"Sam Pluta is a New York City-based composer, laptop improviser, electronics performer, and sound artist. Though his work has a wide breadth, his central focus is on the laptop as a performance instrument capable of sharing the stage with groups ranging from new music ensembles to world-class instrumental improvisers. By creating unique interactions of electronics, instruments, and sonic spaces, Pluta's vibrant musical universe fuses the traditionally separate sound worlds of acoustic instruments and electronics, creating sonic spaces which envelop the audience and resulting in a music focused on visceral interaction of instrumental performers with reactive computerized sound worlds. As a composer of instrumental music, Sam has written works for Wet Ink Ensemble, International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, Timetable Percussion, Mivos Quartet, RIOT Trio, Ensemble Dal Niente, Jessie Marino, Mantra Percussion, TAK, Dave Eggar, and Prism Saxophone Quartet. His compositions range from solo instrumental works to pieces for ensemble with electronics to compositions for large ensemble and orchestra. In addition to acoustic and electro-acoustic works, Pluta has written extensive solo electronic repertoire ranging from multi-channel acousmatic compositions to solo laptop works with video to laptop ensemble compositions for up to 15 players.

As an improviser, Sam has collaborated with some of the finest creative musicians in the world, including Peter Evans, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Craig Taborn, Jim Black, Anne La Berge, and George Lewis. Sam is a member of multiple improvisation-based ensembles, the jazz influenced Peter Evans Quintet, the free improvisation-based Rocket Science (with Evan Parker, Craig Taborn and Peter Evans), the analog synth and laptop duo exclusiveOr (with Jeff Snyder), his longstanding duo with Peter Evans, and the New York City-based power group Sonic Overload (with Jim Altieri, Dan Peck, Tom Blancarte, Peter Evans, and Jeff Snyder). Sam has also performed with the Evan Parker Electro-Acoustic Ensemble. With these various groups he has toured Europe and America and performed at major festivals and venues, such as the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, the Moers and Donaueshingen Festivals in Germany, Bimhuis in Amsterdam, and The Vortex in London. Sam is the Technical Director for the Wet Ink Ensemble, a group for whom he is a member composer as well as principal electronics performer. As a performer of chamber music with Wet Ink and other groups, in addition to his own works, Sam has performed and premiered works by Peter Ablinger, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Katharina Rosenberger, George Lewis, Ben Hackbarth, Alvin Lucier, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Alex Mincek, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels among others.

Dr Pluta studied composition and electronic music at Columbia University, where he received his DMA in 2012. He received Masters degrees from the University of Birmingham in the UK and the University of Texas at Austin, and completed his undergraduate work at Santa Clara University. His principal teachers include George Lewis, Brad Garton, Tristan Murail, Fabien Levy, Scott Wilson, Jonty Harrison, Russell Pinkston, Lynn Shurtleff, and Bruce Pennycook. A dedicated pedagogue, Sam teaches Composing with Sound and Technology and Improvisation at Bennington College. From 2011-15 he directed the Electronic Music Studio at Manhattan School of Music, and has taught Music Humanities and The History of Sound Art at Columbia University. For the past 15 years he has taught composition, musicianship, electronic music, and an assortment of specialty courses at the Walden School, where he also serves as Director of Electronic Music and Academic Dean."

"Bryan Qu [曲知白] works in sound and performance to explore improvisation, conjunction, and identity with a focus on relational spectatorship.

Education:
BFA, Saxophone Performance - New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, New York
Jazz Studies - University of Toronto, Canada

Additional Studies:
Banff Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music - Alberta, Canada

Selected Performances:
Bryan Qu Large Ensemble, Tranzac (Toronto) - August 2016
Tyshawn Sorey Conduction Emnsemble, The Stone (NYC) - July 2016
Diametric, ShapeShifter Lab (NYC) - March 2016
Tyshawn Sorey Conduction Ensemble, Met Breuer (NYC) - March 2016
Hocevar / Lopez / Tevis / Qu, Spectrum (NYC) - February 2016
Dre Hocevar Large Ensemble, ShapeShifter Lab (NYC) - January 2016
Bryan Qu Quartet feat. Dre Hocevar, East Shore Jazz Club (Beijing) - October 2015
Bryan Qu Quartet, Bern International Jazz Festival (Switzerland) - May 2015
Asymptote, Canada Tour - March 2015

Awards, Grants, & Scholarships:

New School
Beacon's Legacy Scholarship
Excel Scholarship Fund

University of Toronto
Music Alumni Scholarship
Jazz.FM91 Scholarship
Paul Read Scholarship
Moe Koffman Memorial Jazz Scholarship

Canada Council for the Arts
Grants to Professional Musicians

Ottawa International Jazz Festival
Galaxie Rising Star Award

Teachers:
Joe Morris, Sam Pluta, Ellery Eskelin, Peter Evans, Ryan Muncy, Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman, Jacob Sacks, Matt Wilson, Andrew Cyrille, Mike Murley, Alex Dean, Charles Stolte"

"Mette Rasmussen is a Danish saxophone player based in Trondheim, Norway. She works in the field of improvised music, drawing from a wide range of influences, spanning free jazz to textural soundwork. Rasmussen works on exploring the natural rawness of her instrument - experimenting on what the saxophone is capable of in sound and expression, with and without preparations. Much in demand, she has performed with the likes of Alan Silva, Chris Corsano, Ståle Liavik Solberg, and with her Trio Riot group with Sam Andreae and David Meier."

"Jeremy Corren (b. 1994) in Los Angeles, currently living in New York and studying at Columbia University. Corren has composed for Dustin Seo and Marika Suzuki, the Mivos Quartet, the [Switch~ Ensemble], Ari Streisfeld, TAK Ensemble, Joshua Modney and Erin Lesser, Nebula Ensemble, and counter(induction - with recent performances at the Valencia International Performance Festival in Spain, New Music on the Point in Vermont, the Bard Graduate Center Gallery in New York City, and the Banff Centre in Canada

As a pianist, he has improvised in Tyshawn Sorey's Conduction ensemble at the Metropolitan Museum of Art-Breuer during Vijay Iyer's Relation residency, as well as with Joel Ross's quintet Good Vibes at the Earshot Jazz Festival in Seattle, the Jazz Gallery, and Smalls Jazz Club in New York."

"Zack Clarke is a pianist and composer currently living and working in New York City. His abilities as a jazz improviser were first recognized while attending Houston's acclaimed High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where he was the recipient of numerous awards, including outstanding soloist awards from the North Texas Jazz Festival and from Downbeat Magazine.

Zack attended The New England Conservatory in Boston, majoring in Jazz Performance. While there, he had the opportunity to study with jazz greats Danilo Perez, Fred Hersch, and Jason Moran. Zack performed regularly in Boston, and upon completion of his Bachelor of Music degree he moved to New York to study with Kenny Werner and attend NYU, where he earned a Masters of Music.

An active session artist and performer, Zack has recorded or shared the stage with a number of prominent artists, including Tyshawn Sorey, Ingrid Laubrock, Daniel Carter, Billy Drewes, Kenny Werner, Sara Serpa, Ralph Alessi and Rich Perry. In addition to his many appearances in Boston and New York, Zack has performed in the UK and has upcoming performances planned in Europe. He has appeared on Luis Antonio Castro's CDs Koyari and Mirrors; Continuum, with the Joe Wagner Quartet; and with percussionist Dre Hocevar on Large Ensemble.

Zack's own recordings reveal a broad musical vocabulary, a love of improvisation and a willingness to explore new forms - from his electronic album Music For Headphones, to Dialectic, a collaboration with cellist Chris Irvine that features free improvisation based on Bach's third cello suites. Zack's most recent album, entitled Random Acts of Order, is set to be released on Clean Feed Records in March of 2017.

In addition to performing and composing, Zack is a dedicated teacher who is grateful for the mentorship he has received from so many fine musicians, and who finds rewards in sharing that knowledge with others. Zack maintains a private piano studio, has worked as adjunct faculty at NYU, and has also taught classes at the Brooklyn Conservatory."

"Lester St. Louis is a New York City born and based Multi-instrumentalist, composer and curator. Lester has worked in, performed and created in artistic environments in The United States, Canada, South America, Europe and China with groups and artists such as Dré Hočevar Trio, Jaimie Branch Fly or Die, Ensemble Adapter, TAK Ensemble and many more. As a composer, Lester has been commissioned by artists such as the JACK Quartet, Mahan Esfahani and Stefan Jackiw, RAGE THORMBONES, Lauren Cauley and others. In the near future Lester will be continuing to develop groups such as MADD (with Dré Hočevar and Leafar) as well as TRANSFER (with Jordan Balaber, Daniel Brew and Rocío Bolaños) along with many new ventures."

"Henry Fraser is a bassist, composer, and improviser from Boston, MA. He received his B.F.A. from New England Conservatory of Music in the spring of 2014, where he studied with Cecil McBee, John McNeil, Anthony Coleman, & Ted Reichman. Since moving to Brooklyn, NY in 2014, Henry's unique combination of technical facility and aesthetic flexibility have made him an in-demand sideman and formidable band leader. Henry has performed throughout Europe and South American, including suchfestivals as the Panama Jazz Fest and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Current projects include Michael Foster's The Ghost, the Chris Pitsiokos Quartet and Maestro Day, a quartet co-lead by saxophonist, Sam Weinberg, as well as regular collaborations with the likes of Joe Morris, Brandon Seabrook and Jack Wright."

"Dré A. Hočevar (Ljubljana, 1987) is a Slovenian composer and researcher based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Currently, Hočevar is conducting his PhD studies at the Centre for Research in New Music, CeReNeM, University of Huddersfield, UK. The central subject of his research and composition praxis is .meta [dynamic cognitive-apparatus formation, application, and analysis systems]. Dré A. Hočevar is the artistic director and founder of .alfabet, Institute for Research in Art, Critical Thought and Philosophy, and is frequently leading workshops, seminars, and lectures in composition, performance and research. Hočevar's teachers include Steve Lehman, Peter Ablinger, Joe Morris, Michael Carvin, Alexander J. Harker and Aaron Cassidy."