"Guitarist Marc Ducret was born in Paris in 1957. A self-taught musician, he began working in various groups (dance and folk included), and in the studio, before reaching the age of 20. In 1986, he became a member of the first French National Jazz Orchestra. Also in the late '80s, Ducret led his own trio and toured Europe, Africa, and Asia. In 1991, he began working with Tim Berne and went on to play with Berne in Caos Totale, Bloodcount, and Big Satan. Ducret has several solo recordings to his credit, released on Berne's Screwgun label and the Winter & Winter label. In the late '90s, Ducret formed a tentet, Seven Songs, to explore music of the '60s."-Joslyn Layne

"French soprano Léa Trommenschlager studied at the Strasbourg Conservatory at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin.

In 2011, she was chosen as an HSBC laureate of the Académie du Festival d'Aix-en-Provence. The same year she premiered Lavender's contemporary opera Of Terror of Men with The Balcony. Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos at Theater of the Athenee and Fiordiligiin Così fan tutte with Deutsche Oper Berlin. In 2014 she premiered Doppelganger in Stuttgart, Strasbourg and Moscow and performed Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. She was invited to perform in the UK at the Aldeburgh Music Festival and at the Samuel Beckett Happy Days Festival with pianist Julius Drake.In 2015 Léa released her first recording - Schumann's Myrthen cycle - on the label B Records. After firsting Lavandier's opera The first murder at Lille Opera House in 2016, Léa went on to perform Rihm's Jakob Lenz in Salzburg, Marc Ducret's new production of Lady Macbeth and Lully's Phaëton in Perm opera House (Russia) and at the Opera of Versailles."

"Born in São Paulo, Rodrigo Ferreira lives in Paris, where he works with Christiane Patard, having obtained his prize in 2007 at the Training Center for Young Singers created by Laurence Equilbey (CRR of Paris). He has performed under conductors such as René Jacobs, Gustav Leonhardt, Kazuchi Ono, and George-Elie Octors; collaborates regularly with Ensembles Sagittarius (director Michel Laplénie), Musicatreize (Roland Hayrabedian), Le Balcon (Maxime Pascal), the Theater-Dance company The Decomposed Theater (Éric Durand) and in 2010 founded the ensemble Actus Tragicus. [...]"

"Sylvain Bardiau is a French trumpet and flugelhorn player, known for the groups Cartel Carnage, Journal Intime, Les Dentelles À Mamie, Orchestre National De Jazz, Ping Machine, Wildmimi."

"Catherine Delaunay (born 31 October 1969) is a French jazz clarinet player and composer, best known as a leader of Y'en a qui manquent pas d'air. She is also a member of the French Laurent Dehors's big band "Tous Dehors".

"Catherine grew up in Brittany, France. She started studying the clarinet at the age of six in a local music school. At that time, she also studied the piano and percussions. Later on, she studied the piano (1978�1985) and drums (1991 and 1994). She studied music at the Conservatoire National de R�gion de Rennes and Conservatoire National Sup�rieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon and passed the (Jacques Di Donato's class, 1993), le (Jacques Aboulker's class, 1993), le Certificat d'Etudes Compl�mentaires Sp�cialis�es "Atelier instrumental du XX�me si�cle", (1993, Gilbert Amy, et le Certificat d'Etudes Compl�mentaires Sp�cialis�es de clarinet ancienne et chalumeau (Jean-Claude Veilhan, 1995).

From 1989 to 1995, she studied at the Conservatoire National Sup�rieur de Musique de Lyon (CNSMD). She studied the clarinet with Jacques Di Donato (she passed the Dipl�me National d'Etudes Sup�rieures Musicales of clarinet in 1993), Chamber Music with Jacques Aboulker (she passed the Certificat d'Etudes Sp�cialis�es of chamber music in 1993), Contemporary music (she passed the Certificat d'Etudes Compl�mentaires Sp�cialis�es "Atelier instrumental du XX�me si�cle" in 1993), Composition, Musical Analysis and Harmony with Lo�c Malli�, and 5 keys clarinet and chalumeau with Jean-Claude Veilhan (she passed the Certificat d'Etudes Compl�mentaires Sp�cialis�es de clarinet ancienne et chalumeau in 1995). From 1991 to 1994, she also studied drums with Jean-Louis Mechali.

While studying � the CNSMD, she already plays with Marc Perrone, Laurent Dehors � , Alain Blesing.

Catherine Delaunay leads and composes music for several bands. Just recently, she set to music poems by Malcolm Lowry for her new projects Sois patient car le loup, for which she also plays the clarinet and the diatonic accordion, John Greaves sings and plays the ukulele, Isabelle Olivier plays the harp, Thierry Lhiver plays the trombone, and Guillaume S�guron plays the double bass). Since 2000, Catherine Delaunay has been leading and composing music for the French fanfare "Y'en a qui manquent pas d'air", in which she plays with Lionel Martin saxophones, Daniel Casimir trombone, Didier Havet sousaphone, et Tatiana Lejude drums.

Catherine Delaunay is also part of many other projects. She plays in duet with the saxophonist Pascal Van den Heuvel (saxophone), in duet with Tatiana Lejude (drums), et with the trio "Trio Plumes" with Edouard Ferlet et Beno�t Dunoyer de Segonzac. She also plays very regularly with Olivier Thomas (Tomassenko, with Olivier Thomas singing, Laurent Rousseau on guitar, Michel Massot on tuba and trombone, Etienne Plumer on drums), R�gis Huby, and Laurent Dehors.

Catherine Delaunay also plays with dancers (Cie Clara Cornil � , Cie Thierry Thie� Niang), actors (Cie Tomassenko � � , Cie L'oeil du Tigre, "Les Valises", mise en sc�ne H�l�ne Arnaud, "Le Gris", mise en sc�ne Pietro Pizzuti).

With Pierre Badaroux on the double bass, Catherine Delaunay also sets to music silent films like Les Aventures du prince Ahmed, of Lotte Reiniger, L'Homme � la cam�ra, of Dziga Vertov, La Fi�vre des �checs, of Vsevolod Pudovkin

Catherine Delaunay played with Daniel Goyone, Claude Tchamitchian, Serge Lazarevitch, Lucia Reccio, Denis Chancerel, Philippe Botta, Archimusic, Dave Burrell, Takayuki Kato, Nobuyoshi Ino, Yuri Kusetsov, Vladimir Volkoff, Bruno Tocanne..."

"Violinist, composer, improviser and producer, Régis Huby does not definitively like the generic subdivisions. His numerous collaborations are the fruit of meetings between the most diverse styles, the classical author in the post-rock by way of traditional hymns. The experiment is its watchword in its collection of a "new" music."

"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."

"[...] Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland - a lesser-known but no less significant jazz metropolis which was, for a time, home to expatriate Americans Sidney Bechet and Kenny Clarke, as well as Swiss jazz trombonist Raymond Droz - Blaser has also spent considerable time living in New York City and currently resides in Berlin; truly an international musician, then, in clear defiance of boundaries cultural, musical and stylistic. Beginning trombone lessons at the age of 9, he "couldn't go past third position and had to have a trolley to carry trombone because it was too heavy," says Blaser. Still, with plenty of music in the Blaser household, where he was the middle of three children - ranging from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz - Blaser progressed quickly, entering the local conservatory at 14 and graduating seven years later in 2002 after receiving a number of awards in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Continuing private studies, Blaser began a number of significant associations, including the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, leading to a Fulbright scholarship which enabled him to study in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, going on to win the J.J. Johnson Prize, as well as both the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player awards at the 2006 Fribourg Jazz Festival.

All of these diverse accomplishments have ultimately - and inevitably - led to Blaser finding a personal nexus where disparate elements like Indian Tihi and Wagnerian opera meet. Blaser's impressive improvisational élan is predicated on instrumental mastery that is nothing more than the means to very musical ends. Together with his equally unfettered quartet, Blaser continues to expand the purview of jazz, redefining it in the new millennium as it enters its second century of existence.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with pianist Malcolm Braff; touring in 2012 as a member of François Houle's recent 5+1 group, and heard on the French Canadian clarinetist's Genera (Songlines, 2012); and recording/performing with Berlin-based Canadian saxophonist Peter van Huffel's HuffLiGNoN group with singer Sophie Tassignon. Blaser has also shared the stage with artists including trombonist David Taylor, bassist Michael Blake, drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Hal Galper. It's no surprise that Rene Laanen of USA Trombone Online has called Blaser" one of today´s finest trombonists."

2013 will see Blaser touring with two new trios: one that, in addition to Marc Ducret, will also feature Danish drummer Peter Bruun; and another featuring French pianist Benoit Delbecq and American drummer Gerry Hemingway. Equally important, Blaser will also reunite his Consort in Motion (Kind of Blue, 2011) Quartet with pianist Russ Lossing, Belgian reed player Joachim Badenhorst, bassist Drew Gress and Hemingway, who replaces the sadly deceased Paul Motian. That record - Blaser's first and only to include a pianist, marrying the seemingly disparate elements of Renaissance and Baroque period composition with more open-ended jazz improvisation - was praised by All About Jazz's Troy Collins as " Fearlessly modern, yet respectfully regal." Collins continues, asserting that "Blaser's adventurous arrangements and reinterpretations offer the best of both worlds, enriching the raw impetuousness of avant-garde jazz with the proven sophistication of ageless classical forms. Consort in Motion is a high-water mark in the enduring lineage of the Third Stream, and all the more inspiring for the focus of its vision."

Meanwhile, with the release of As the Sea - like Boundless, a live recording but one culled from a single performance - Blaser reaps the rewards of greater trust and personal camaraderie built with Ducret, Oester and Cleaver through additional touring, following the release of their debut recording. "The music is quite different from the first record," says Blaser, "because things are more written. It's a little more complex rhythmically, too. But it's crazy, because I can play anything - a single note, even - and everybody will move with me. It's pretty intense."

Between recording and touring with his own groups and collaborating in other leaders' ensembles, Blaser's career continues an upward trajectory that seems to have no end in sight. "The world of music fascinates me to no end, and I´m determined to take one journey after another with my instrument and work," says Blaser. "It´s all about discovery and communicating new ideas. Believe me, I´m proof that a shiny trombone can send a message right to your heart and change your life." "

"Joachim Florent was born in 1979 in Schaerbeek - Belgium. An artist with multiple interests, Joachim studied at the ENM of Villeurbanne alongside scientific studies, then at the CNSM in Paris in the jazz department.

A singular musician, he is the bassist of the Jean Louis trio with Aymeric Avice and Francesco Pastacaldi. He also plays with Imperial Quartet and the Imperial Company. Together with Benjamin Flament, he founded MetaL-O-PHoNe and Radiation10, the driving elements of the coax collective. His taste for adventure and renewal led him to collaborate with Finnish musicians such as Aki Rissanen, mandingues in the imperial pulsar or the contemporary music of the bela quartet. Recently installed in Nantes, Joachim works there alongside the singer Maud Trutet.

In 2007, he won the 1st prize for the defense contest, and also the first 2 group prizes (Radiation10 and Jean Louis). Whether playing acoustically or transcending the bass with amplification, he is regularly invited to perform solo (Paris Bass 2008, Le Mans Europa Jazz 2012) and participates with the garden trio in the music of the last Coline Serreau's film - local solutions for a global mess."

"Sylvain Darrifourcq was born in 1979 in Orthez (France), he makes his apprenticeship as a classical percussionist. At 15 years Old, he drives himself definitively towards drums and play in his first rock group. He discovers lately jazz music and his meeting with Daniel Humair leads him definitively to a professional pathway.

Following up, he settles down in Toulouse and got into the CNR (academy of music) where he obtains his award. In 2003, he establishes his own group : L' Egotiste Sorel with which he makes his first record " life of Henry Brulard " (Aljama records) in tribute to the masterpiece life of Stendhal.

2004, will be a distinguished mark of the beginning Emile's Parisien Quartet. The group gives rise to a unique sound universe rewarded by the 2009 jazz victories.

Enthusiastic by the temporality questions, space and music breaks, nowadays, he composes today for these trios : IN BED WITH and IN LOVE WITH , he investigates both ambitious projects MILESDAVISQUINTET! and TENDIMITE (duo for percussion and prepared double bass), works beside new generations composers with which he creates musical plays (Le PANTIN, DANS L'ENTRE from Guillaume Hermen...).

2014, time for the DA-Festival creation, event co-managed with the double bassist and Elise Dabrowski singer. Creative music festival supported by Axel Cassel sculptor. This event has the aim to promote multiplicity forms, improvising as well as writing.

His precise, quick and creative drums game, leads him into all music experiments, to be expected also as a wanted sideman. Settle down in Paris since 2008, he has also the opportunity to express his wide range of music together with l'Orchestre Philharmoniques de Radio France and Pierre-André Valade, Joëlle Léandre, Tony Malaby, Michel Portal, Louis Sclavis, Marc Ducret, Andrea Parkins, Akosh S., Benoit Delbecq, Andy Emler, Kit Downes, les portugese and italian collective Porta-Jazz et Jazz-Engine..."