"John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, arranger, producer, saxophonist, and multi-instrumentalist with hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, and producer across a variety of genres including jazz, rock, hardcore, classical, surf, metal, klezmer, soundtrack, ambient, and improvised music. He incorporates diverse styles in his compositions which he identifies as avant-garde or experimental. Zorn was described by Down Beat as "one of our most important composers".

Zorn established himself within the New York City downtown music movement in the mid-1970s performing with musicians across the sonic spectrum and developing experimental methods of composing new music. After releasing albums on several independent US and European labels, Zorn signed with Elektra Nonesuch and received wide acclaim with the release of The Big Gundown, an album reworking the compositions of Ennio Morricone. He attracted further attention worldwide with the release of Spillane in 1987, and Naked City in 1989. After spending almost a decade travelling between Japan and the US he made New York his permanent base and established his own record label, Tzadik, in the mid-1990s.

Tzadik enabled Zorn to maintain independence from the mainstream music industry and ensured the continued availability of his growing catalog of recordings, allowing him to prolifically record and release new material, issuing several new albums each year, as well as promoting the work of many other musicians. Zorn has led the hardcore bands Naked City and Painkiller, the klezmer/free jazz-influenced quartet Masada, composed over 600 pieces as part of the Masada Songbooks that have been performed by an array of groups, composed concert music for classical ensembles and orchestras, and produced music for opera, sound installations, film and documentary. Zorn has undertaken many tours of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, often performing at festivals with many other musicians and ensembles that perform his diverse output.

Zorn's compositions cross many genres and he has stated "All the various styles are organically connected to one another. I'm an additive person-the entire storehouse of my knowledge informs everything I do. People are so obsessed with the surface that they can't see the connections, but they are there." For Zorn "Composing is more than just imagining music-it's knowing how to communicate it to musicians. And you don't give an improviser music that's completely written out, or ask a classical musician to improvise. I'm interested in speaking to musicians in their own languages, on their own terms, and in bringing out the best in what they do. To challenge them and excite them." "

"Tim Leopold - Trumpet

A native of Kansas, trumpeter Tim Leopold is equally adept in the worlds of classical music, jazz, world music and popular idioms, and he is an active performer and freelance musician in New York City. Mr. Leopold is an active member of the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Pittsburg Collective, Slee Sinfonietta, the TiLT Brass, Zosimos Ensemble, and has performed as a member of Joshua Roseman's Extended Constellations, Manhattan Brass and other ground-breaking, genre-straddling ensembles. He has played extensively in clubs as a leader of his own projects and as a sideman to others. A talented, experienced performer and educator, Mr. Leopold has taught trumpet, improvisation, and the art of music across the globe and extensively throughout the Americas. Mr. Leopold can be heard in numerous settings in and around New York City from Broadway's Chicago the Musical to Buffalo, New York's Slee Sinfonietta. Mr. Leopold is sponsored by Bach trumpets, a division of Conn-Selmer. Tim received a Bachelors Degree from the University of Kansas and a Masters from the University of Oregon."

"Exploring spaces between jazz and experimental music, trumpeter and composer Stephanie Richards has become a unique voice in the NYC experimental scene, collaborating with improvisational pioneers Henry Threadgill, Butch Morris, John Zorn and Anthony Braxton along with performance artists Mike Kelly, Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono. Celebrated as an adventurous performer, Stephanies theatrical tendencies often include multi-disciplinary collaborations of sight, sound and movement. An avid collaborator and supporter of new music, Stephanie has premiered new works throughout North America and Europe, while having her own compositions premiered at venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Blue-note and Lincoln Center. Stephanie is a founding member of the Asphalt Orchestra, created the collective Bang On a Can, where she has worked with David Byrne, St. Vincent, Susan Marshall and has also performed alongside Kronos Quartet, The Pixies, Kanye West, A-Trak and Common. Stephanie holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music, McGill University and the California Institute of the Arts and has held residency at Stanford University. A recent addition to the faculty at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), Stephanie also encourages the performance and commissioning of jazz and new music as Vice-President of the Festival of New Trumpet (FONT). Richards is currently working towards the release of a Tricentric Foundation grant for commissioned scents and sounds."

"Christopher Otto studied composition at the Eastman School of Music with Martin Bresnick, David Liptak, and Robert Morris. As a violinist, Christopher has premiered many compositions and worked with such composers as Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Helmut Lachenmann, and Steve Reich.

Christopher has participated as composer and performer in such contemporary music festivals as the Lucerne Festival Academy, Internationale Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Karlheinz Stockhausen Courses, Institute and Festival for Contemporary Performance at the Mannes College of Music, June in Buffalo, and Festival Internacional de Msica Contempornea de Michoacn."

"Cellist Jay Campbell has been recognized around the world for approaching both old and new works with equally probing curiosity and emotional commitment. His performances have been described as "brilliant and insatiably inquisitive", "electrifying", and "prodigious" by the New York Times, and "gentle, poignant, and deeply moving" by the Washington Post. A recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Jay performed with the New York Philharmonic in 2013 and was a curator for the New York Philharmonic's 2016 Biennale. He has soloed in major venues around the globe including Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium, Avery Fisher Hall, and Lucerne's KKL and performed recitals in Carnegie's Weill Hall, the Kennedy, Mondavi, and Krannert centers. Dedicated to introducing audiences to the music of our time, Jay has worked closely with some of the most creative minds of the 20th/21st centuries including Pierre Boulez, Elliott Carter, Matthias Pintscher, Kaija Saariaho, and countless others from his own generation. His close association with John Zorn has resulted in over a dozen works written for him including The Aristos, a Pulitzer Prize runner up ­­resulting in the release of Hen to Pan (Tzadik), listed in the New York Times Best Recordings of 2015. Forthcoming discs in '16/17 include George Perle's cello concerto with the Seattle Symphony and Ludovic Morlot, a disc of Beethoven, Debussy, Stravinsky and Pintscher (Victor Elmaleh Collection), and a disc of works commissioned for Jay by David Fulmer (Tzadik). Also beginning in 2017, Jay will be the cellist of a new piano trio with violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Conrad Tao. He has been a guest at the Marlboro, Chamber Music Northwest, Moab, Heidelberger­Fruhling, DITTO, and Lincoln Center festivals."

"A "long-admired figure on the New York scene" (New Yorker), cellist Michael Nicolas enjoys a diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, and improvisor. His eclectic tastes and adventurous spirit have led him to forge a musical path of uncommon breadth, where his activities range from performing the masterpieces of the past in the world's most prestigious concert halls, to free improvisation in downtown New York experimental venues, to working with contemporary composers of all styles, pushing the boundaries of musical expression and meaning.

The ensembles Michael plays in illustrate his commitment to diversity. He is the cellist of the intrepid and genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider, which has drawn praise from classical, world music, and rock critics alike. As a member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he has worked with countless composers from around the world, premiering and recording dozens of new works. Another group, Third Sound, which Michael helped found, made its debut with an historic residency at the 2015 Havana Contemporary Music Festival, in Cuba.

As a soloist, Michael performs recitals and concertos across the globe. His album Transitions, available on the Sono Luminus label, was named Q2 Music Album of the Week at WQXR upon release, and it has since garnered critical acclaim across North America. His chamber music playing can also be found on the Naxos, Tzadik, and Universal Korea labels.

Of mixed French-Canadian and Taiwanese heritage, Michael was born in Canada, and currently resides in New York City. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School."

"Peter Evans is a trumpet player, and improvisor/composer based in New York City since 2003. Evans is part of a broad, hybridized scene of musical experimentation and his work cuts across a wide range of modern musical practices and traditions. Peter is committed to the simultaneously self-determining and collaborative nature of musical improvisation as a compositional tool, and works with an ever-expanding group of musicians and composers in the creation of new music. His primary groups as a leader are the Peter Evans Quintet and the Zebulon trio. In addition, Evans has been performing and recording solo trumpet music since 2002 and is widely recognized as a leading voice in the field, having released several recordings over the past decade. He is a member of the cooperative groups Pulverize the Sound (with Mike Pride and Tim Dahl) and Rocket Science (with Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Sam Pluta) and is constantly experimenting and forming new configurations with like minded players. As a composer, he has been commissioned by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Yarn/Wire, the Donaueschingen Musiktage Festival, the Jerome Foundation's Emerging Artist Program, and the Doris Duke Foundation for the 2015 Newport Jazz Festival. Evans has presented and/or performed his works at major festivals worldwide and tours his own groups extensively. He has worked with some of the leading figures in new music: John Zorn, Kassa Overall, Jim Black, Weasel Walter, Levy Lorenzo, Nate Wooley, Steve Schick, Mary Halvorson, Joe McPhee, George Lewis, and performs with both ICE and the Wet Ink Ensemble. He has been releasing recordings on his own label, More is More, since 2011."

"Christian Lee McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist. He is considered a virtuoso, and is one of the most recorded musicians of his generation; he has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman. He is also a five-time Grammy award winner.

McBride has performed and recorded with a number of jazz musicians and ensembles, including Freddie Hubbard, McCoy Tyner, Brad Mehldau, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Joe Henderson, Diana Krall, Roy Haynes, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Wynton Marsalis, Hank Jones, Lewis Nash, Joshua Redman, and Ray Brown's "Superbass" with John Clayton, as well as with pop, hip-hop, and soul musicians like Sting, Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, Isaac Hayes, The Roots, Queen Latifah, Kathleen Battle, Renee Fleming, Carly Simon, Bruce Hornsby, and James Brown."-Wikipedia

"Tyshawn Sorey (born July 8, 1980 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician and composer who plays drum set, percussion, trombone and piano.

Since graduating from William Paterson University, Sorey has been a sought-after musician in many different musical idioms. He is both a performer and composer, and has had works reviewed in The Wire, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Modern Drummer and Down Beat. In August 2009, Sorey was given the opportunity to curate a month of performances at the Stone, a New York performance space owned by John Zorn. He was selected as an Other Minds 17 (2012).

Sorey recently completed a Master of Arts in composition at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. In the fall of 2011, he began pursuing doctoral work in composition at Columbia University.

To date, Sorey has released four albums as a leader: That/Not (2007, Firehouse 12 Records), Koan (2009, 482 Music), Oblique (2011, Pi Recordings) and Alloy (2014, Pi Recordings). He has recorded or performed with musicians including Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Steve Lehman, Joey Baron, Muhal Richard Abrams, Pete Robbins, Vijay Iyer, Dave Douglas, Butch Morris and Sylvie Courvoisier, among many others."

"Joshua Nathan Rubin is a founding clarinetist, board member, and served as the co-Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICEensemble) from 2014-2018, where he oversaw the creative direction of more than one hundred concerts per season in the United States and abroad. As a clarinetist, the New York Times has praised him as, "incapable of playing an inexpressive note."

Joshua has worked closely with many of the prominent composers of our time, including George Crumb, Matana Roberts, Alvin Lucier, David Lang, Chaya Czernowin, Du Yun, Christian Wolff, George Lewis, Steven Schick, Kaija Saariaho, Craig Taborn, Pauline Oliveros, Okkyung Lee, Nathan Davis, Tyshawn Sorey, John Zorn, and Mario Davidovsky. His interest in electronic music throughout his career has led him work on making these technologies easier to use for both composers and performers. Joshua can be heard on recordings from the Nonesuch, Kairos, New Focus, Mode, Cedille, Naxos, Bridge, New Amsterdam, and Tzadik labels. His album There Never is No Light, available on the Tundra label, highlights music that uses technology to capture the human engagement of the performer and the listener.

[...]

His clarinet studies were mentored by Lawrence McDonald, Mark Nuccio, and Steven Cohen. He served on the faculty of the Banff Music Centre's Ensemble Evolution summer program from 2016-2019. Rubin is on the faculty of soundSCAPE Festival and Ensemble Evolution. He is also on the faculty of the College of the Performing Arts at The New School.

Joshua holds degrees in Biology and Clarinet from Oberlin College and Conservatory, and a Master's degree from the Mannes School of Music.

His passion for technology in arts led Joshua to develop LUIGI, management software that is available to ensembles and other arts organizations who value transparency and collective management, as well as his ongoing work to make electronic music technologies easier to use for performers and composers. He maintains an artistic presence in New York and Los Angeles."

"Best known for his work in jazz, Marcus Rojas is a graduate of New York City's Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and holds a B.Mus. degree (with distinction) from the New England Conservatory of Music.

A longtime member of Spanish Fly, which includes Steven Bernstein (trumpet) and David Tronzo (guitar), he has played on over 300 recordings. He has performed and/or recorded with a wide range of musicians, including They Might Be Giants, John Zorn, Henry Threadgill, Sly & Robbie, and Foetus.

He teaches at New York University, the State University of New York at Purchase, Brooklyn College, and the Manhattan School of Music Pre-College Division."

"Clarinetist Rane Moore is well-regarded for her thoughtful, provocative interpretations of standard and cutting-edge contemporary repertoire. Fiercely devoted to the new music communities of the East Coast and beyond, Moore is a founding member of the New York based Talea Ensemble which regularly gives premieres of new works at major venues and festivals around the world. Ms. Moore has recently joined the award winning wind quintet, The City of Tomorrow, and is also a member of Boston's Callithumpian Consort and Sound Icon.

Recent projects with legendary saxophonist Steve Coleman have yielded recordings and performances at The Village Vanguard, Newport Jazz Festival, Saalfelden Jazz Festival, and Jazz à la Villette in Paris. Moore is also a regularly invited collaborator with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Bang on a Can All-Stars, New York New Music Ensemble, Boston Musica Viva, Emmanuel Music, A Far Cry, Boston Modern Orchestra Project , Boston Landmarks Orchestra, Boston Ballet Orchestra and is the principal clarinetist for the Boston Philharmonic.

Ms. Moore's latest festival and series performances include high profile events at the Tanglewood Music Festival, Lincoln Center Festival, Wien Modern, Warsaw in Autumn, ECLAT in Stuttgart, Darmstadt International Music Festival, Monday Evening Concerts in Los Angeles, Ojai Music Festival, Cervantino Festival in Mexico, Time of Music in Finland, Bludenzer Tage Zeitgemäßer Musik, Transit Festival in Belgium, Time Spans in Colorado and New York, Contempuls 5 in Prauge, Sacrum Profanum in Krakow, June in Buffalo, as well as local and emerging series such as Monadnock Music, Rockport Music, Kingston Chamber Music Festival, Town Hall Concerts in Seattle, and Trinity Wall Street in New York.

In addition to her very active performing schedule, Ms. Moore is on the faculty of the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice at New England Conservatory and has served in the ensemble-in-residence and guest teacher for advanced students in composition and clarinet at many universities and conservatories around the world.

Ms. Moore is the co-artistic director of Winsor Music, a much beloved chamber music series and musical outreach organization in the Boston area.

Ms. Moore has recordings on over a dozen labels including Tzadik, Pi, Wergo, and ECM records. Critics have praised her "enthralling," "tour-de-force," and "phenomenal" performances."