The following individuals will be performing in 100% all-new collaborations during High Zero 2007--

From Afar:

• Jaap Blonk
  voice, electronics
  Holland
  
  Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Holland) is a self-taught composer, performer and poet. He went to university for mathematics and musicology but did not finish those studies. In the late 1970s he took up saxophone and started to compose music. A few years later he discovered his potential as a vocal performer, at first in reciting poetry and later on in improvisations and his own compositions. For almost two decades the voice was his main means for the discovery and development of new sounds. From around the year 2000 on Blonk started work with electronics, at first using samples of his own voice, then extending the field to include pure sound synthesis as well. He took a year off of performing in 2006. As a result, his renewed interest in mathematics made him start a research of the possibilities of algorithmic composition for the creation of music, visual animation and poetry.
  
  As a vocalist, Jaap Blonk is unique for his powerful stage presence and almost childlike freedom in improvisation, combined with a keen grasp of structure. He performed in many European countries, as well as in the U.S. and Canada, Indonesia, Japan, South Africa and Latin America. With the use of live electronics the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.
  
  Besides working as a soloist, he collaborated with many musicians and ensembles in the field of contemporary and improvised music, like Maja Ratkje, Mats Gustafsson, Nicolas Collins, Joan La Barbara, The Ex, the Netherlands Wind Ensemble and the Ebony Band. He premiered several compositions by the German composer Carola Bauckholt, including a piece for voice and orchestra. A solo voice piece was commissioned by the Donaueschinger Musiktage 2002. On several occasions he collaborated with visual computer artist Golan Levin.
  
  Blonk's work for radio and television includes several commissioned radio plays. He also makes larger-scale drawings of his scores, which are being exhibited.
  
  He was the founder and leader of the long-standing bands Splinks (modern jazz, 1983-1999) and BRAAXTAAL (avant-rock, 1987-2005). He also has his own record label, Kontrans, featuring a total of 15 releases so far. Other Blonk recordings appeared on Staalplaat, Basta and VICTO.
  jaapblonk.com
  
  
• Jaimie Branch
  trumpet
  Chicago
  
  Jaimie Branch is a trumpeter interested in sounds. She lives in Chicago where she plays an active role in the creative music scene as a performer, recording engineer, and presenter.
  myspace.com/jaimiebranch
  
  
• Asimina Chremos
  movement
  Chicago
  
  Called "a strong, elegant, long-limbed dancer who moves with a sense of stark drama and genuine lyricism" by the Chicago Sun-Times (12/18/06), Asimina Chremos had intensive early training in classical ballet and later forayed into studies with postmodernists such as Simone Forti and Ishmael Houston-Jones. Chremos was a member of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater from 1983-86, during which time she danced corps and soloist roles in works by Balanchine and full length classics under the direction of Patricia Wilde. Her desire to experience a deeper level of creativity and curiosity in the dance studio and on the stage eventually led her to earn a BFA in Dance from Temple University, where she was introduced to the work of Rudolph Laban, the history of American modern dance and perhaps most significantly, contact improvisation. She graduated summa cum laude in 1991. Since that time she has worked independently and consistently as a dancer, choreographer, educator and collaborator. Recent influences on Chremos' process include regular investigation of vinyassa-style yoga, Klein/Mahler Technique and contact improvisiation; as well as collaboration with musicians such as experimental vocalist Carol Genetti. Since receiving a Chicago Dancemakers Forum Grant in 2005, Chremos has opened an inquiry into her Greek cultural heritage, particularly the solo dance known as zembekiko. This has resulted in performances and collaborations with the Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center and New York-based artist Angela Kariotis.
  asiminachremosdance.net
  
  
• Aaron Dilloway
  8-tracks, electronics, voice
  Ann Arbor
  
  Aaron Dilloway has been releasing and recording music since the age of 16. He is a former guitarist and tape manipulator for the noise rock band Wolf Eyes, which he left in 2005 to live most of that year in Kathmandu, Nepal. While his wife did her graduate work there, he roamed the streets recording every sound he could, many of which are used in his recent recordings and performances. Currently he runs the noise label and mailorder Hanson Records in Ann Arbor, Michigan which he began in 1994, and performs solo using eight track tapes and vocal sounds. He also currently records modular synthesizer music as Spine Scavenger, and more recently with an ever-changing cast of sound artists under the name The Nevari Butchers.
  hansonrecords.net
  
  
• Chris Heenan
  contrabass clarinet, alto saxophone
  Germany
  
  Chris Heenan is an active performer and organizer of experimental music working on projects in which improvisation is a major component. He plays alto saxophone, contrabass clarinet and analog synthesizer in contexts ranging from solo to large groups. In 2004 he founded REIFY, a recording label specializing in experimental and improvised music, and in 2002 he co-founded LINE SPACE LINE, a new and improvised music series and yearly festival in Los Angeles dedicated to improvised music that ran through August 2005. His regular groups include Team Up, a trio with guitarist Jeremy Drake and a revolving third member percussionist, Phantom Limb and Bison with Chris Forsyth (guitar), Jaime Fennelly (electronics) and Shawn Hansen (organ) and both acoustic and electric duos with percussionist / light artist Michael Vorfeld. Recent releases include Exclusively in Wire by Team Up, Widerstand, an analog synthesizer and light bulb duo with Michael Vorfeld, Half Cloud, Half Plain, a contrabass clarinet and percussion duo with Michael Vorfeld and The Hot Days with The Dietrich Eichmann Ensemble. Some recent performing partners include trumpeter Birgit Ulher, vocalist Ute Wassermann, percussionist / sound artist Sven Åke Johansson, percussionist Alexandre Kittel, percussionist Andreas Axelsson and electronic musician Lise-Lotte Norelius.
  chrisheenan.com
  
  
• Thomas Helton
  acoustic bass
  Houston
  
  For 15 years Thomas Helton has laid down basslines for jazz ensembles in Houston and around the US. He has deep-seated love and respect for jazz traditions, ingrained by instructors like Shelly Berg and Larry Slezak. In a tribute to Houston musicians, he compiled and published the first Houston Musician's Realbook. He has appeared at the Montreux Jazz Festival, and has recorded with Joe LoCascio, Carol Morgan, Chris Connolly, Smitty, Kevin Patton, & Cindy Scott.
  
  Thomas brings all of his passion and experience for jazz to the table when it comes to his other half, avant-garde music. Early in his jazz career, Thomas was inspired by the sounds of John Zorn and Peter Kowald to venture outside mainstream musical bounds. This journey began with the Rosta Jazz Avengers, a Houston-based quartet all about free improvisation and sonic exploration. Thomas quickly jumped into composition, beginning to develop a style that combines thematic composition with free improvisation, a sort of loosely controlled writing style showcasing his hand-selected performers. His accomplishments in the genre include: Recipient of Houston Arts Alliance composer grant, 2007; Curator of the Sunday Sonorities series at DiverseWorks, Houston; Featured performer at the High Zero Festival 2007, Baltimore; Five commissions from the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble; NYC tour, 2007, including premiering new works at The Stone; DiverseWorks artist residency for "Pride," a music & video collaboration with Maria del Carmen Montoya; Performer at the Norcal Noise Fest, 2003; Member of the Society of Improvised Music; Composed/Collaborated with the Michele Brangwen Dance Ensemble.
  
  Thomas has released three albums to date. "Good Robot" (2007) and "Experimentations in Minimalism" (2006) feature compositions for small ensemble. "Doublebass" (2003) is a collection of live, freely-improvised solo performances. Thomas also appears on the 2003 Norcal Noise Fest compilation CD, as well as the KUHF "The Front Row" 2006 compilation CD.
  thomashelton.com
  
  
• Sofia Jernberg
  voice
  Sweden
  
  Sofia Jernberg, vocalist and composer born in Ethiopia in 1983. She grew up in Vietnam and in Stockholm, Sweden where she now lives. Sofia is educated in voice training, improvisation and is currently studying composition. The Swedish press calls Sofia Jernberg the "the brightest shining voice artist". She has during the last year been performing solo and together with Norwegian cello player Lene Grenager of "Spunk". Their duo will release a cd in 2008. She has also played together with GUSH (Mats Gustafsson, Raymond Strid and Sten Sandell). Together with pianist Cecilia Persson she co-leads the group “paavo”. They released their debut album in February 2007 on Apart records. “paavo” is an example of how free improvised and notated music can interact. Sofia’s music has frequently been broadcasted by Swedish national radio. She has also received several scholarships, among them one from STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society) and two from “The arts grants committee”. She is also an active board member of FRIM (The Association for Free Improvised Music in Sweden).
  
  
• Matthias Kaul
  percussion, hurdy-gurdy
  Germany
  
  Matthias Kaul started as a Rock- and Jazzdrummer. He studied percussion at the Hamburg Musikhochschule, received numerous scholarships, and was awarded an advanced degree in Solo Performance. He has cooperated with other musicians and composers such as John Zorn, David Moss, Carla Bley, Malcolm Goldstein, Mauricio Kagel, Hans Werner Henze, Vinko Globokar and Joachim Hespos. He has made several concert tours in Europe, North and South America, Kanada, Africa, Taiwan, Japan, India and Korea. He has been featured, as percussionist and composer, on numerous record labels, including Wergo, Hat Hut, col legno, and CPO. Although Kaul has never studied composition, his activities as a composer have grown in the last ten years; his works have been performed worldwide. The IMD in Darmstadt and the Bavarian State Opera recently commissioned him to write music-theater works for their festivals.
  matthiaskaul.de
  
  
• Kyp Malone
  guitar, voice
  New York
  
  Kyp Malone is a 34 year old writer, string player and vocalist living in Brooklyn NYC. He began his musical training as an adolescent in his native Pittsburgh Pa studying violin and viola. Put down the bow for the mandolin, then the guitar. Recorded and played extensively with an improvisational duo Rocket Science & the Nigger Loving Faggots out of San Francisco in the 90's. Writes and records with Aaron Aites in a the band Iran. Writes and records and tours with the rock band Tv on the Radio. He is currently working on soundtracking a short by NYC film maker Bat-Sheva Guez and preparing to record an album of solo works.
  
  
• Donna Parker
  sound
  Boston
  
  Donna Parker has been making music since 2001. She uses the same two looped pedals to create deceptively simple rhythms and textures over rich backgrounds. Her live performances are known for their bursts of energetic sound that are as intense as they are brief. Donna has performed extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe, released a full length solo LP on the Twisted Village label and is also a frequent collaborator with Jessica Rylan (Can't) and Boston art rockers Neptune.
  
  
• Eve Risser
  prepared piano, toys, voice
  France
  
  Eve has her musical roots in chamber music as a flutist and pianist. While residing in Alsace, France, she merged in to the contemporary and jazz/improvised music world.  Eve’s multifaceted musical creativity has been heard in various settings and groups throughout Europe, USA and Japan. She has had the opportunity to play with interesting improvisers in a broad range of contexts, such as in theatre, dance, poetry, children, solo performances, contemporary and live soundtracks to films. This young improvising version of Conlon Nancarrow uses piano, flute, Ondes Martenot, voice, composition and sound objects (toys, Barbie guitar, Theremin, turntables etc) and moves boundless between written current music, improvised music, Free Jazz and Metal. Curently Eve´s musical life is based out of Paris where she is involved in organizing contemporary and improvised music live performances and a festival. Eve has had the possibility to play with great musicians  such as Joel Grip, Yuko Oshima, Caroline Kraabel, Nina de Heney, Michael Zerang, David Stackenäs, Christine Senhaoui, Sofia Jernberg, Shelly Blake, Charlie Haden, Tim Murphy, Niklas Barnö, Adolfo Kaplan, Joris Rühl, Seiko Fukushima,  to name a few.
  
  
• Matana Roberts
  saxophones
  New York
  
  Matana ( mah-tah-Na) Roberts is a dynamic saxophonist, composer and improviser, who tries to expose in her music the mystical roots and spiritual traditions of African American creative expression.
  
  As a Chicago native and a member of the AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) she was fortunate enough to be surrounded by elder musicians who showed her by distinct example the importance of listening to one's personal creative voice while at the same time using the profound and many layered traditions of jazz and improvised musics to act only as her creative guide, not as her creative definer. By using their mentorship, she has been able to craft a voice and creative focus that truly speaks to her own true artistic individuality. She feels strongly that her music should not only reflect the many colors and moods of universal human emotions, but that it should also testify, critique, document, and respond to the many socio-economic, historical, and cultural inequalities that exist not only in this country, but all over the world.
  
  Matana has appeared as a collaborator on recordings and performances in the U.S., Europe, and Canada with her own ensembles as well as with the collaborative jazz trio Sticks and Stones, Black Rock Coalition founder Greg Tate's Burnt Sugar, and Reg E Gaines and Savion Glover's homage project to the late great John Coltrane. Matana is an avid freelancer on a wide array of artistic projects, has played alongside some of the most intriguing creative sound visionaries of this time period.
  matanaroberts.com
  
  
• Marina Rosenfeld
  turntables, sound
  New York
  
  Marina Rosenfeld is an artist and composer based in New York City. She initiated a decade-long engagement with composition, improvisation, performance and situational aesthetic practices in 1993 with her now-notorious “Sheer Frost Orchestra”, a performance realized by 17 women on floor-bound electric guitars, deploying nail-polish bottles as sensitive and magical sound-producing implements. Rosenfeld continues to mount large-scale ensemble works scored for custom instrumentation (‘Emotional Orchestra’, ‘WHITE LINES’), and performs frequently in the U.S., Canada and Europe as a turntablist spinning original dub plates. She’s performed with leading contemporary artists including Merce Cunningham Company, Sonic Youth, Christian Marclay, George Lewis and Ikue Mori, to name a few. Her work has appeared in a wide variety of contexts including the Whitney Museum, Tate Modern, Donaueschingen, Ars Electronica, Maerz Musik, Mutek, Wein Modern, and Taktlos Bern. Her most recent release is “joy of fear” (2006, Softl/Cologne). She has been a member of the Music/Sound faculty of the Milton Avery School of the Arts at Bard College since 2003. Photo: Andrew Lentz.
  marinarosenfeld.com
  
  
• Massimo Simonini
  prepared theremin, objects, voice
  Italy
  
  Since a child, passionate about music, he starts making experiments with the music home tools....such as turntables,radios & others... By chance then ,one day, he finds himself playing those same tools but in a different context..... he starts to intervene in a group of musician-friends (Popoli Dalpane Ensemble with a more classic direction..) as a satellite.....shifting the original concept towards a new planet... With this new approach they participate to different festivals hosting at times other musicians.... as Lindsay Cooper & Tony Coe. Another project was the AaltoSounDesign (Tiziano popoli, Roberto Monari & Massimo) which aimed to make parks & "spaces" alive with music. He starts also taking care & programming different radio programs on the independent "Radio Citta103" & "Radio Citta del Capo" in Bologna.which comprehended also an artistic overlook....they're called Umano Ovest & L'Ora d'Aria (the hour of air). He's invited by Gianni Gebbia to play on tour in a 'jazz trio' (they also release an album for Splach) & subsequently in duo, Bachstage, & in trio again with Tiziano Popoli in "All'Improvviso". All these new combinations create new combi-nations.... With Tiziano he creates N.O.R.M.A. a projects which goal is to rearrange original film music (Erik Satie, Bernard Hermann....) & recreate the movie without the movie.... With this they participate to several festivals (Dodorama-Rotterdam, RingRing-Beograd, Bimhuis-Amsterdam, LMC-London, Podewil-Berlin, Salonicco...) with contributes also by Phil Minton & Chris Cutler (2 albums are released: N.O.R.M.A. & L'arpa e l'asino (the arp & the donkey) with Chris for ReR Megacorp). Duos are also done between Chris Cutler & Massimo. In 1991, in collaboration with Mario Zanzani, he invents Angelica (which is also a label), now is 17 years old. A festival which aim is to open, to search, to push & to find the unexpressed...what is in between & what is beyond....A jouney..... The first of this kind, in Italy, equally respected here as in the foreign in 2008 shall reach the 18th years. Massimo takes care of the artistic direction & the label. As a producer he realized different "masters" for foreign (New albion, Col legno, Rer Megacorp, Ipecac, Rai Trade Tracce) & italian labels (all the catalogues of i dischi di angelica) collaborating with Stefano Scodanibbio, Fred Frith, Phil Minton e Veryan Weston, Alvin Curran, Dr. Ilayaraaja, Eyvind Kang, Lawrence D. ‘Butch’ Morris, Mike Patton.... Under suggestion of Angelica a workshop brings to life "Eva Kant "(an ensemble of more or less 30 elements), working with Butch Morris, Conduction 32 & 61 (Podewil-Berlin) & recorded "Pacifica" music by Fred Frith for Eva Kant (released on Tzadik). Currently he has different projects.... Bellezza Fiammeggiante: quintet of radical improvisation, highly energetic & inflammable (Eugenio Sanna, Edoardo Maraffa, Edoardo Ricci, Mirko Sabatini & Massimo); Ska Maria Pastora: an improvised juke-box with mixed singing & different windows to open... (Lullo Mosso, Vincenzo Vasi & Massimo); with Francesca Valente & Abi (Fabrizio Rota) instead they search , through improvisation, for a kind of music-massage with a consequent time release; with Riccardo Pittau a new form of song is explored; Antichi & Astronauti: a duo with Eugenio Sanna; a trio with Vincenzo Vasi & Mirko Sabatini... He works on his own & organizes workshops about "domestic & invented" instruments with musicians & non...(we remind you "Rumore da Camera" presented by The Popular School of Music Ivan Illich & Link). Invited by Marie Goyette he played in quartet which took place at the International Archipel Festival in Geneva with Maurizio Martusciello & Olivia Block & Marie. In a duo with Abi he works at a "solo" project as if he was a mirror...the image reflected is transformed....raga is contemplated & decontestualized.... With Tristan Honsinger (without his cello) & Pierre Bastien they improvise "Theater"... Shelley Hirsh appears as courtesy.... With Tristan he recorded a record live without audience (not yet released) that speaks about their indstuments (records and strings) and music, they sings songs and improvised texts: "Call Me Us" is the title, a karmic story. Mattino Marino: a project with Gayla Freed where he explores for the first time, live, the relation between music & image. The "domestic" taste of her images blends with a music still to find... With Fabrizio 'Abi' Rota, Massimo he realized what he calls 'concept-composition': "Porzione di Cuore di Gabbiano in un Quadrilatero di Emozioni", is the title. "Evocazione" its another work with the same working on the “evocation” of the composer, friend, died, Fernando Mencherini, we use prerecorded materials of him (records, tapes, samples) and we create an invisibile chamber orchestra. In the occasion of Angelica 2002, Massimo he is guest as “mobile actor” of the opera mobile by Tristan Honsinger Galleria San Francesco, ideated by Massimo e Tristan with text by Ermanno Cavazzoni. Massimo he relaized "private for public" with Vittorio Pettinella, Tiziano Popoli (...three friends speaking in italian about life, love, nothing.....something private...a pubblic english radio... ..a domestic atmosfere transmitted in others houses...a displaced language.....a domestic sound to find...) for Out of The Blue Radio Resonance FM. 104.4 FM of London for a series of radio programmes commissioned by Chris Cutler. With Vincenzo Vasi, Massimo he played in duo: "Quasi Cocco", in the concert series of Cocoricò of Riccione (a discoteque), and with Tiziano Popoli and with guest narrator Giampiero Cane (teacher of the Univeristy of Bologna). With Audrey Chen and Gianni Gebbia, and with Audrey Chen and Tiziano, Massimo did only 2 intense concerts. He also composed music for theatre & dance: the Reon Theater, the Valdoca Theater ( his music has been used by Virgilio Sieni).... Photography, the creation of objects, painting, drawing...often accompany his life images about light...."domestic & naturalistic" representation about time, as in absence.....without time..... In 2009 he shall conduct a workshop "transparent ,time" (interior time & other time, harmony & collision) for musicians & non which shall end in a concert. Massimo is now working on a new indstrument, a “prepared theremin” that he invented, with a software made to measure for Massimo realized by Bruno Zamborlin after a work of almost 2 years; the first time will be used live will be in Baltimora at High Zero Festival in september 2007.
  
  
• ID M Theft Able
  mouth, frictions, textures, air, objects, vibrations, etc.
  Portland
  
  i did in know do what i did know in i bio do 1 o.i.n OING of did err dews i-saap do wonk bio-id i in did know of b.o.i OING do in i DID bio knews graphicals of DIDs on eons too dided then i bio'd of when n'DID th' done doing when i i i i knew of DID doings i DID i DID or i-saap not when if'd when i don't know of DID and DOESINGS that DONE for the does i
  kraag.org
  
  

 

 

 

 

From Baltimore:

• John Berndt
  electronics, reeds, inventions
  
  John Berndt (b. 1967) was unusually interested in paradoxes of infinity, possibility and inference as a child. He invented his own versions what he would later discover were some of the unresolved paradoxes that had bedeviled official knowledge for centuries. In formal education, he emerged to be a difficult autodidact. As a teenager, he was intensely involved in his own and others utopian speculation, radical politics, and non-conformist experimentation for its own sake--interests which broadened and deepened considerably over time, but never have left him. During those years, he began unusually precocious solo work in experimental music, primarily electronics, and also what might be termed "berserk conceptual art activities," starting around puberty, and extending through a considerable amount of self-publishing and collaboration. In 1985 he joined the Neoist movement and became its youngest member. (Neoism was a highly irresponsible but sometimes inspired international movement of contrived disorientation, and as a result of his participation, he became a part of official art history). In the late 80's an onward, he collaborated intensely on developing strange new contexts, primarily with instrument builder Neil Feather, Sound Thinker tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE, and artist/activist Peter Zahorecz. In 1991, he began what would be a successful marketing communications firm, The Berndt Group, expanding his interests and activities to more official and commercial contexts. He also participated in the founding of a used book and record store collective in 1991, Normals Books and Records. In 1994 his music activities as a multi-instrumentalist again expanded heavily into more "instrumental-real-time-music-only" free improvisation and his closest collaborators in this area were Jack Wright, John Dierker, and Catherine Pancake. He also began to expand his circle to play with Jazz, classical, and 'ethnic' musicians, without loosing his core focus on primarily exploratory, non-idiomatic music. In 1992 he became a student of the philosopher Henry Flynt, and later extensively published Flynt's work, eventually collaborating with him on new philosophical work. Since the early 1990s, he has been extraordinarily active in organizing unusual cultural events in Baltimore and the east Coast, has toured North America and Europe extensively, and has been lucky enough to play with the majority of what he considers to be the most interesting improvisors of the day. He has a large number of active collaborations. His method, which is simple, but rigorously demanding, is to follow his interests where they lead him and to not to limit himself, while simultaneously trying to build consistency, discipline, and sustainable structures that are considered only elegant means to (spiritual, experiential, ineffable) ends. This sometimes works.
  johnberndt.org
  
  
• Peter Blasser
  original inventions, strings
  
  Peter Blasser was introduced to "the maestro" in a fourth grade assembly. This kind conductor of the micro-kid band introduced the wind instruments available and Peter chose the tuba because it was the least practical. His parents put up with its bellows until high school when he diversified to banjo. Unallowed to purchase an Ud, Peter built one in the basement, thus beginning his career of "I will interface with reality by building a sound object". In college he was introduced to electron machinery; the infinite randomities seduced him into pure abstraction. After college Peter was bombarded with syncretist philosophies: "hi-tech, lo-tech" "squaring the circle" "gonzo meets goth". I am indeed shown the path; I must engage these yin-yangs into my work, connect dissonance with "Evenflow". To regain tunefulness, I use the tuba, but it hurts my jaw so I compromise with smaller cups such as trombone and french horn. The french horn is especially wabi-sabi; it allows the poet to become lost in a wilderness of sevens and elevens. On finding a well-worn path in the woods, I snap into a tune, a remembrance of my grandma's botany, a rusted traditionalism as sunshine on moss.
  ciat-lonbarde.net
  
  
• Dan Breen
  strings, percussion, electronics
  
  Dan and/or Breen are well-known multi-instrumentalist at Baltimore and other cities of the coast of the east. With the jars of the music opening, closing, and intersecting, you may oppose the banality of jars. Go. Bring the specialized model of playing. Bring the life and the joy of owing much to the whales, which, by which, and which have likewise, by knowing which joy type, will be joyous. Sound will be implemented with many connections, which are treated with flexible connections in many situations. Several uses of the skull fruit and body heart will sound as the fog does after fasting. Drums, too.
  
  
• Jeff Carey
  computer, original software
  
  Electronic music composer Jeff Carey Studied Audio Technology at American University (1994), and computer music composition at the Instituut voor Sonologie in the Koningklijk Conservatorium in Den Haag (2002) and is based in the US and in the Netherlands.
  
  Since the early 90's, his work has always focused on novel sound generation techniques raging from no-input-mixer to non-standard synthesis. Working with algorithmic composition, digital instrumentalism, fixed media composition and real-tim performance his work has, over the years, moved from primarily conceptual minimalism (87 Central) to something termed “New Complexity Splatter” (Office-R(6)) while finding affinity and utility in both. He is interested simultaneously in formalized acousmatic composition, systemic performance, and improvisation. Carey has performed or presented pieces and installations in the US and Europe.
  
  As a computer instumentalist, he has played in the groups Office-R(6), N-Ensemble, SKIF++, USA/USB, 87 Central, and collaborated or performed with Ultralyd, Pho, Radboud Mens, Cor Fuhler, Kjetil Moester, Bruno Listopad, Robin Hayward, Audrey Chen, Jan Treuzschler, Bjornar Habbestad, Merlijn Twaalfhoven, Francis Marie Uitti, Koen Nutters, Morten J. Olsen, Jaap Blonk, Anders Hana, Yannick Dauby, Kjetil Brandsdal, James Beckett, Tobias Delius, Sakir Oguz Buyukberber, Dirk Bruinsma, Hilary Jeffries, Bas van Koolwijk, Anne LaBerge, Robert van Heumen, Oren Ambarchi, and Gert-Jan Prins.
  
  Carey builds custom software instruments for musicians (most notably, MoHa!) and teaches courses in the synthesis programming language SuperCollider 3, recently at new media/arts institutions including NoTAM, BEK, TEKS (NO), STEIM (NL), and ITP (US). He is one of many founding members of the pan-European N-Collective.
  n-collective.com/jeffcarey/
  
  
• Audrey Chen
  cello, voice, electronics
  
  Audrey Chen is a chinese-american musician and performance artist born outside of chicago in 1976. using the cello, voice and analog electronics, chen’s work focuses on the combination and layering of traditional and extended techniques. a large component of her music is improvised and her approach to this is often extremely personal and visceral. her performance work incorporates sound, movement and visual/sculptural concepts. chen performs solo and in collaboration with a wide number of musicians and dancers. Among musicians, she has worked with many great improvisers, including phil minton, elliott sharp, aki onda, phill niblock, alessandro bosetti, mike cooper, mats gustafsson, sten sandell, mazen kerbaj, michael zerang, tatsuya nakatani, assif tsahar, scott rosenberg, le quan ninh, joe mcphee, susan alcorn, michele doneda, paolo angeli, and gianni gebbia. some current projects include duos with gianni gebbia, alessandro bosetti and nate wooley. the SILO trio with nate wooley and leonel kaplan. and Trockeneis with andy hayleck, dan breen, catherine pancake and paul neidhardt. chen has performed in europe, russia, australia, new zealand, china, japan, taiwan and the USA. She is currently based in Baltimore, MD USA where she is member of the red room and high zero collective, an on-going series and international festival devoted to experimental improvised music.
  audreychen.com
  
  
• Dan Conrad
  inventions, voice
  
  An artist and science teacher, Daniel Conrad has been working in Baltimore City for over 25 years. In the 1970’s Conrad developed an instrument for performing with colored light. The chromaccord remains central to his visual art. More recently Conrad has invented several musical instruments, including the wildwave and the veena bambeena. For the last three years he has focused his musical efforts on the veena bambeena, discovering its idiosyncratic uses in various musical idioms.
  
  
• John Dierker
  reeds
  
  Baltimore's "Most Valuable Player," John Dierker's ongoing inspiration covers a huge range of music, from rock-and-roll and surf music to arcane forms of jazz and free improvisation. Unpretentious and extremely passionate, the evocatively high integrity screech and warble of Dierker's horn can be heard most nights of the week at venues throughout the city with groups like The Swingin' Swamis, New Volcanoes, il culo, and The Can Openers. He has a highly distinctive sound and is increasingly known outside of Baltimore in free jazz circles and through collaborations with musicians like Jeff Arnal, Sean Meehan, and Lafayette Gilcrhist.
  
  
• Eric Franklin
  strings, percussion
  
  Eric Franklin currently plays with the Electric Junk Band and Smash Hits & lives with his cat, Kitaro, in Baltimore's bountiful Westside.
  
  
• Chiara Giovando
  voice, violin, electronics
  
  Chiara Giovando was born in northern New Mexico in 1976. She is a musician and artist working in sound and video. Her current projects include “Proud Flesh”, a psychedelic Western that she made with her collaborator Jenny Graff (Metalux) that will be released in the fall of 2007. Proud Flesh was filmed in the Bad Lands of South Dakota and in Baltimore. The project has a strong musical aspect and was given huge support by the experimental music community in Baltimore. There will also be an LP released in conjunction with the film.
  
  Chiara Giovando performs as a duo with Daniel Higgs (Lung Fish) playing violin and guitar and singing. They have been touring extensively the past year and will also be releasing their first collaborative album in winter 2007.
  
  Her sound art also includes endleseries (endleseries.com), a collaboration with Caleb Johnston. Endleseries is a hand cut lathe catalog of music that is cut to order. Some of the artists on the catalog include Smegma, Quintron, Thurston Moore, Andy Hayleck and Little Howling Wolf.
  
  Chiara has performed in the US as well as performing in Berlin, Hong Kong, Tai Wan, and Rome. She recently performed in the Roulette series in New York City, in the International Contemporary Arts Fair in Santa Fe, NM and she is currently showing a sound and video installation at Maryland Art Place. Photo: Suzy Poling.
  
  
• Bonnie Jones
  electronics
  
  Bonnie Jones works with sound, text and performance. Born in 1977 in South Korea she was raised by dairy farmers in New Jersey, and currently resides in Baltimore, MD. In sound performances Bonnie plays the circuit boards of digital delay pedals. Her primary sound collaborators are Joe Foster in Korea (as the duet "English") and Andy Hayleck. She is also a member of the Performance Thanatology Research Society, a inter-disciplinary performance group dedicated to the advancement of a higher histrionics brought on by imminent finalities. Bonnie has performed at the Kim Dae-Hwan Museum, the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, the ErstQuake Festival, and the 14 Karat Cabaret.
  chelagallery.org/bonnie
  
  
• Melissa Moore
  field recordings, electronics
  
  Melissa Moore is a musician, self-taught experimental instrument builder, installation/sound artist, and sculptor. She was born in Washington DC in 1975 and currently based in Baltimore, MD. Moore's gallery and performative sound work involves the magnification of minute sound sources, focusing attention on the physical properties of materials and unusual acoustic phenomena in a reductive and elemental way, as well as working with such diverse sources as field recordings, fire, water, invented instruments, electronics, percussion, wind instruments, acoustic-folk guitar and voice. She is involved in improvised music/performance, her own conceptual compositions, and she is a frequent collaborator with other musicians. Her music and performance work often has a laboratory and installation quality that belies its deep aesthetic and philosophical considerations. Melissa also created and curates the Baltimore electro-acoustic/multi-channel sound series, SoundpillowSeries. She was selected to perform High Zero 2005/2007, an international experimental music festival in Baltimore, MD. She has also performed at Straulau 68, LaborSonar, and Lichtblick Kino in Berlin, Germany, Elastic Arts and Something Else Radio in Chicago, Illinois, Homemade Festival in New York, 14 Karat Cabaret in Baltimore and other venues in the US. Her present work is an intersection of sound, sculpture, and installation.
  myspace.com/tauandtwilight
  
  
• Stewart Mostofsky
  electronics, strings
  
  Stewart Mostofsky does many things, often simultaneously. One of them is that he plays electronic instruments. He is also a member of the Red Room collective and the High Zero Foundation.
  
  
• Shodekeh
  human beat-boxing
  
  A human beatboxer, Hip Hop artist, and collector of musical experiences. Self taught with no formal musical education, Shodekeh has been capable of executing the fine art of beatboxing since the age of nine and has been presenting the vocal form as a serious practitioner since the age of 19. By channeling the various concepts of instruments and sounds through the human voice, he can vocally embody many musical tools or emulations which include drum kits, didgeridoos, ocean waves, turntables, woodblocks, synthesizers, helicopters, congas, wind, sleigh bells, crickets, horns, bass guitars, to well, you get the idea. With his rhythms, he is always seeking to interface with many varying genres from Blues to Classical, with or without an apparatus and has also enjoyed completing musical interpretations of visual works/gallery exhibits at Towson University, Oberlin College, and The American Visionary Arts Musuem. Working as a musical accompanist within dance programs for such places as Patapsco High School and Center For The Arts and The American Dance Festival have also brought a vast amount of inspiration into his career, as well conducting his non-formal musical learning experiences in and out of classrooms known as "The Beatbox Lab". Artistic travels from CBGB's to The Peabody Institute have kept moments increasingly challenging and stimulating for this young artist, and as long as there's an eardrum, mic, or speaker system to be demolished or altered by yours truly, Shodekeh will be there willing to rock in the soundscape of the flesh. Photo: Kelly Connelly
  myspace.com/shodekeh