"Born in Warwick, Rhode Island on September 22nd, 1964, Ken Vandermark began studying the tenor saxophone at the age of 16. Since graduating with a degree in Film and Communications from McGill University during the spring of 1986, his primary creative emphasis has been the exploration of contemporary music that deals directly with advanced methods of improvisation. In 1989, he moved to Chicago from Boston, and has worked continuously from the early 1990's onward, both as a performer and organizer in North America and Europe, recording in a large array of contexts, with many internationally renowned musicians (such as Fred Anderson, Ab Baars, Peter Brötzmann, Tim Daisy, Hamid Drake, Terrie Ex, Mats Gustafsson, Devin Hoff, Christof Kurzmann, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Paul Lytton, Andy Moor, Joe Morris, and Nate Wooley). His current activity includes work with Made To Break, The Resonance Ensemble, Side A, Lean Left, Fire Room, the DKV Trio, and duos with Paal Nilssen-Love and Tim Daisy; in addition, he is the music director of the experimental Pop band, The Margots. More than half of each year is spent touring in Europe, North America, and Japan, and his concerts and numerous recordings have been critically acclaimed both at home and abroad. In addition to the tenor sax, he also plays the bass and Bb clarinet, and baritone saxophone. In 1999 he was awarded the MacArthur prize for music."

"Marino Pliakas (born November 1, 1964 in Trogen, Appenzell Outer Rhodes) is a Greek-Swiss musician (guitar, electric bass) and lecturer at the Zurich University of

From 1984 to 1988 Pliakas studied classical guitar at the Zurich Conservatory (Instrumental Teaching Diploma) and History, Musicology and Russian Studies at the Universities of Zurich and St. Petersburg. In 1995 he founded with Dominik Blum and Lucas Niggli, the still existing " Hammond -Avantcore trio" Steamboat Switzerland. He also plays in the trio Full Blast with Peter Brötzmann and Michael Wertmüller. He was also active in the improvisation quartet Die Firma and with Stephan Wittwer (in duo and trio with Michael Wertmüller).

He has also appeared with Caspar Brötzmann, John Cale, Nels Cline, Holger Czukay, Jacques Demierre, Robert Dick, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Steve Noble, Norbert Möslang, Jim O'Rourke, Ken Vandermark, Trevor Watts and Kenny Wollesen. He has performed in many European countries, Egypt, South Africa, Mozambique, Israel, China, Japan, North America and Brazil. From 1998 to 2003 he was President of the Zurich section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, In 2019 he plays with Dominik Blum and Lucas Niggli in the trio Steamboat Switzerland."

Michael Wertmuller: "Born in 1966 in Thun (Switzerland), the composer and drummer completed his studies at the Swiss Jazz School, at the Bern University of the Arts and at the Sweelinck-Konservatorium Amsterdam. From 1995 to 1999 he was a student of Dieter Schnebel at the Berlin University of the Arts. Wertmüller was a member of the Berner Sinfonieorchester as well as a guest at the Concertgebouw Orkest Amsterdam. He played in addition to his solo concerts with various chamber music ensembles and was involved in numerous radio recordings and world premieres.

His works will be performed at the Donaueschinger Musiktage, MaerzMusik Berlin, the Lucerne Festival, musica viva München, the Ultraschall Festival of the Akademie der Künste Berlin, the Biennale Tel Aviv, the JazzFest Berlin, Wien Modern, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival or the London Jazz Festival listed. Wertmüller composed for Christoph Schlingensief as well as the Cologne Theater, the Schauspiel Stuttgart and the Schauspielhaus Zürich. The opera "Anschlag" (Libretto Lukas Bärfuss) premiered in 2013 at the Lucerne Festival, the opera "Do not cry, sing" (Libretto Dea Loher) 2015 at the Hamburg State Opera. The comic opera "Valentin" with director Herbert Fritsch was premiered at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus Hamburg in 2017.

For the past 25 years, he has toured hundreds of concerts with the band Alboth, the trio Full Blast (together with Peter Brötzmann and Marino Pliakas) and various other combinations around the world for tours and festivals. He combines collaboration in various contexts with authors such as Dea Loher, Peter Weber, Monika Rinck, Michael Lentz, Reinhard Jirgl, Lukas Bärfuss or Wolfgang Hilbig.

Since 2005 he has been a visiting lecturer at the Humboldt University in Berlin, the Academy of Arts and at the University of the Arts, Berlin."