"Born in Los Angeles in 1956, Björkenheim has spent much of his life shuttling between New York and Helsinki, developing a bold approach to playing electric guitar and composing for big bands, symphony orchestras, films, modern dance companies and his own groups.

Having served an apprenticeship with Edward Vesala for several years, three recordings for ECM brought Björkenheim to the attention of the international community, leading to encounters with musicians such as Bill Laswell, Anthony Braxton, Reggie Workman, Henry Kaiser, and Elliot Sharp.

Björkenheim has been a soloist with the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra, the Avanti Chamber Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra, the UMO big band and the Tampere philharmonic, and has composed for them all.

Today Björkenheim's main performing energies are brought into focus through his quartet Ecstasy, Triad, Blixt with Bill Laswell and Morgan Ågren, Scorch quartet, and solo guitar.

Björkenheim has been awarded the Georgie Prize for best jazz musician of the year, the Young Finland Award, the Emma prize for best jazz recording of the year, and been nominated three times for the Nordic Music Award."

"Silvia Bolognesi is a double bass player, composer and arranger.

Graduated in double bass at the R.Franci Institute of Siena with Maestro Andrea Granai, perfecting with Maestro Alberto Bocini.She approached jazz studying at the Siena Jazz Accademy with Paolino dalla Porta, Furio di Castri and Ferruccio Spinetti.

The most significant encounters in his musical training are those with William Parker, Muhal Richard Abrams, Lawrence "Butch" Morris, Roscoe Mitchell and Antony Braxton.

Winner of the "Top Jazz 2010", by "Musica Jazz" as best new talent and in the same year winner of the "In Sound" trophy for double bass category.

She leads several bands: Open Combo, Almond Tree, Xilo Ensemble, Ju-Ju Sounds, Fonterossa Open Orchestra, Young Shouts, Sly Family...

Since 2009 she is part of the international string trio Hear In Now with Tomeka Reid on cello and Mazz Swift on violin and vocals; with this trio they completed Roscoe Mitchell's sextet in his Homage to John Coltrane in 2017.She's part of the "Art Ensemble of Chicago 50th Anniversary" special project.

In 2010 she founded her own label "Fonterossa Records".

She teaches double bass and combo class at the Siena Jazz Academy and at "Associazione Mosaico" in Colle Val d'Elsa (Siena).

Since 2016 she is part of the "European exchange-Erasmus +" program for the Conservatory of Maastricht (Holland), Tbilisi (Georgia), Riga (Latvia), Birmingham (UK). She runs workshops on Improvisation and "Conduction" since 2008."

"Tiziano Tononi (born November 18, 1956, Milan) is an Italian percussionist and composer.

Tononi taught himself to play drums in a pop/rock idiom as a youth, then turned to playing jazz and classical percussion in his late teens, studying with Andrew Cyrille and Bob Moses. Playing locally in Milan in the early 1980s, he joined the Democratic Orchestra Milano and co-founded the Nexus ensemble with Daniele Cavallanti, as well as the group Moon on the Water toward the middle of the decade. Through the 1980s he played in a variety of idioms with musicians such as Pierre Favre, Tiziana Ghiglioni, Maggie Nicols, Barre Phillips, Dewey Redman, Giancarlo Schiaffini, and Gianluigi Trovesi.

In the 1990s Tononi played with the Jazz Chromatic Ensemble and the Italian Instabile Orchestra, as well as in a trio with Beppe Caruso. His Multiphonics Tuba Trio, with Renato Geremia and Michel Godard, was founded in 1997; he also did composition and arrangement work, including the soundtrack to Ketchup and tributes to Don Cherry and Roland Kirk."

Emanuele Parrini is an Italian violinist, known for the groups Cene Resnik Quartet, Daniele Cavallanti & The Brotherhood Creative Trance Music Ensemble, Dimitri Grechi Espinoza Artistic Alternative, Dinamitri Jazz Folklore, Enrico Fazio 7tet, Italian Instabile Orchestra, Nexus (46), One Lip 5, Tiziana Ghiglioni & The Tbone Band, Tiziano Tononi & The Ornettians, and Tiziano Tononi And Southbound.