"Agustí Fernández (Palma de Mallorca, 1954), with a perfectly based career and a well-deserved international reputation, is one of the Spanish musicians of major international projection and a world reference in the field of improvised music. Fernández has worked with famous musicians of the free improvisation scene like Peter Kowald, Derek Bailey, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Barry Guy, Mats Gustafsson, Joel Ryan and Peter Evans a.m.o. He is a member of the Blue Shroud Band, Mats Gustafsson NU Ensemble and Barry Guy New Orquestra. Up to the current date he has published more than 80 CD's

He has also worked with the recognised composer of contemporary music Héctor Parra, who composed in collaboration with the pianist FREC, a solo for expanded piano. FREC has been premiered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2013 with the collaboration of the video artist Lucas Caraba. He has conducted various improvised music ensembles like Ad Libitum Ensemble (Varsaw), Free Art Ensemble (Barcelona), Ansambl Studio 6 (Lujbljana) Orquesta FOCO (Madrid), Entenguerengue (Jérez de la Frontera), Impromtu Ensemble (Valencia), etc.

Along his professional life Agustí Fernández has received much recognition. His solo for piano "Mutza" presented in New York in 2007 was distinguished by the New York magazine AllAboutJazz as one of 10 best concerts from that year. The CD "Un llamp que no s'acaba mai" on PSI (Agustí Fernández, John Edwards and Mark Sanders) has been distinguished by Allaboutjazz as one of the best 10 cd's in 2009; the CD "Aurora" on Maya Recordings (Agustí Fernandez, Barry Guy and Ramón López) was selected by Cuadernos de Jazz magazine as the best CD in 2007, by the Jaç magazine as the best fourth disc of the history of the Catalan jazz and it was Disc d'émoi (February, 2007) for the French Jazz Magazine. The "Agustí Fernández Aurora Trio" received the second prize at the BMW Welt Jazz Award 2012 celebrated in Münich, Germany. In 2000 he received the Festival Altaveu Award, Sant Boi de Llobregat (Catalonia). In 2001 he received the FAD - Sebastià Guasch Award, Barcelona (Cataluña) with Andrés Corchero por el or the performance "A modo de esperanza". In 2011 Agustí Fernández was the main character of the documentary film "Los dedos huéspedes" by Lucas Caraba, which has been screened in several international festivals of documentary. In 2014 the Ad Libitum Festival (Warsaw) dedicated a monographic edition to celebrate Fernández's 60th Birthday.

He's professor of improvised music at the Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC). He's developing an important teaching activity in the field of improvised music and, among other, he has been teaching in IRCAM in Paris, the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre de Tallin, the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Holland), the Conservatory in Arhem (Holland), the Taller de Músicos in Gijón (Spain), the Taller de Músics in Barcelona (Spain) and the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca (Spain)."

"Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London) is a British composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras in the UK and Europe. He also taught at Guildhall School of Music.

Born in London, Guy came to the fore as an improvising bassist as a member of a trio with pianist Howard Riley and drummer Tony Oxley (Witherden, 1969). He also became an occasional member of John Stevens' ensembles in the 1960s and 1970s, including the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. In the early 1970s, he was a member of the influential free improvisation group Iskra 1903 with Derek Bailey and trombonist Paul Rutherford (a project revived in the late 1970s, with violinist Philipp Wachsmann replacing Bailey). He also formed a long-standing partnership with saxophonist Evan Parker, which led to a trio with drummer Paul Lytton which became one of the best-known and most widely travelled free-improvising groups of the 1980s and 1990s. He was briefly a member of the Michael Nyman Band in the 1980s, performing on the soundtrack of The Draughtsman's Contract.

Guy's interests in improvisation and formal composition received their grandest form in the London Jazz Composers Orchestra. Originally formed to perform Guy's composition Ode in 1972 (released as a 2-LP set on Incus and later, in expanded form, as a 2-CD set on Intakt), it became one of the great large-scale European improvising ensembles. Early documentation is spotty - the only other recording from its early years is Stringer (FMP, now available on Intakt paired with the later "Study II") - but beginning in the late 1980s the Swiss label Intakt set out to document the band more thoroughly. The result was a series of ambitious, album-length compositions designed to give all the players in the band maximum opportunity for expression while still preserving a rigorous sense of form: Zurich Concerts, Harmos, Double Trouble (originally written for an encounter with Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra, though the eventual CD was just for the LJCO), Theoria (a concerto for guest pianist Irène Schweizer), Three Pieces, and Double Trouble Two. The group's activities subsided in the mid-1990s, but it was never formally disbanded, and reconvened in 2008 for a one-off concert in Switzerland. In the mid-1990s Guy also created a second, smaller ensemble, the Barry Guy New Orchestra.

Guy has also written for other large improvising ensembles, such as the NOW Orchestra and ROVA (the piece Witch Gong Game inspired by images by the visual artist Alan Davie).

His current improvising activities include piano trios with Marilyn Crispell and Agusti Fernandez. He has also recorded several albums for ECM, which often focus on the interface between improvisers and electronics, including his work in Evan Parker's Electro-Acoustic Ensemble and his own Ceremony.

Guy's session work in the pop field includes playing double bass on the song "Nightporter", from the Japan album Gentlemen Take Polaroids.

He is married to the early music violinist Maya Homburger. After spending some years in Ireland, they now live in Switzerland. They run the small label Maya, which releases a variety of records in the genres of free improvisation, baroque music and contemporary composition.

Guy's jazz work is characterised by free improvisation, using a range of unusual playing methods: bowed and pizzicato sounds beneath the bass's bridge; plucking the strings above the left hand; beating the strings with percussion instrument mallets; and "preparing" the instrument with sticks and other implements inserted between the strings and fingerboard. His improvisations are often percussive and unpredictable, inhabiting no discernible harmonic territory and pushing into unknown regions. However, they can also be melodious and tender with due regard for harmonic integration with other players, and at times he will even play with a straight jazz swing feel.

Similarly, in his concert works, Guy manages to alternate harmonic and rhythmic complexity worthy of 1960s experimentalists such as Penderecki and Stockhausen with joyous, often ecstatic, melody. Works such as "Flagwalk" for string orchestra and "Fallingwater - Concerto for Orchestra" display Guy's compositional skill in handling extended forms and writing for large instrumental groups.

Some of his compositions, such as "Witch Gong Game" for ensemble, use graphic notation in conjunction with cue cards to lead performers into playing and improvising material from numbered sections of the score.

He is also an architect."

"Don Malfon (Alfonso Muñoz), Improvising saxophonist born in Barcelona 1978.

He began playing the electric bass when he was sixteen years old, changing to the saxophone at eighteen while studying at a local school in Barcelona.

In 2000 he moved to Havana, Cuba, where he studied particularly for five years under the tutelage of the following teachers: Orlando Sanchez (Cuba Jazz), Javier Zalva and Elvira Fuentes. Specializing in baritone and alto sax.

From 2006 he settled again in Barcelona and joined groups such as planeta imaginario (Progressive Jazz Rock), Filthy Habits Ensemble (set dedicated to the instrumental music of Frank Zappa and Stravinski), Reptilian Mambo (mambo avant-garde), B.I.B (Orchestra of improvisers of Barcelona), IED8 (Free Jazz and free improvisation), October Equus (Rock, Contemporary) Outerzone (jazz progressive core) among others.

In 2013 he moved to Mexico City where he collaborated and joined groups such as Zero Point , SIC, Remi Álzarez 4, Chocolate Smoke Gang , Mexican American Jungle Orchestra Of Marco Eneidi, Spontaneous Generation, Carlos Marks, Teoqualo and other free jazz, improvisation and other outfits.

His current experience comes from interpreting in diverse groups, alongside Agustí Fernández, Liba Villavecchia, Barry Guy, Tom Chant, John Edwards, Agustí Martinez, Pablo Rega, Nuno Rebelo , Remi Älvarez , Marco Eneidi among others.

He has been published in more than thirty albums, released on Cuneiform Records, Altrock Records, Discordian Records and Audition Records and other labels.

With some of these groups he has appeared in different festivals of jazz, rock, and free improvisation in Europe, South America and Latin America."

"John Butcher's work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback and extreme acoustics.Originally a physicist, he left academia in '82, and has since collaborated with hundreds of musicians - Derek Bailey, John Tilbury, John Stevens, The EX, Akio Suzuki, Gerry Hemingway, Polwechsel, Gino Robair, Rhodri Davies, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, Toshi Nakamura, Paul Lovens, Eddie Prevost, Mark Sanders, Christian Marclay, Otomo Yoshihide, Phil Minton, and Andy Moor - to name a few.

He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with the uniqueness of place. Resonant Spaces is a collection of site-specific performances collected during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.His first solo album, Thirteen Friendly Numbers, includes compositions for multitracked saxophones, whilst later solo CDs focus on live performance, composition, amplification and saxophone-controlled feedback.

HCMF has twice commissioned him to compose for his own large ensembles. Other commissions include for Elision (Australia), the Rova (USA) & Quasar (Canada) Saxophone Quartets, reconstructed Futurist Intonarumori (USA), "Tarab Cuts" (based on pre-WWII Arabic recordings, and shortlisted for the 2014 British Composer's Award) and "Good Liquor .." for the London Sinfonietta. In 2011 he received a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Artists.

Recent groupings include The Apophonics with Robair and Edwards, Anemone with Peter Evans, Plume with Tony Buck & Magda Mayas and a trio with Okkyung Lee & Mark Sanders.Butcher values playing in occasional encounters - ranging from large groups such as Butch Morris' London Skyscraper and the EX Orkestra, to duo concerts with David Toop, Kevin Drumm, Claudia Binder, Paal Nilssen-Love, Thomas Lehn, Fred Frith, Keiji Haino, Ute Kangeisser, Matthew Shipp and Yuji Takahashi."

"Lucía Martínez comes from Spain and lives in Berlin. She belongs to the younger european generation and is into classical music, world music and contemporary jazz. With her diverse percussion she blends Avantgarde music with mediterranean sounds. Martínez plays with Agustí Fernández in duo, with her own quartet, Lucía Martínez & the Fearless, MBM Trio. International concerts, and a lot of CD's."

"Torben Snekkestad was born in 1973 in Norway and now resides in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Torben Snekkestad is a classically educated saxophonist, dedicated in both contemporary music and many different forms of improvisation. Alongside with his classical work, he also focuses extensively on jazz.

Torben Snekkestad has premiered numerous pieces, both with his ensembles and also as a soloist with orchestras such as 'The Norwegian Radio Orchestra' and 'Athelas Sinfonietta Copenhagen'.

He is the soprano-saxophonist of the 'Copenhagen Saxophone Quartet' - one of Denmark's most prominent chamber music ensembles, their records and concerts being internationally acclaimed. He also plays contemporary music in another Danish chamber music ensemble, '4 Elements'.

Duo projects include those with composer Jens Hørsving such as 'Among Machines' and with saxophonist Rolf Erik Nystrøm. Torben Snekkestad also gives solo-saxophone concerts which include compositions by composers such as Berio, Stockhausen and Scelsi, along side with Scandinavian compositions and also his own improvisations/compositions.

As a jazz musician Torben Snekkestad's main projects are: 'Conic Folded' - a solo, duo and trio project which feature many of his own compositions. He performs with such groups as Spring (a Danish free jazz quartet),Tri O`Trang (a Norwegian trio) and Trygve Seim Orchestra(a Norwegian band on the ECM label). Torben Snekkestad's wide ranging musical interests have led him into numerous musical settings over the years, ranging from the music of the baroque and classical chamber music genres to rock, folk music and free jazz.

As a composer he writes mainly for his own ensembles, as well as for other projects.

Torben Snekkestad currently teaches classical saxophone at 'The Royal Danish Academy of Music' and at various workshops.

He has toured extensively throughout Europe, the USA, Russia, East Asia and Argentina."

"Jordina Millà, pianist and improviser has been influenced by music since the early years. She graduated as a classical pianist in CODARTS University of Arts in Rotterdam, there she continued her studies and obtained the Master in piano performance. During that period Huygens Scholarship Program by the Ministery of Education Culture and Science of Holland has been awarded to her. After her time in Holland, she moved to Paris to continue her studies in Ecole Normale de París. During that period she has been very active offering recitals as a soloist and chamber music in The Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Italy.

Through the time the artistic need developed her interest towards other approach of music. On the way meets Agustí Fernández who guide her into the paths of improvisation. Now a days free improvised music and contemporary language are her main interests.

In spring 2018 she debuted with her Solo album "Males herbes" that had a beautiful impact on the passionates and crítics of that gender of music.

In the last two years she has been collaborating with the Doctor Alonso Dance Company at the Mercat de les Flors in Barcelona. With dancer Iris Heitzinger presenting the Kaleidoskop improvisation project at Posthof in Linz and at ARGEkultur in Salzburg. And has been part of Investigations, a work by the artist Christian Marclay presented at the MACBA Barcelona. She perfomes and makes the music of Woolf a piece of the Sevillan dancer Natalia Jimenez. She collaborates with the Contemporary Austrian dance company CieLaroque with the Coreographer Helene Weinzierl. In the field of Music she has a duo with Núria Andorrà played with improvisers such as Berlin trumpet player Axel Dörner, singer Almut Kühle, drummer Yorgos Dimitriadis, guitarist Andreas Willers, Ramon Prats, Don Malfon, and the doublebassist Barry Guy with whom she recently recorded a duo Album and will be released in 2022.

She currently resides in Germany and her last album "When forests dream" a two pianos Album with Agustí Fernández, that has been awarded by Enderrock de les Illes Balears, for the best Jazz album 2020."

"Zlatko Kaucic: Born February 1953 in Postojna, Slovenia. In the Early 70's he moved to Italy where he toured and recorded with the group Hero. In 1975 he was involved with the music co-operative Swiss, playing with Irene Schweitzer, Radu Malfatti, Duško Goykovich and Allen Blairman, among the others. In 1976 he moved to Barcelona and began playing in clubs and festivals all over the country with people such as Peter Delphinich, Eric Peter, Tete Montoliu, Claude Guillot, Paul Stocker, Mike Osborne, Burton Greene, John Lewis, Steve Lacy and Kenny Wheeler, as well as giving solo concerts.

In 1979 he toured Portugal with Paul Stocker and then joined The trio with Portuguese bassist Ze Eduardo and pianist Antonio Pinho, which played extensively in Portugal as well as in Macau (China), and subsequently backed Don Rendall, Michael Garrik and Portugese tenorist Rao Kyao.From 1981-83 Zlatko taught drums in the Barcelona "Taller de musicos" jazz school and participated in jazz seminars with Chuck Israels, Ron Mclure and David Schnitter.

Since 1984 he has lived in Amsterdam (Holland). Zlatko has played the "North sea jazz festival" twice and plays with his own trio which tours Spain regularly. He also plays with an octet and composes music for theatre and dance groups. Zlatko's specialty is an unique solo percussions performance that expresses his own personal style.

He has been twice in U.S.A.: 1987 - Itacaca (New York): workshop for theater + music and 1989 - world festival Atlanta (G.A.) with European jazz quintet.

Zlatko has played in Holland with such a diverse musicans like Misha Mandelberg, Toon Rose, Paul Stocker, Sean Bergin, Arnold Dojewerd, Wiebe Wilbers (Skidoo), Frank Graso Big band, Peter Guidi, Paul Bley, Esiet "Okun" Esiet, Michael More, John Patituci, Paolo Fresu, Phone Booth (Theater company), wiht Lisa Pooh (Dance Theater), etc.

1992 he return to Slovenia where he began playing different musical projects like with Paul Bley (Lent festival; Maribor), Steve Lacy, Thelonius Monk Project (Kontrada fest; Kanal ob Soči) with Enrico Rava, Gianluigi Trovesi, Chico Freeman, George Cables, Albert Mangelsdorff, Keeny Wheeler, Alexander Balanescu, Dave Biney, Paul McCandless, Irene Aebi, Trevor Wats, Javier Girotto, Frank Gratkowski, Szilárd Mezei, Marc Ribot, Greg Cohen, Saadet Türköz, Peter Brötzmann, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Luis Sclavis, Evan Parker, Herb Robertson, Javier Girotto, Agusti Fernandez, Oliver Lake, Phil Minton, AB Baars, Johanes Bauer, Joëlle Léandre, Barry Guy, Maya Homburger, Lotte Anker etc and making music for two documentaries (Kino atelje Gorica) and solo Performances, poetry and dance.

Year 2008 he got award of municipality Brda as creative multi-percussionist, who is recognized and respected on world level.In the interviews Peter Amalietti "Masters the fire" in addition to musicians Archie Shepp, Sun Ra, John Cage, Paquito D'Rivero, Pat Metheny, Odeon Pope, Reggie Workman, Dennis Gonzalez and Woddy Shaw has also published aninterview with Zlatko Kaučič.

Year 2011 he got PREŠERN FUND AWARD (The highest recognition for cultural achievements in Slovenia). video...

Year 2017 he got BEVKOV AWARD for contribution in music and education."

"Liudas Mockūnas (b. 1976) is a representative of modern creative and free avant-garde jazz, his music obliterates the boundaries between jazz and academic music. Exploring the nature of sound and the potential of overtones, he has developed his own playing style saturated with multiphonic techniques. According to the critics, "this reed player works with highly unorthodox mixtures, with sounds ranging from expressive instrumental burnouts over filmic horror to apocalypse-hymns and transcendent bells. His music may be unpredictable with an energizing mixture of free jazz, lyricism and mid-European expressionism."

The musician's education is both in jazz and classical fields. A graduate of M.K.Čiurlionis School of Arts, he received his master's degree from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in 2002 (under Vladimir Chekasin). In 2005 he received Jazz Performance Masters from the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen. He has further perfected his skills and knowledge through a number of courses and private lessons.The saxophonist has accumulated a solid stage experience. He started playing jazz as a child of eight and made his stage debut in 1988 with the Youth Jazz Ensemble led by Vladimir Chekasin. From the age of 15 he has constantly been part of jazz festivals and emerged as a leader in 1996; he has performed with numerous Lithuanian jazz musicians.

Liudas Mockūnas truly merits the name of Lithuanian jazz ambassador. He is constantly involved in international projects both as initiator and member of different groups. His international collaborations were given a new impetus when in 1999 he started his studies in Copenhagen. In 2000 he and the Danish drummer Stefan Pasborg founded a highly acclaimed group Toxikum, their self-titled album in Denmark was hailed Jazz Discovery of the Year 2004.

A co-leader of the groups Red Planet, Baltic Trio, Artomic, and Revolver, he also collaborates with the Copenhagen Art Ensemble, Pierre Dørge and his New Jungle Orchestra. He has played with the Swinging Europe Big Band and has participated in the La Villet Jazz Festival's international big band project with the World Saxophone Quartet. Mockūnas has also collaborated with Marc Ducret, David Murray, Oliver Lake, Mats Eilertsen, Jaak Sooäär, Mikko Innanen, Jeff Arnal, Dietrich Eichmann, Scott Colley, Ryoji Hojito, Nasheet Waits, Mats Gustafsson, Chris Speed, Mike Svoboda and Andrew Hill. With different groups Mockūnas has performed across Europe, in the USA and China. In 2004 he initiated Traffic Quartet, a group of Lithuanian musicians (Valerijus Ramoška, Liudas Mockūnas, Eugenijus Kanevičius and Arkady Gotesman).

Liudas Mockūnas is a winner of a number of competitions. In 1993 and 1995 he became laureate of Juozas Pakalnis Wind Players Competition; in 1993 and 1995 he participated in the "Berklee in Germany" workshops (led by Gary Burton) and was granted a scholarship to study at the Berklee College of Music (USA). In 2000 he received the second prizes from Brilliant Note, an international saxophonists' competition in Latvia, and the international jazz soloists' competition in Klaipeda. In 2001 the MAP trio (Liudas Mockūnas, Jacob Anderskov and Stefan Pasborg) won the European improvisational music competition in France. His achievement in music was recognized by the Mūzų Malūnas Prize in 2004, and by the Vilnius Jazz Festival Prize "For Contribution into Lithuanian Jazz Culture" in 2006.

Liudas Mockūnas also performs contemporary classical repertoire (pieces by Bronius Kutavičius, Algirdas Martinaitis, Remigijus Merkelys and others). He has performed with the Lithuanian State Symphony Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the St. Christopher Chamber Orchestra and the Gaida Ensemble. He also composes music for theatre and cinema. Since 2004 he teaches at the Jazz Department of the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre."