"Tatsuya Nakatani. Acoustic Sound Artist, Master Percussionist. b. 1970, Osaka Japan

Tatsuya Nakatani is an acoustic sound artist and master percussionist originally from Osaka, Japan. He has released over eighty recordings in North America and Europe. Residing in the USA since the mid-nineties, he has performed countless solo percussion concerts and has collaborated with hundreds of artists in international music festivals, university concert halls, art museums and independent venues. Infamous for his constant touring, Nakatani criss-crosses the country every year inspiring audiences with his pioneering sound. In addition to his solo performances, he conducts the Nakatani Gong Orchestra (NGO), a mobile community engagement project which organizes local ensembles performing on multiple bowed gongs.Nakatani teaches master classes and workshops at universities, giving students an opportunity to share his unique musical approach and philosophy for creating visceral, non-linear music.

He has created his own instrumentation, effectively inventing many instruments and extended techniques. Utilizing drums, gongs, cymbals, singing bowls, wooden sticks, metal objects, and the bows and mallets he handcrafts in his Kobo; he creates an intense, intuitively primitive, expressive music that defies genre. His work references improvised-experimental music, free jazz, and noise, while still retaining the sense of space and beauty found in traditional Japanese folk music."

"Raymond MacDonald co-leads The Burt/MacDonald Quartet and is a founder member and key player in The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra. He also performs with The Scottish Jazz Composers Ensemble and the saxophone quartet Rich in Knuckles. He has recently collaborated Lol Coxhill, Keith Tippett, Harry Beckett, Evan Parker, Gunter Baby Sommer, Fred Frith, Keith Rowe, George Lewis, Maggie Nicols, Satoko Fujii, Ken Hyder, Natsuki Tamura, Steve Beresford, Mike Zerang, and Fred Longberg-holm.

Other work includes composing and performing for film, television, theatre and collaborations with visual artists, including commissioned work for Martin Boyce, Simon Starling and Christine Borland. He collaborated with David Byrne on David McKenzie's film Young Adam.

In December 2005 he made a solo tour of Japan and in July 2006 performed with Josh Abrams and Miguel Carvalhais at The Glasgow International Jazz festival."

Neil Davidson is a UK guitarist and improviser, known for the groups Age Of Wire And String, Aporias Trio, Dvell, Muris, Muris With Lumps, The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, and With Lumps. He has performed with other improvisers including Arild Vange, Frode Eggen, Fritz Welch, Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, Hernani Faustino, George Lewis, Nick Fells, Aileen Campbell, Una MacGlone, Tatsuya Nakatani, Raymond MacDonald, Peter Nicholson, Rhodri Davies, Dimitra Lazaridou Chatzigoga, Jane Dickson, Patrick Farmer, Nicole McNeilly, and Michael Shearer.

"Peter Nicholson is a UK cellist, known for the groups Age Of Wire And String, London Improvisers Orchestra, The Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra, The One Ensemble, The One Ensemble Of Daniel Padden, and The One Ensemble Orchestra. He is Senior Musician and Director of Music at Scotland's Sistema Scotland team since 2009. Nicholson is a graduate of the University of York and the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). He has extensive experience as a teacher and workshop leader in local authority, higher education and third sector contexts. As a freelance cellist, he has worked with a range of professional symphony orchestras and ensembles alongside establishing a reputation for working across genres and styles as a composer and performer. Peter is a member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra and The One Ensemble."