After studying saxophone at the "Conservatory of Lausanne, Switzerland, where he received in 1994, a concert license (master of arts soloist) Swiss saxophonist established in Greensboro in 2010, Laurent Estoppey, devoted himself mostly to contemporary music, but performs and teaches classic saxophone repertoire and transcriptions of baroque music.

Numerous collaborations with composers have led him to create at least one hundred works. Now his musical activity is divided between written music and improvisation, and it occurs throughout Switzerland, many European countries, but also in Canada, USA, Argentina, Guatemala and South Africa.

He works with the following orchestras: Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Orchestra (from 2008 to the present, conducted by Marek Janowski, Kazuki Yamada...), Lausanne Chamber Orchestra (1998 to the present (Christian Zacharias...) Basel Symphony, UBS Verbier Festival Orchestra (1999 James Levine) Timisoara, Orchestra of the State of Lithuania, Lausanne Sinfonietta, NEC - Chaux-de- Fonds-Contrechamps Geneva, Staatskapelle Weimar (2010, Heinz Holliger)

Estoppey has founded and developed several chamber music groups including: DILEMME (saxophone / piano with Myriam Migani), ST15 (saxophone / piano with Virginie Falquet) DEGRE21 (saxophone / guitar with Antonio Albanese), 1+1 (duo- concept Anne Gillot, recorders), compagnie CH.AU (set of nine musicians) and the 4TENORS (saxophone quartet with Vincent Daoud, Rico Gubler and Lars Mlekusch). A collaboration with saxophonist Dr.Steve Stusek (professor at UNCG) as well as the foundation of COLLAPSS (Collective for Happy Sounds) in Greensboro are his main activities in the United States. Additionally he is regularly invited to play with the saxophone quartet Basel ARTE Quartet and is a member of baBel ensemBle.

His improvisational collaborations involve meetings and concerts with musicians from all backgrounds. Many groups he has worked with are still alive today, including: HipNoiz51 (DJ, drums, saxophone, clarinet, bass and electronics) BETTY'S QUARTET (two saxophones, two voices Antoine Auberson, Anne-Sylvie Casagrande and Edmée Fleury), YET TRIO (Lingling Yu, pipa and Dragos Tara, doublebass), and Zkrabuj et chou et pâté (saxophone / percussion with LucMüller)

Estoppey as also worked alongside many independant musicians such as Jacques Demierre, Pierre Favre, Pierre Audétat, Malcolm Braff, Urs Leimgruber, Fritz Hauser and Nick Didkovsky.

He is a guest musician of the Russian theatrical troupe Akhe with whom the show "Wet Wedding" was presented in Geneva, Nice, London, Stockholm, and Mexico.

His discography includes sixteen recordings

His interest in all contemporary arts has led him to collaborate with many artists in interdisciplinary projects including, among others, projects with Georges Haldas (literature), Olivier Saudan (painting and video), Francis Baudevin Stephan Perrinjaquet, Tatiana Rihs, Claudia Comte, Christopher Cassidy, Samantha DiRosa (visual arts) Heidi Bunting, Christine Cruchon, Brianna Taylor (dance), Gil Pidoux (literature and theater).

As an educator, Estoppey used to teach saxophone from beginners to master students for around twenty years in many music schools in Switzerland. He is regularly invited to lead improvisation workshops for musicians of all levels and all instruments, as well as saxophone, improvisation and contemporary music masterclasses.

He has a real passion to share his love for art and music with children as well as teenagers and adults.

As a composer, Estoppey writes music for concerts, but also sound installation and video art.

His piece NFM for saxophone ensemble was recently performed by UNCG saxophone studio and UNCSAx Ensemble.""

"Michael Thomas Jackson has been creating and recording music since 1985. He has been involved in fully notated composition, free improvisation, avant rock, concrete and electronic music, performance art and everything in between. He has worked with tape, found objects, analogue synthesizers, prepared guitars, various percussion, all manner of sound processing, electronic feedback systems, turntables, voice and extended techniques on the clarinet. Michael has played as, in, or with many fine projects and people including Eugene Chadbourne, Rompecabeza, Spool Ensemble, Viktimized Karcass, Alien Planetscapes, Choptsicks, Cobra Clutch, Cephalic Index, The George Steeltoe Ensemble, Brian Osborne, Chris Phinney, Martin Klapper, Rafael Flores, Isolation, Flutter, Jerry's Finger, Truncheonette, Projexorcism, Skoweyajeed, Katsu Itakura, Carl Howard, Bruce Eisenbeil, Quien Es, Thomas Dimuzio, Dave Fox, David Prescott, Pat Lawrence, Ian Davis, Scotty Irving, New Loft, Zan Hoffman, Hal McGee and O.N.E. Michael is currently active performing, recording and releasing music through the Primecuts Recordings imprint, raising a daughter and being poor."

"David Menestres is a bassist, composer, and writer currently living in the Piedmont region of North Carolina. David is the founder/leader of the Polyorchard ensemble and is the host and producer of Tone Science, a weekly two-hour radio show on taintradio.org since 2010."

"Dan Ruccia (b. 1982) is a Durham, NC, based composer. He writes music that exists at the intersection of different styles, forms, and genres, particularly free jazz and punk in all of its manifestations. His music has been performed across the United States and Europe by Eighth Blackbird, The Bad Plus, Wet Ink, the Juventas New Music Ensemble, Ensemble Soli Fan Tutti, the Wavensemble, and [dnme]. He recently completed his Ph.D. at Duke University where he studied with Stephen Jaffe, Scott Lindroth, and Allen Anderson (University of North Carolina). Dan also has a B.A. in music from Princeton University, having worked with Dan Trueman, Dmitri Tymoczko, and Steven Mackey.

Additionally, Dan is a violist and improviser, playing with [dnme] (which he directed in 2009 and 2010), Microcephalic Superintendent, and other groups around the Triangle. He also is a DJ at WXDU, playing a freeform mix of rock, jazz, classical, and everything else, and writes album reviews for Dusted Magazine. He is also on Twitter."