"Though the point of reference for many remains the iconic band Henry Cow, which he co-founded in 1968 and which broke up more than 30 years ago, Fred Frith has never really stood still for an instant.

In bands such as Art Bears, Massacre, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog, Tense Serenity, the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, Eye to Ear, and most recently Cosa Brava, he has always held true to his roots in rock and folk music, while exploring influences that range from the literary works of Eduardo Galeano to the art installations of Cornelia Parker.

The release of the seminal Guitar Solos in 1974 enabled him to simultaneously carve out a place for himself in the international improvised music scene, not only as an acclaimed solo performer but in the company of artists as diverse as Han Bennink, Chris Cutler, Jean-Pierre Drouet, Evelyn Glennie, Ikue Mori, Louis Sclavis, Stevie Wishart, Wu Fei, Camel Zekri, John Zorn, and scores of others.

He has also developed a personal compositional language in works written for Arditti Quartet, Asko Ensemble, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Modern, Concerto Köln, and ROVA Sax Quartet, for example. Fred has been active as a composer for dance since the early 1980s, working with choreographers Bebe Miller, François Verret, and especially long-time collaborator and friend Amanda Miller, with whom he has created a compelling body of work over the last twenty years.

His film soundtracks (for award-winning films like Thomas Riedelsheimer's Rivers and Tides and Touch the Sound, Peter Mettler's Gambling, Gods, and LSD, and Deborah Kaufman and Alan Snitow's Thirst, to name a few) won him a lifetime achievement award from Prague's "Music on Film, Film on Music" Festival (MOFFOM) in 2007. The following year he received Italy's Demetrio Stratos Prize (previously given to Diamanda Galas and Meredith Monk) for his life's work in experimental music, and in 2010 was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield in his home county of Yorkshire.

Fred currently teaches in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California (renowned for over fifty years as the epicenter of the American experimental tradition), and in the Musik Akademie in Basel, Switzerland."

"Fredy Studer, drums/percussion

Fredy Studer was born on June 16, 1948, in Lucerne (Switzerland), where he also lives today. He is an autodidact. His music performances since the early seventies have been as eclectic as his freelance activities with musicians, ranging from "A", as in John Abercrombie, to "Z", as in John Zorn.

For the past 45 years, he has performed at festivals, given concerts and workshops, and recorded for radio and television, as well as music for dance productions and radio plays, theatre and film music in Europe, Africa, Japan, Central and South America, the Caribbean, in Taiwan, India, Russia and in Canada and the USA. He has been honoured with numerous prizes and awards.

Current groups and projects include: the hardcore chambermusic trio "Koch-Schütz-Studer" with Hans Koch and Martin Schütz (since 1990); "Phall Fatale" with Joy Frempong, Joana Aderi, John Edwards and Daniel Sailer; the Jimi Hendrix Project with Christy Doran, Erika Stucky and Jamaaladeen Tacuma; the revived legendary "OM" band with Christy Doran, Urs Leimgruber and Bobby Burri; the trio with Katharina Weber and Fred Frith; the band "Urumchi" with Saadet Türköz, Hans Hassler and Alfred Zimmerlin; and the percussion trio with Robyn Schulkowsky and Joey Baron. Studer also works as a freelance drummer and performs a limited number of select solo concerts.

Fredy Studer was one of the first drummers to incorporate open improvisation and grooves into his style. The specialist journal "Drums & Percussion" wrote: "... without doubt, Swiss percussionist Fredy Studer is one of the most innovative drummers in Europe..."

Fredy Studer's works and collaboration has been documented on more than 90 recordings."

"Katharina Weber - Pianist & Composer

Born 1958 in Bern. She has studied piano in Basel and Bern with Jürg Wyttenbach, Urs Peter Schneider, Erika Radermacher and Jörg Ewald Dähler.Masterclasses with Tatyana Nikolajewa and Hubert Harry (piano); Yehudi Menuhin and György Kurtag (chamber music); Vinko Globokar, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Fred Frith and Barre Phillips (improvisation).1987 Soloist Award of the Swiss Musicians Association (AMS)2000 awarded with the Buergi-Willert Prize (assigned by Heinz Holliger to 5 other composers)2001 Large Music Prize of the Canton of Bern

In Switzerland and abroad, Ms. Weber has given concert as a soloist with conductors such as Jürg Wyttenbach and Heinz Holliger and as a member of chamber music ensembles.

As a pianist she works jointly with composers (Erika Radermacher, Urs Peter Schneider, Peter Streiff, Sandor Veress, György Kurtag, Gunnar Berg, Thomas Mueller, Erich Schmid, Christian Henking, Edu Haubensak etc.).

She has made recordings for the national radio and for CDs and been active as an organizer/co-ordinator for the local section of the International Society for New Music (IGNM) and the association Workshop of Improvised Music (WIM) in Bern.

As an improvising pianist Ms. Weber plays improvised solo concerts and has worked together with musicians such as Erika Radermacher, Irene Schweizer, Jürg Solothurnmann, Alfred Zimmerlin, Franziska Baumann, Fred Frith.

She is also involved with intermedia projects combining music with pantomime, eurhythmy, theatre, painting and poetry which often are improvised, too.

Presently, Ms.Weber is active in a program with the Butoh-dancer Pia Maria, in a trio with the percussionist Balts Nill and the bass-player Barry Guy and in the duo with Christian Kobi.

Since 1994 she is also writing individual compositions, both in the form of improvisational concepts as well as through composed solo and chamber music pieces. Katharina Weber teaches piano and improvisation at the Music School of the Art University and at the Conservatory of Bern."