MATA Festival Performer Bios
BlackBox Ensemble
BlackBox Ensemble is a NYC–based contemporary music ensemble redefining how contemporary music is heard, seen, and experienced. They have presented work nationwide at institutions including Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Clark Art Institute, National Sawdust, and Roulette Intermedium. Recent highlights include Speculative Listening: The Sonic World of Julius Eastman and the site-specific music-and-dance program The Sound of Space Between Us. Inspired by the theatrical and scientific “black box”, the ensemble inhabits the charged space where artistic expression and human experience meet, transforming concerts into immersive environments for interdisciplinary dialogue and new ways of listening. https://www.blackboxensemble.org/
CONCRETE HUSBAND
Concrete Husband is a New York City-based producer, DJ, composer, and flutist. He's released two dance records with the Brooklyn label White Owl Records to critical acclaim, with Document hailing him as “redefining avant-garde composition.” Trained as a classical flutist at the New England Conservatory of Music, Concrete Husband draws on a comprehensive knowledge of musical history to create sonic narratives that shimmer with emotional resonance and surrealist imagination. His DJ sets weave grooves of hypnotic techno to generate moments of psychedelic mania and sensual release.
Born Carlos Aguilar to a Chicano family in Southern California, Concrete Husband moved to Brooklyn in 2021, becoming a fixture on lineups at raves and clubs like Basement, Merge, Knockdown Center, Zero Chill, and Bossa Nova. Aguilar became equally well-known for his virtuosic flute performance, which led to Eartheater inviting him to open for her 2024 European tour. As a composer and performer, his scope of influence is boundless. Recent highlights include scoring Dion Lee’ s 2024 Shanghai Fashion Week presentation, and the Munch Museum’ s event at Milan Fashion Week, and creating flute music for Ari Aster's 2023 film, Beau is Afraid (A24).
Conrad Harris
Violinist Conrad Harris has performed at Ostrava Days, Darmstadt Ferrienkürse für Neue Musik, Gulbenkian Encounters of New Music, Radio France, Warsaw Autumn, and Bang on a Can He is member of the FLUX Quartet and violin duo String Noise, and concertmaster/soloist with the S E M Orchestra and Ostravská Banda. He has performed and recorded with Elliott Sharp, Robert Ashley, Alvin Lucier, David Behrman, “Blue” Gene Tyranny, Jean-Claude Risset, Rohan de Saram, and Tiny Tim. Harris has recorded several works by composer Iannis Xenakis. Recent CD releases of violin sonatas by Lejaren Hiller and John Becker are on New World Records. Upcoming recordings include works by the Sonic Arts Union and John Cage’s Freeman Etudes. He has also recorded for Lovely, Mode, Asphodel, Vandenburg, CRI, Northern Spy, Cold Blue, New
Focus, Chaikin, Infrequent Seams, and Vinyl Retentive Records See further www conradharris com; www fluxquartet com; www stringnoiseduo com
Dennis Sullivan
Based in New York City, Dennis K Sullivan II is a percussionist, composer, and electronicist, focusing on new and contemporary music His music has been performed across the globe by the International Contemporary Ensemble, yarn/wire, New Thread Quartet, DECODER, Ensemble Adapter, Hypercube, and Dal Niente in venues such as the Elbphilharmonie (Hamburg), The Stone (NYC), Nymusikk Bergen (Norway), Omaha Under the Radar, Splendor (Amsterdam), and the Edmonton Fringe Festival (Canada) He is a founding member and core performer in Radical 2, a classification-defying duo that explores the use of theatric, vocal, percussive, and prototype electronic mediums, and Popebama, an experimental duo that applies text, electronics, and high-energy performances to non-traditional sounds
An active chamber and orchestral percussionist, Sullivan has shared the stage with leading contemporary music ensembles such as The Argento New Music Project, Either/Or, The International Contemporary Ensemble, ECCE Ensemble, Ensemble Court Circuit (Paris), Ensemble Pamplemousse, Wavefield Ensemble, Newband, Mivos Quartet, The Darmstadt Preistrager Forum, and Ensemble Modern Academy, among others He has performed in notable NYC venues such as BAM, Roulette, Merkin Hall, Miller Theater, Symphony Space, Le Poisson Rouge, The Shed, and The Stone An advocate for the new music community, Sullivan successfully curated an annual series of theatrically driven new music, bringing together classical music, theater, rock, heavy metal, and film at Jack (Brooklyn) from 2015-17
Performance awards include grand prize at the Van Rooy Competition for Musical Excellence, the Stipiendienpreise at the Darmstadt International Ferienkurse fur Neue Musik (Darmstadt, Germany) and a STEIM Center composer residency for electroacoustic music (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Sullivan has recorded for the New Amsterdam, Mode, GoldBolus, New Focus, Original Abstraction and INNOVA labels.
Sullivan holds a Bachelor of Music (BM) from the Hartt School of Music and Master of Music (MM) / Doctorate of Musical Arts (DMA) from SUNY Stony Brook University (New York). Sullivan currently serves as instructor of percussion and music tech as well as director of the wind ensemble at Adelphi University.
Eric Umble
Eric Umble (@umblemusic) is a Brooklyn-based DJ, clarinetist, and party producer passionate about cultivating a thriving local dance music community A critically acclaimed and award-winning classical musician with a focus on experimental music, Eric's love of repetition and extended forms made his jump to DJing a natural step Eric is heavily influenced by Detroit techno, Chicago & New York house, and experimental modernism He explores the intersections of multiple musical genres in his sets to create Techno-forward sonic worlds that
evoke queerness, modernity, and urban life while striving to articulate our shared contemporary culture in today's world
As a resident artist of HARDER, Bossa Nova Civic Club, and as founder, producer, curator, and resident artist of the FACETIME and QUALITY TIME parties (founded 2019), Eric is a regular presence on the New York scene and regionally They have DJ'ed at New York's finest clubs including BASEMENT, Nowadays, H0l0, Mansions, Jupiter Disco, Market, Hotel, Trans-Peocs, the Chocolate Factory, 9BobNote, Philadelphia's VOID, Detroit's SPKRBOX, and more As a clarinetist, Eric has performed with renowned ensembles including the NY Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, the Momenta Quartet, Lucerne Academy & Alumni, and has performed globally from Havana, Cuba to Seoul, South Korea Eric solo clarinet work was recently included on a newly released record, As I Write This: Songs & Solos of Aaron Helgeson released on the New Focus Recordings Label in July 2025 A passionate arts fundraiser, Eric serves as Development Director for TRIBE Multidisciplinary Visual Performances, a non-profit arts collective based in Bed-Stuy.
Julie Kim
Julie Kim is a cellist who loves playing music of all kinds and can often be heard dancing (sometimes literally) across the spectrum of styles in any given week, from performing works by those like Beethoven and Roscoe Mitchell in concert halls, embodying interdisciplinary projects in art galleries, to improvising freely on a rooftop surrounded by friends She particularly enjoys playing music written in the present day for the process of joining forces with composers in order to breathe life into their work A frequent flyer on stages across NYC, she performs at venues that span the gamut from institutional powerhouses of classical music to experimental performance spaces that function as incubators for creativity and community
As a creator, her work usually involves some combination of the cello, creative writing and text, elements of performance art, movement, and improvisation. She appreciates alternative methods of composing and admittedly has a mild allergy to notation software. Conceptually, she is fascinated by social scripts and how they permeate everything we do as musicians, from the conventions of traditional performance practice to the compositional techniques we use that evoke certain established associations. It tickles her brain to examine, play with, and subvert or disregard the relationship between these traditions and the expectations that they elicit. Above all, she values collaboration and generally finds herself more inspired to create in context for people and spaces, over instruments and competitions.
As an educator, she currently serves as a teaching artist with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in addition to teaching privately. In the past, she has served as a substitute faculty member with the Youth Orchestra of St. Luke’s. She also teaches classes and offers private lessons as a climbing instructor with Movement Gyms (formerly The Cliffs).
As the beneficiary of some of the world’s most inspiring educators, she would be remiss not to acknowledge their tremendous impact on her musicianship and artistry as a whole They include (but are not limited to) Andy Akiho, Jana LaBrie Bloom, Shayna Dunkelman, Wendy Eisenberg, Mary Harbison, Darius Jones, Billy Martin, Joel Noyes, Fred Sherry, Curtis Stewart, and Andrew Yee She is infinitely grateful for their mentorship and guidance
Beyond music, she has worked as a biomedical researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and loves all things outdoors When she is away from her cello, she can often be found riding her bike near the water, taking photos, and sitting outside in the sun like a lizard
Marilyn Nonken
Upon her recital debut, Marilyn Nonken was heralded as "a determined protector of important music" (New York Times) Since then, she has been recognized as "one of the greatest interpreters of new music" (American Record Guide) Writes Fanfare: “Her voicings are exquisite, her pedaling throughout is a model to be studied, and, when necessary, her virtuosity is equaled only by the insight and passion with which every piece is imbued ” In 2006, she came to NYU Steinhardt as Director of Piano Studies In 2022, she was appointed Chair of the Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions, where she continues to teach
Her monograph The Spectral Piano (Cambridge University Press) was received as “ a screaming success Few books can boast as much, and it is gratifying to encounter an international concert performer who can make so engaging a discourse around her core repertoire " (Bob Gilmore, Tempo) Identity and Diversity in New Music: The New Complexities (Routledge) was published in July 2019 She has written chapters for Perspectives on the Performance of French Piano Music, Messiaen Perspectives, Messiaen in Context, The Oxford Handbook of Spectral Music, and In Search of Morton Feldman: The Composer at 100; served as a guest editor for Contemporary Music Review; and contributed articles to numerous journals.
As a pianist and Steinway Artist, she has been presented at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Guggenheim Museum, Neue Galerie, and Roulette (New York), IRCAM, Reid Hall, and the Théâtre Bouffe du Nord (Paris), the ABC (Melbourne), Logos (Ghent), Instituto Chileno-Norteamericano (Santiago), Chicago Cultural Center and Symphony Center, Barnes Foundation (Philadelphia), Phillips Collection (Washington DC), Menil Collection and Rothko Chapel (Houston). Her wide-ranging discography includes more than 30 recordings for New World, Mode, Lovely Music, Albany, Metier, Hanging Bell, Harrison House, CRI, BMOP Sound, New Focus, Kairos, Tzadik, and Bridge. Festival appearances include Résonances and the Festival d'Automne (Paris), Musica Nova (Helsinki), Aspects des Musiques d'Aujourd-hui (Caën), Rencontres Musicales (Jaugette), ATEMPO (Caracas), New Music Days (Ostrava), Musikhøst (Odense), When Morty Met John, Making Music, Works and Process, and Composers Now (New York), American Sublime (Philadelphia), Festival of New American Music (Sacramento), Music on the Edge (Pittsburgh), Puerto Piano (San Juan), Piano
Festival Northwest (Portland), NUNC! (Chicago), Unruly Music (Milwaukee), and the William Kapell International Piano Festival and Competition
A student of David Burge (The Eastman School) and Leonard Stein (Musikakademie Rheinsberg), Marilyn Nonken received a Ph D in musicology from Columbia University
Miranda Cuckson
Violinist/violist Miranda Cuckson delights audiences with her performances of music ranging from older eras to the newest creations She has played innumerable concerts and premieres of new music and played a major role in bringing new creations more to the center of cultural life Praised recently for "a rare style that fuse[s] precision and elegance with passionate intensity and successful risk-taking” [Berkshire Edge], she loves bringing musical experiences to venues large and small, from concert halls to casual spaces Engaging with many modern musical avenues (including those of Western classical traditions and American music), she has pursued a personal path motivated by sincere interest, innovation, and exploration, the expression of any human feelings and experiences, and the realization of virtuosity, craft, and invention Her particular interests include the playing of stringed instruments in musical cultures and contexts, and the porousness of the arts of interpretation and composition
Miranda premiered Georg Friedrich Haas' Violin Concerto No 2 in four countries and made her solo debut at the Vienna Musikverein with this piece in 2023, with the Vienna Radio Symphony and conductor Markus Poschner The live recording was released in 2025 on the Urlicht AV label Her live performance of the Ligeti Violin Concerto with the UC Davis Orchestra has also been released, on Centaur Records, to great acclaim
She has been a featured artist at many festivals internationally, including Wien Modern, Grafenegg, Lincoln Center, Ojai, Le GuessWho, West Cork, Bard, Frequency, Time Spans, and Sinus Ton, and by such presenters as St. Paul's Liquid Music, 92NY, Miller Theatre, Tokyo's Suntory Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Library of Congress, and the Cleveland Museum. She recently gave recitals at San Francisco Performances, Boston's Gardner Museum, and the Detroit Institute of Art.
Her current projects include a new violin concerto by Jeffrey Mumford; Limin' , a concert-length duo by/with pianist Stewart Goodyear, just released on Avie Records; a collaboration with harpist Parker Ramsay including a new spatialized duo by Haas; a work for solo violin and three choirs by Rene Hirschfeld; and upcoming solo performances in Germany and Japan.
Her widely-lauded recordings Világ featuring the Bartók Solo Sonata and folk-flavored compositions; the Korngold, Ponce, and Piston concertos; an ECM Records album of duos by Bartok, Schnittke, and Lutoslawski; the Grammy-nominated Songs and Structures by Harold Meltzer; Michael Hersch's the wreckage of flowers; several albums of 20th-century American music; and Melting the darkness, a forward-looking compilation of
microtonal/electronic music Her album, with Christopher Burns, of Luigi Nono's La lontananza nostalgica utopica futura was named a Recording of the Year by the New York Times
Passionate about all the arts, Miranda is a core member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC*), an interdisciplinary collective of dancers, singers, and instrumentalists intent on the colliding and merging of art forms She is the founder of non-profit Nunc, a programming and concert-producing organization, dedicated to presenting musical innovations, interpretations, and compositional contributions of our time
Dedicated to education, Miranda teaches violin and chamber music at the Mannes School of Music/New School University She frequently writes and speaks to audiences about music and she earned her doctorate from The Juilliard School
MIZU
“Frequently gorgeous, at times unsettling, and constantly in flux” (Pitchfork), MIZU explores themes of transformation and the infinite possibilities of self through her singular cello playing and daring performing
Trained as a cellist at Juilliard, her experimental practice sees her transforming self-recorded explorations on her instrument into bold and distinct soundscapes Her works 4 | 2 | 3, Forest Scenes, and Distant Intervals received critical praise and attention from platforms such as Pitchfork, The FADER, NOWNESS Asia, Bandcamp Daily, The New York Times, and New Sounds
Roberta Michel
Brooklyn-based flutist Roberta Michel is dedicated to the music of our time Praising her “extreme adventurousness,” New York Concert Review said she “riveted with her performance, inspiring one to want a repeated hearing ” Co-artistic Director of Wavefield and a member of Da Capo Chamber Players, PinkNoise and SEM Ensemble, Michel has also performed with: Art Ensemble of Chicago, Cadillac Moon Ensemble (founding member), Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ecce Ensemble, Portland String Quartet, Newspeak, Wet Ink Ensemble, Argento, Iktus, Wordless Music Orchestra, and Cygnus Ensemble among others She can be heard on several recordings, including the GRAMMY-winning album of Dame Ethyl Smyth’s The Prison with Experiential Orchestra Michel holds degrees from CU-Boulder, SUNY-Purchase College, and the CUNY Graduate Center Roberta is the Assistant Teaching Professor of Flute at Bowling Green State University
Sara Paar
Acclaimed as “sensitive to every expression in the text” (New York Concert Review), soprano Sara Paar is an interpreter of contemporary classical music and opera Ms Paar is a favorite with composers throughout the United States and has been admired for her beautiful voice, stirring and inherent sense of drama, her sensitive interpretations, and exquisite attention to detail
Ms Paar has performed both traditional and new works with New York-based ensembles including Flux Quartet, Ensemble 365, Chelsea Opera, S E M Ensemble, and The Choral Society of the Hamptons Recent highlights include premiering a new work for string quartet and soprano by Ramin Heydarbeygi on MATA Presents 2024, playing the young girl in the New York premiere of Tom Cipullo’s After Life, and Daphne in David Wolfson’s one-woman opera, Daphne
An avid recitalist, Sara Paar sings a wide range of repertoire, much of which reflects her research interests in the music of women composers and contemporary music In recent recitals, she has sung the works of Stefania de Kenessey, Reena Esmail, Louise Talma, Nailah Nombeko, Polina Nazaykinskaya, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and others With Ensemble 365, Ms Paar has released the critically acclaimed CD Eastern Currents (Romeo Records), a CD of chamber music by Asian composers She was also featured on the recently released CD of Marga Richter’s vocal music, singing monodrama Lament for Art O’Leary
Sara Paar is a passionate educator. She currently serves on the music faculty at Fordham University and has been proud to see past students sing at Avery Fisher Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium and Weill Hall, Madison Square Garden, among others. As a pedagogue, Ms. Paar has received her certification in Vocology, Somatic VoiceworkTM The LoVetri Method, and Joan Melton’s ONE VOICE Course in Integrative Studies.
Ms. Paar received a doctoral degree in performance from The Graduate Center, City University of New York. Her dissertation examined the neural limitations of speech and singing in an attempt to clarify a performance practice for Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot lunaire. Her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Vocal Performance were earned from Binghamton University and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, respectively, and her major teachers have included Stephanie Samaras, Monica Harte, Mary Burgess, and Kathryn Proctor-Duax. Ms. Paar is proud to serve on the Board of Directors for the New York Women Composers, Inc.
Taka Kigawa
Critically acclaimed pianist TAKA KIGAWA has earned outstanding international recognition as a recitalist, soloist, and chamber music artist since winning First Prize in the prestigious 1990 Japan Music Foundation Piano Competition in Tokyo, and the Diploma Prize at the 1998 Concurs Internacional Maria Canals De Barcelona in Spain, with such accolades from The New York Times as “Phenomenon. There’s no denying that he is something special,” and “The extraordinary pianist.” And from The New Yorker: “Unbelievably challenging program. Kigawa is an artist of stature” and from La Nación (Buenos Aires) “Taka Kigawa is a stupendous virtuoso.” His New York City recital in 2010 was chosen as one of the best concerts of the year by The New York Times. His New York City recital in August 2011 was picked as one of the most notable concerts in the 2011-2012 season by Musical America. Also his Buenos Aires recital in April 2014 was chosen as one of the best concerts of the year by Argentina’s leading paper, La Nación.
He has performed extensively as a recitalist and soloist in New York, Washington DC, Boston, Cleveland, Paris, Milan and Barcelona, with appearances in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Kosciuszko Foundation, Severance Hall in Cleveland, Cité de la Musique, and Salle Gaveau in Paris, Plau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, and Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires He frequently tours in his native Japan, appearing in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagano and Kyoto, both as a recitalist and a soloist with orchestra and in chamber music groups He has performed with such distinguished institutions as The Cleveland Orchestra He has been a featured artist on many television and radio networks throughout the U S , Europe and Asia
His repertoire is extremely large and varied, ranging from the baroque to avant-garde compositions of today He has collaborated closely with such renowned musicians as Pierre Boulez, Myung-Whun Chung and Jonathan Nott Also he premiered the last solo piano piece of Yusef Lateef, the jazz legend, in New York City in 2013
Mr. Kigawa grew up in Nagano, Japan, where he began piano studies at the age of three, winning his first competition at the age of seven. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Shinsyu University, and his Master of Arts degree from Tokyo Gakugei (Liberal Arts) University, graduating with honors in Piano Performance. During both his undergraduate and graduate years, he also studied composition and conducting, receiving high honors in both disciplines. He furthered his studies in the United States at The Juilliard School in New York, where he earned his Master of Music degree. Taka Kigawa is a Steinway Artist and resides in New York City.
The Bang Group
You'll frequently find us in tap shoes, but we're not a tap dance company Wonderful as they are, we don't need tap shoes to make our music. We also use bare feet, our voices, our hands, pointe shoes, bubble wrap, stilettos, oxfords and anything we can get our minds and bodies around. We're a rhythm-driven, contemporary dance company at the intersection of percussive, classical, modern and social dance forms to which we've added a few that didn't exist before we made them up. Choreographer David Parker has diversified the root impulses of percussive dance embracing a full-bodied, and wide-ranging vision of dance and rhythmic expression that makes room for humor, classicism, drama, and a brawny intellect.
To be official for a moment, we were founded in New York City in 1995 and have toured and performed widely throughout North America and Europe. TBG has been generously supported by The Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Frederick Loewe Foundation, the New York Department of Cultural Affairs, The Doris Duke Foundation, and many more. David Parker is a Guggenheim Recipient as well as awards and citations from Art+Action, Dancers Responding To Aids, the Kurt Joss Awards, and the Contemporary Choreographic Awards in The Netherlands. It is presented regularly in New York City by New York Live Arts and its predecessor Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Dance Now NYC, Symphony Space and The Harkness Dance Festival among many others. The Bang Group has made its second home in Boston through sustained
partnerships with Summer Stages Dance (13 seasons), The ICA, and The Dance Complex The company is also in residence annually at The Yard on Martha's Vineyard, for 16 years produced the Soaking WET festival at The West End Theater on Manhattan's upper west side, and has recently become an Anchor Partner at the new Flea Theater in Manhattan Beginning in 2015 TBG has supported and presented the work of a wide range of artists through its Dance Now Boston initiative which commissions new work created for cabaret spaces
We are convinced that rhythm is the dancer's "voice" and that it can precisely evoke the vicissitudes of intimacy through counterpoint, fugue, canon and unison At the heart of our repertory is a series of duets originally made for -- and sometimes still danced by -- Artistic Directors David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin that chart romantic conflict between 2 men over three decades These dances take a poetic but gimlet-eyed view of love and noise between partners who slip in and out of sync with each other and draw on all kinds of dance without a thought of movement hierarchy Rhythm remains the organizing principle
We take iconic musical scores written for other instruments and dance to them. Well, not actually to them. We conjure them from our very stamps, taps, claps and moves as if we're playing them ourselves--which we are. No instruments necessary, we play them by dancing. We've even commissioned composers to write music directly for our bodies (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XteRMjV2soE&t=5s). Surprisingly dramatic encounters are kindled by the collision between narrative, rhythm and humor which explosion we deem "Rhythm Theater." (https://vimeo.com/664399076)
The Bang Group is best known and loved for Parker's vivid, funny and loving re-imagining of The Nutcracker entitled Nut/Cracked which is a comic/subversive, neo-vaudevillian now celebrating its 20th Season. ("You never know what will happen next, but when it's over you find a passionate declaration of naivete in the best sense: innocence regained." Alastair Macaulay, New York Times; "Not only immensely entertaining but also intensely musical and witty, melding tap, disco, ballet and contemporary dance over 22 scenes that combine fantasy and silliness to marvelous effect." - Roslyn Sulcas, New York Times)
Yaz Lancaster
The expansive practice of Harlem-based experimental artist Yaz Lancaster encompasses live electroacoustic performances, and open-format DJ sets. Yaz performs solo sets with violin/voice/electronics that comprise songs, improvisations, and composed music – aptly displayed on their sophomore album AFTER (PTP, 2025), created in residency at Pioneer Works. As a DJ, they frequently combine percussive and traditional musics of the global south, Black American dance genres, and hardcore kicks in high-energy club sets – and “literally anything” for the radio in fluid narrative-driven mixes.
Yaz has recently performed at Dweller Forever (Public Records), Paragon, The Lot Radio, Nowadays, ISSUE PROJECT ROOM, Trans-Pecos, The Music Gallery (Toronto), and Gaudeamus Festival (Utrecht), among other spaces in NYC and internationally. Yaz additionally performs as “death ambient” and hardcore DJ b2b project
“medium.” in deep collaboration with creative partner gg200bpm They are a member of communally-active PTP artist collective; and the creator/curator of HEAVY HEARTS performance series celebrating the community and vulnerability in harsh/experimental sonics
UNNAMEABLE STRINGS:
Che Buford (UNNAMEABLE STRINGS)
che ali is an experimental interdisciplinary artist based in new york city che primarily performs and creates music as a violinist and composer while also integrating objects, voice, movement, and poetry their practice often deals with themes of memory, place, the quotidian, exploring humaness through a somatic lens and in dialogue with poetic possibility and conceptual inquiry their work is deeply interested in the exposure of timbral details, resonance, introspection, interiority, and starkness, realized through improvisational performance, acoustic and electroacoustic sound worlds che has collaborated with artist’s including Adama Delphine Fawundu, Deborah Jack, Torsten Lang, Dafna Naphtali & James Ilgenfritz They have received commissions from Midori, The Museum of Modern Art, icarus Quartet, Castle of our Skins, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy, and others
che is a founding member of Diaphanous Ensemble, a genre-bending composition, improvisation, and performance collective started with Abby Swidler & Aimée Niemann Diaphanous premiered four new string quartets by its members in August 2023 They also performed with Ioanna Gika as part of Jacolby Satterwhite’s A Metta Prayer, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in September 2023
Upcoming engagements for 2025-2026 include the premiere of Resonances of Spirit, written for violinist, Midori; performances of as if it were a scene made up by the mind, that is not mine, but is a made place premiered in Houston, San Antonio, Alanta, Chicago, and Sarasota through a commission from the Cross-Country Chamber Consortium; and commissions from Daniel Innamorato, ChamberQueer, Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, and others Che will premiere an expanded evening length version of a solo violin & multimedia work titled, "To name, to breathe, to feel, to live," in the spring as part of their project through the Barnard Student Artist Residency program Lastly, che is expected to release their solo debut album at the end of 2026
che holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance from the boston conservatory at berklee they are currently a DMA candidate at columbia university in music composition, where they've studied with Marcos Balter, George Lewis, Zosha Di Castri, and Georg Friedrich Haas. in their free time, che enjoys taking long walks, eating and cooking plant based food, thrifting, and traveling.
A bass player and composer, David Macchione’s solid approach to bass playing and developed musical sensibility always serve the musical context, and his flexibility makes him a sought-after player for various corners of Contemporary Jazz and original music
Born in Amsterdam, Macchione grew up on the eastern coast of southern Italy, where he developed a deep passion for music at an early age after discovering his dad’s electric bass in a closet Later picking up the guitar, piano and violin, he finally discovered the upright bass, returning to his initial love for the lower frequencies Since his early teens, Macchione has been active in the local music scene, collaborating with southern Italian jazz godfather -guitarist Guido Di Leone, and played electric bass in local hardcore underground bands Moving to Amsterdam to study in 2018, he started to be a stable presence in the contemporary jazz scene, joining groups of emerging artists like guitarists Ella Zirina and Adrian Bifano, and fellow Italian pianist and singer Federica Lorusso
Driven by a desire to further explore the positive role of music in society and to broaden the knowledge of the roots of jazz and creative music, Macchione was one of 20 students accepted into the Global Jazz Institute at the Berklee College of Music (class of ‘23), where he studied alongside Grammy award-winning composer Danilo Perez.
As a band leader, fostering a creative and dynamic group sound is reflected in compositions used as malleable containers for individual members' contributions. The David Macchione Quintet is an exploration of multiple influences and roots, drawing from contemporary jazz, and influenced by the sounds and impressions of southern Italy.
He has performed in festivals around Europe like Nigran Jazz, Grachtenfestival, Oslo Jazz Festival and Taranto Jazz, and prestigious venues such as the Bimhuis in Amsterdam and Jamboree in Barcelona.
Macchione obtained a bachelor of arts in Jazz Performance in 2022 at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, and a Master in Music at the Berklee Global Jazz Institute in 2023. He has studied with esteemed artists Maurizio Quintavalle, Frans Van Der Hoeven, Tineke Postma, Linda May Han Oh, Danilo Perez, Ben Street and Kris Davis.
Elijah Spies (UNNAMEABLE STRINGS)
Born in London, Elijah Spies first started learning the viola in group lessons at school, before beginning studies at the junior department of the Royal College of Music. He has since performed at international concert series including the BBC Proms, the Lucerne Festival, and Musikfest Berlin. Elijah Spies performed as an intern with the Basel Sinfonietta during the 2022-23 season, playing concerts at venues across Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium. Other recent highlights include appearances at the Creative Dialogues festival in Helsinki, at the Berlin Philharmonie with Ensemble Modern Orchestra, and at the festival ECLAT in Stuttgart, for the premiere
of Valerio Sannicandro’s ›VISIO-FICTIO‹ for amplified violas and choir With a particular passion for collaborating with composers and creating new music, Elijah Spies has studied and premiered works at festivals including the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, New Music on the Point and the Hans Zender Akademie He has performed chamber music with members of the JACK Quartet, Ensemble Recherche, and International Contemporary Ensemble, and recently undertook intensive string quartet lessons with György Kurtág at the Budapest Music Center Since 2018, Elijah Spies has been a performing artist for Concerts in Motion, providing solo and chamber concerts at hospital wards, retirement communities, and for isolated, homebound residents in New York He was the featured soloist at the Queens COVID Memorial Ceremony Elijah Spies completed a master’s degree at the Basel Music Academy, studying with Geneviève Strosser, and holds a bachelor's degree from The Juilliard School In his free time, Elijah Spies enjoys free improvisation, cat-sitting, and going down Wikipedia rabbit-holes
Robert Feifan Hurley (UNNAMEABLE STRINGS)
Robert Feifan Hurley is a Taiwanese American cellist based in New York City Robert’s performing career began in the SF Bay Area with appearances in the cello sections of the Sacramento Philharmonic, Fresno Philharmonic, and Modesto Symphony Orchestras He has appeared in masterclasses with Anssi Karttunen, Seth Parker Woods, Sergey Malov, and members of Kronos, Danish, and Shanghai String Quartets Robert’s recent highlights as a chamber musician include Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time with Daniel Phillips and ensemble performances with Giovanni Sollima at the Stauffer Academy (Italy) An active contemporary cellist, Robert has performed at festivals such as Bled Contemporary Music Week (Slovenia) and Darmstadt Summer Courses (Germany) Robert is on faculty at the 92NY School of Music in New York City He is currently pursuing doctoral studies at the CUNY Graduate Center with Marcy Rosen His previous teachers include Eric Kim, Jonathan Koh, and Jean-Michel Fonteneau