arditti, Tambuco, among others; and programmed on festivals such as Donaueschinger Musiktage, NUNC! 4, The 21st Century Guitar Conference, Forum Wallis, Jornadas de Música Contemporánea CCMC, and Foro Internacional de Música Nueva Manuel Enríquez.
Andrés holds a degree in Composition and Music Theory from the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música (CIEM). He later studied under composers Germán Romero and Samuel Cedillo.

Saxophonist, Composer
(He/Him)

Saxophonist and composer Uri Gurvich was a member of the Tel Aviv Jazz Orchestra and won the Jazz Player of the Year competition in his native Israel before coming to Berklee, where he studied under Joe Lovano. Based in New York for the past 15 years, Gurvich won great acclaim as a sideman and as a bandleader with his three albums – The Storyteller (released on John Zorn’s Tzadik), BabEl (Tzadik) and KINSHIP, released on the French label, Jazz Family. All Music Guide called Gurvich “a major new voice in jazz” while The Los Angeles Times wrote that his music “transcends borders”. Gurvich appeared at the Village Vanguard, Jazz à Vienne, Marciac Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, Washington DC Jazz Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Atlanta Jazz Festival, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Blue Note, The Stone and more.

Clarinetist, vocalist, composer
(she/they)

New York-based composer, clarinetist, vocalist and arts administrator Olivia Jones has performed as a clarinetist with International Contemporary Ensemble (New York), MATA New Music Festival (New York) and as resident composer with the 2022 SoundSCAPE Festival (Bobbio, Italy), New York Composers Circle and Ensemble Mis-En (Brooklyn, New York). Originally from Australia and classically trained in clarinet performance and composition at Melbourne University, Olivia is a recipient of the Yarra Trio Composition Award and finalist in the Melbourne University Composition Competition. Current projects include a debut release with improvising quartet Oral Floral and a solo EP, both planned for 2023. Currently in the New School’s MM Performer-Composer program, Olivia is Vice President, Development Committee Member and long-time Board Member at MATA. As an arts administrator, previous roles include Broadway theatre company Roundabout Theater, Malaysian multidisciplinary artists Terry & the Cuz (New York), The Australian Ballet (Melbourne/Sydney) and the Australian Art Orchestra (Melbourne).
www.oliviadjonesmusic.com

haegeum performer, composer, improviser
(she/her)

Jeonghyeon Joo is an award-winning haegeum performer, composer, improviser, and researcher who is an ardent advocate for new and experimental music.

As an authentic Korean traditional musician, Joo has mastered Korean classical and folk music and won prestigious awards for her outstanding artistic achievements in haegeum, including the Presidential Award of Korea (2012). Recently, Joo's projects have been supported by Arts Council Korea and Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture and were presented at notable conferences and institutions worldwide. She is currently pursuing a DMA at the California Institute of the Arts and is on faculty at the California Institute of the Arts and Seoul Institute of the Arts.

https://www.joowork.com

flutist, improviser
(She/Her)

Samantha Kochis is a flutist, improviser, and composer based in New-York-City who explores various creative environments as a performer of modern music. Rooted in classical music, but ignited by improvisational conversation, she crafts performances and pieces that explore the warm simplicities of life and beyond. Samantha is currently completing her Masters Degree in Performance and Composition at The New School.

Maker
(it/she/her)

Yiseul LeMieux is a Korean-born artist living in New York City. Her work transcends disciplinary boundaries, often bringing together components in numerous media to create vivid narratives and alternative realities. She collaborates frequently with her partner Masson LeMieux, as well as with other artists, and her work often has a special focus on direct audience engagement and community feedback. LeMieux's disinterest with conventional boundaries between various media, between the artist and the viewer/listener, and the creative and receptive process are a part of her larger creative vision. She locates herself within a global network of entities - a world of unconventional interchangeability and a rejection of assigned values. This ethos of interchangeability allows her to explore the infinite potential both of herself and of the entire world around her.

Musician/Maker
(He/Him)

Masson LeMieux, born in Baton Rouge, LA, is a musician (guitar), educator, and builder/maker of things, based in Manhattan, New York. Since completing his Masters in Music at Louisiana State University, he has been working as a performer, sound engineer, producer. He often collaborates with Yiseul LeMieux as a performer and engineer, producing many interactive and large scale works. Masson uses functional art and technology, including computer programming, web development, and programming microcontrollers, to augment the scope of music performance.

Improviser & Composer
(He/Him)

Sam is a double bassist, composer and educator based in NYC. He is a versatile instrumentalist and improviser, and has played in venues such as Bushwick Public House, to Carnegie Hall. This past month alone, he has played with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, led a final recital for his beginning cello class with the Harmony Program, and finished a composition residency at the East New York Elementary School of Excellence with the arts education organization, LEAP. Currently, Sam is writing for the Unheard of Ensemble and filming his Student Directed Project Capstone as part of his Performer/Composer degree at the New School, where he has studied with Jessie Montgomery, Seth Parker Woods, and Fay Victor. Sam is also a graduate of the Yale School of Music where he studied with Don Palma.

pianist, composer, improviser
(he/him)

Shinya Lin is a contemporary music performer-composer and pianist based in New York. Most recent he collaborated with legendary drummer Francisco Mela with the album “Motions” on 577 Records of improvised music. He performs an array of music, including European classical music, contemporary classical, jazz, improvised music, and electronic music. As a pianist/prepared pianist, he draws on strong influences from John Cage and Cecil Taylor, to accept whatever it comes, there is only enjoyment, exploring soundscapes triggered by life and nature. Shinya was classically trained, and had performed Prokofiev piano concerto No.3 with The Florida Orchestra in March 2018. Shinya started stepping into improvised music deeply and developed his personal musical ideas during his studying at Berklee College of Music, ‘being present’ is a huge step he works toward music, for him, music is inseparable from the ordinary lifestyle, people gathered and connected, naturally, and began to realize the idea of life; Shinya is currently in Master of Music Performer-Composer program at The New School, and began creative path with New York artists.

Percussionist
(he/him)

Alex Meagher is a percussionist based in Melbourne, Australia with an eclectic taste in music, both within the classical repertoire and beyond. He recently completed his training at the Australian National Academy of Music. During his time there he worked alongside artists such as Speak Percussion, Michael Kieran Harvey, Lisa Moore, and Timothy Munro, and curated concerts and improvisations at the National Gallery of Victoria. He is currently a freelance percussionist, and enjoys using his curiosity to discover and perform unique and dynamic repertoire, collaborate with other art forms, and explore the variety that percussion has to offer. He performs with various orchestras, as a chamber musician and soloist, and particularly enjoys being a musician in theatrical productions.
He was recently involved in “COMMUNE”, a gothic eco-opera featuring live electro-acoustic music, dancers, butoh theatre practitioners, and choir, led by electronic music duo “The Omega Point”.

flutist, educator, arts administrator
(she/her)

The flutist from Poland enjoys an intensive solo and chamber music career. Since graduating with honours from the Katowice Academy of Music in 2000, she has been the principal flutist of Orkiestra Muzyki Nowej (OMN), a group with which she regularly performs at international contemporary music festivals throughout Europe. With the ensemble she has recorded albums for Polish Radio, DUX, Decca, Dacapo Records, which were nominated for various international awards. She has served as vice president of OMN since 2013.
As a soloist Alicja has performed recitals of new works and contemporary standards in Poland, USA, China, Denmark, France. She is passionate about solo performances with live electronics. The flutist has commissioned several pieces for Lorien Trio, consisting of flute, viola and harp. Alicja has been performing with Japanese pianist Rinko Yoshino for ten years, both in Poland and Japan. This year she defended her PhD dissertation at the University of Music in Warsaw.

guitarist, singer, composer, songwriter, poet
(he/him)

Julián Muro is a musician and a poet, a naturalist, a traveler, and a contemporary troubadour. He has released two albums of songs and instrumental music and has been featured as a musician and spoken word artist in albums in the US, Canada, and Argentina; a selection of his poetry was published in the anthology Breve Tratado del Viento Sur (Colombia). He received the Raul Urtasun-Frances Harley Scholarship and the John W. Kieley Endowment to participate in the Banff Musicians in Residence program in Canada in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music at the New School (USA), where he received an Award for Excellence in Climate, Environmental Justice, and Sustainability from the Tishman Center for his ongoing interdisciplinary project 'La Tierra, una criatura'. A New Music USA Awardee, he is working on his third album with production by Dave Douglas.

Composer, Flutist, Choreographer, Dancer, Improviser
(she/her)

Annie Nikunen is a NYC-based sound-movement artist, drawing from both areas in her process, and amalgamating them in her practice. As a composer, flutist, choreographer, dancer and broadcaster, she de-/re-constructs performer-composer boundaries, keen to expand interconnections between movement and sound. She is a variegated performer, and founding member of BlackBox Ensemble. Wide-ranging in form, genre and medium, Nikunen has collaborated with composers, performers, theorists, visual artists, sound artists, music technologists, cinematographers, choreographers and dancers. She creates with collective yet individualized experiences, striving to make her work broadly relatable yet deeply personal. Improvisation and storytelling lie at the core of her sonic/physical exploration, extracting sound from gesture and open secrets of emotion. Her works have been featured across the US and Europe in spaces including concert halls, universities, galleries, parks and churches. She is pursuing an MM in Composition at NYU, and holds a BA in Music from Barnard College, Columbia University, where she also studied contemporary flute performance at MSM.

Pianist/Improviser/Composer/Technologist/Dance Accompanist
(he/they)

Alex is a pianist with practices as an improvisor, composer, technologist, and dance accompanist. His recent work has been focussed on writing pieces for improvised acoustic instruments and changeable electronics built in Max/MSP. Alex is a dance accompanist and plays for the Mark Morris Dance Group and for classes at The New School

Interdisciplinary artist
(he/him)

Peruvian interdisciplinary artist, researcher and robotics maker. His work was described as “An incredible physical presence that transformed the stage into a soundscape” by The New York Times, “A heady confluence of technology, culture and cognition” by The New Yorker, and “A deep psychonautic dive” by Wire Magazine. He was a resident at The Kitchen on 2021. He is recipient of the NY State Council on the Arts/ Wavefarm Media Arts Assistance Fund, Jerome Foundation/Harvestworks New Works Commission, and Knockdown Center (NYC) residency for time based art.
He has performed at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Museum, Central Park Summerstage Fania Records 50th anniversary. His album Roza Cruz was named one of the best Latin American albums of the decade by Zona Sucia and Estereofonía.
He holds a PhD (NYU) on new integrations of body, mind and technology. He published the book “Fusión: a soundtrack for Peru”.

guzheng + guitar Chinese-American folk duo
(Kuo-they/she, Leeds-he/him)

River Full of Fruit is a Chinese-American folk duo, comprised of Salina Kuo on guzheng and Gabriel Garcia-Leeds on guitar, with both sharing vocals and spoken word. They explore personal narratives through song and improvisation, inspired by nature, conversation, and the spontaneity of the present.
Kuo is a self-taught guzhengist, classically-trained percussionist, songwriter, and free improviser.
Leeds is a guitarist and composer who is rooted in the American primitive guitar tradition, having studied blues guitar since childhood, but also owes influence to an array of musical styles, including bossa nova, tuareg guitar, and free jazz.
https://riverfulloffruit.bandcamp.com/releases

composer-performer
(she/her)

Adrienne Schoenfeld is a composer and bassist currently based in New York City. In 2021, she graduated from Berklee College of Music with a Bachelors of Music in Composition. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Concert Composition from NYU Steinhardt. Her music has been performed by The Rhythm Method, PUBLIQuartet, and Sam Wells of the SPLICE Ensemble, amongst many others. Since 2019, she has been the ensemble director of Neither/Nor, directed by Richard Carrick. She is interested in creating work based around improvisation and collaboration.

flutist and improviser
(she/her)

Flutist Anjali Shinde is an artist versed in many areas of music, ranging from standard to unconventional. She currently performs in a woodwind quintet as well as performing, recording, and writing in a cross-genre bluegrass band, Everwild. Shinde thrives working in both composition and improvisation, and collaborates in many genres. An advocate of both new and well-established music, she premiered a work for flute and piano by Tanner Porter in 2020, and performed as a soloist with the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestra in 2018.

Shinde is originally from Orlando, Florida and holds a BM from the Frost School of Music where she studied with Trudy Kane, Valerie Coleman, and Jennifer Grim. She is currently pursuing an MM from the The New School where she studies with Judith Mendenhall.

Kamancheh player, Improviser, Composer
(she/her)

Niloufar Shiri is a kamāncheh player, improviser and composer from Tehran, Iran, trained in Iranian classical music. Niloufar is a graduate in kamāncheh performance of the Tehran Music Conservatory and received her bachelor degree with honors in composition from UC San Diego and her masters degree in Integrated Composition, Improvisation, and Technology form UC Irvine.
https://niloufarshiri.com/

Multi-Instrumentalist, Educator, Composer/Experimentalist
(he/him)

Elijah Jordan Thomas (he/him/his) is a Black Philadelphia-born, Harlem-based multi-instrumentalist, educator and composer/experimentalist. He has studied improvisation with Dick Oatts, Tim Warfield, Jr. and Walter Bell, and composition with Dr. Cynthia Folio, Kevin Rodgers, and Dr. Maurice Wright. Elijah creates “enuff music”: music for Black healing and spiritual transcendence. Elijah has held numerous teaching positions and has led four recorded projects: "enuff music, vol. i" (EP, released with Off Latch Press), "Our Search" (LP), "Three Contemplations for Jason Moran" (EP) and "The Unity of Sound" with The NeW Quintet (LP). He is Musical Director of the global street band performance organization HONK! NYC.

composer, collaborator, (found-sound) percussionist
(they/them)

Jasmine Thomasian is a Chicago-based composer & percussionist for whom experimentation is a vital creative process. Core elements of Jasmine’s practice include collaboration and the incorporation of mundane texts or objects. As a composer, Jasmine cracks open sounds to examine and transform them. As a percussionist, they amplify and improvise with found objects. Recently, Jasmine has been experimenting with contact mics, HoneyTone mini amps, and guitar effects pedals. They are also exploring ways to incorporate aspects of documentary theatre into their collaborative projects. Jasmine’s current compositional pursuits look toward an opera project involving live electronics, non-linear narrative, and the incorporation of community-contributed personal experiences. Jasmine holds an MA in Composition from the Eastman School of Music and is presently pursuing a PhD at Northwestern University, in Composition & Music Technology.

Sound Artist, Composer, Creative Technologist
(He/Him)

Trevor Van de Velde (he/him) is an experimental composer, sound artist, instrument builder, and creative programmer based in NYC. His practice is oriented toward exploring the relationship between technology, play, and hybridity through electroacoustic composition, custom-built electronics, and mixed-media. Recently, he has been exploring the use of technology and food to create intimate spaces for collective listening and eating. Trevor holds degrees in Music Composition and Computer Science from the University of California Berkeley and Dartmouth College. He is currently a PhD student in Composition & Theory at New York University.

composer, saxophonist, computer scientist
(they/them)

Emma Waddell recently graduated from NYU Gallatin, and studied computer science and music composition, with a concentration in algorithmic composition. They are primarily interested in biology inspired computing in music, data sonification, and the interaction between live instruments and a computer. They have worked on multiple computer music research projects during their time at Gallatin, and are presenting their paper on neural networks in video game soundtracks at the IAWM new music conference in June. Next year they will be working as a software engineer on artificial intelligence in chatbots, and then they hope to attend graduate school in music and technology to continue their research.

Bassist, Composer, Educator
(He/Him)

Sam is a double bassist, composer and educator based in NYC. He is a versatile instrumentalist and improviser, and has played in venues such as Bushwick Public House, to Carnegie Hall. This past month alone, he has played with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, led a final recital for his beginning cello class with the Harmony Program, and finished a composition residency at the East New York Elementary School of Excellence with the arts education organization, LEAP. Currently, Sam is writing for the Unheard of Ensemble and filming his Student Directed Project Capstone as part of his Performer/Composer degree at the New School, where he has studied with Jessie Montgomery, Seth Parker Woods, and Fay Victor. Sam is also a graduate of the Yale School of Music where he studied with Don Palma.

Clarinetist, Improviser, Educator
(she/they)

Originating from West Michigan, Amy Zuidema is a clarinetist based in Upstate New York. Zuidema specializes in bass clarinet with a focus on contemporary music, improvisation and interdisciplinary practices. Through her work, Zuidema wishes to amplify BIPOC and LGBTQ+ stories and voices in her local and global community.

As a 2022 Frank Huntington Beebe Scholar, Zuidema will use their funding for their continued education in the Netherlands. In Fall 2022, Zuidema will begin their Master of Music in New Audiences & Innovative Practices at the Prince Claus Conservatoire. She will study bass clarinet performance as well as focus her research on ethics in music programming, specifically, on how one can avoid tokenization & exploitation during the curation process. Community and shared understanding are integral to her creative practice. As a queer veteran, Zuidema wishes to diminish polarity in her community, as well as create art and spaces that are accessible to all.