"Josh Modney is a violinist devoted to creative musicmaking. A "new-music luminary", "superb violinist" (The New York Times) and "multitasking virtuoso" (The New Yorker) hailed for "brash, energetic performances" (The New York Times), Josh has performed at festivals and concert series across four continents and presented hundreds of premieres.

Josh is violinist and Executive Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble, a unique collection of composers, improvisers, and interpreters committed to making adventurous music, and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), "America's foremost new-music group" (Alex Ross). Josh performed internationally with the Mivos Quartet for 8 years, a vital new-music string quartet that he co-founded in 2008.

Josh has collaborated closely on new work with composers including Kate Soper, Alex Mincek, Eric Wubbels, Andrew Greenwald and Rick Burkhardt, and worked with major figures including Kaija Saariaho, Mathias Spahlinger, Helmut Lachenmann, George Lewis, Christian Wolff, and Peter Ablinger.

As an improviser, Josh has performed with artists including Sam Pluta, Nate Wooley and Patrick Higgins (ZS), among others, and recently recorded "Engage", his debut album of original music for solo violin. Josh has a passion for large-scale performance projects, and has presented evening-length chamber works including Mathias Spahlinger's "extension", for violin and piano (with Wet Ink's Eric Wubbels) and Wolfgang Rihm's "Musik für Drei Streicher" (with ICE), as well as adventurous interpretations of J.S. Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin informed by his work with Just Intonation.

Josh has recorded for Carrier Records, Deutsche Grammophon, Sound American Publications, hat[now]ART, Nonesuch, Ex Cathedra, and Tzadik Records. He holds degrees from the Manhattan School of Music (M.M. in contemporary performance) and Ithaca College."

"Pala Garcia is a critically acclaimed violinist whose artistic practice explores the variable nature of interpretation, embodied knowledge, and memory. Praised for her "immaculate, lustrous tone" (The Strad), Garcia brings a unique violinistic sensibility to her creative projects, ensemble work, and contemporary music practice. Garcia was recently named a 2024 National Arts Club Fellow, and was also featured as a leading innovative artist in the Washington Post's "23 for '23: Performers and Composers to Watch."

Garcia is a member, co-founder, and co-director of Longleash, a "fearlessly accomplished" trio (Arts Desk UK) internationally recognized for their artistic excellence, new music advocacy, and "tight, lucid interpretations" (Tempo) of complex and compelling contemporary chamber works. Their artistic imprint can be defined through a love for sonic beauty and a spirit of experimentation, combined with a finely calibrated ensemble performance practice rooted in traditional chamber music values. Their unique creative projects range from recording and performance projects, multimedia creative collaborations, and commissioning endeavors that expand the keyboard trio's instrumentarium. The group's achievements in new music have been recognized by granting institutions including Villa Albertine, Chamber Music America, New Music USA, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, the Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Music Academy of the West, the Koussevitzky Foundation of the Library of Congress, and others. Trio performance highlights include featured appearances at the Noguchi Museum, Kennedy Center, TIME:SPANS Festival, the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC), Princeton University, National Sawdust, the Ecstatic Music Festival, Kaufman Center, and the Americas Society. Their recordings, which have been recognized on "best-of" year-end lists by The New Yorker, Bandcamp, and I Care If You Listen, can be heard on New Focus Recordings, New Amsterdam Recordings, Innova, and archived broadcasts on WQXR, Classical WUOL, WSMR, and other outlets. The trio has commissioned, funded and premiered dozens of new chamber works, and directs The Loretto Project, an annual creative residency that gathers an international cohort of artists in central Kentucky every summer.

A debut solo album featuring the music of Peter Kramer will forthcoming this season on New Focus Recordings, with support from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.

Garcia has enjoyed playing as a regular guest with many celebrated and world-class ensembles, including the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, and A Far Cry chamber orchestra. Garcia was an academy fellow with the renowned Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra during the artistic directorship of Mariss Jansons, and performed regularly with this orchestra and its self-conducted chamber orchestra on multiple seasons of subscription concerts and international tours.

As a dedicated and expert educator, as well as longtime proponent of socially responsive artistry, Garcia maintains these vital components of her artistic practice through her work on faculty at The Juilliard School's Preparatory Division (Music Advancement Program) and as a teaching artist with Carnegie Hall's social impact programs. Garcia has served on the violin and chamber music faculty of Hunter College, and was a Senior Teaching Fellow at The Graduate Center, CUNY, where she was also the recipient of the Provost's Fellowship and studied with Mark Steinberg. She is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where she received undergraduate and graduate degrees with the guidance of her primary teachers, Naoko Tanaka and Joel Smirnoff. Garcia is grateful to her earlier teachers, the late Dame Camilla Wicks and the late Elise Christianson, for guiding the beginning of her path in music."

"Kyle Armbrust started playing the viola at age three. Since giving his New York solo debut with Kurt Masur and the Juilliard Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, he has created a multi-dimensional career performing and recording a wide range of music. The New York Times has described him as "assured, brilliant, and stylish..." and the New York Post called him "musically mature, technically sound..."

As soloist, Kyle has performed with The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Lake George Chamber Orchestra, Maple City Chamber Orchestra, and Woodstock Festival Orchestra.

An active proponent of contemporary music, Kyle has worked with Elliot Carter, Mario Davidovsky, Osvaldo Golijov, Steve Reich, Charles Wuorinen, and others. He first performed with the International Contemporary Ensemble in 2011 as part of the Tully SCOPE Festival, then again in Chicago at the Museum of Contemporary Art, and he participated in the Carlos Iturralde ICElab in February 2012. Kyle also performs with Argento Ensemble and the Orchestra of the League of Composers. In addition to his other activities, Kyle is currently the assistant principal viola of the New Jersey Symphony, principal viola of the Westchester Philharmonic, and a founding member of the Knights Chamber Orchestra. He is a substitute member of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and Philadelphia Orchestra.

Kyle's dedication to chamber music has led to festival appearances at Aix en Provence, Caramoor, Charlottesville, La Jolla Summerfest, Marlboro, Monadnock, Moritzburg, Ravinia, Schleswig Holstein, Stillwater, and Verbier. He has performed at Bargemusic, the Gardner Museum, Freer Gallery, New York Yacht Club, Neue Gallerie, and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. Kyle has also worked with Herbie Hancock, Lauryn Hill, Mya, Sufjan Stevens, Sting, and made an appearance on the show "30 Rock."

Kyle received his BM, MM, and Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School where he studied with Heidi Castleman, Misha Amory, and Michael Tree. He has recorded for Ancalagon, Cedille, Interscope, Naxos, Ondine, and Sony. Kyle plays a Carlo Antonio Testore viola made in Milan in 1752 and plugs in with a DPA 4099V."

"A "long-admired figure on the New York scene" (New Yorker), cellist Michael Nicolas enjoys a diverse career as chamber musician, soloist, recording artist, and improvisor. His eclectic tastes and adventurous spirit have led him to forge a musical path of uncommon breadth, where his activities range from performing the masterpieces of the past in the world's most prestigious concert halls, to free improvisation in downtown New York experimental venues, to working with contemporary composers of all styles, pushing the boundaries of musical expression and meaning.

The ensembles Michael plays in illustrate his commitment to diversity. He is the cellist of the intrepid and genre-defying string quartet Brooklyn Rider, which has drawn praise from classical, world music, and rock critics alike. As a member of the acclaimed International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), he has worked with countless composers from around the world, premiering and recording dozens of new works. Another group, Third Sound, which Michael helped found, made its debut with an historic residency at the 2015 Havana Contemporary Music Festival, in Cuba.

As a soloist, Michael performs recitals and concertos across the globe. His album Transitions, available on the Sono Luminus label, was named Q2 Music Album of the Week at WQXR upon release, and it has since garnered critical acclaim across North America. His chamber music playing can also be found on the Naxos, Tzadik, and Universal Korea labels.

Of mixed French-Canadian and Taiwanese heritage, Michael was born in Canada, and currently resides in New York City. He is a graduate of the Juilliard School."

"Sylvie Courvoisier is a pianist, composer and improviser. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Courvoisier moved to New York in 1998 and has lived in Brooklyn since that time.

Courvoisier has led several groups over the years and has recorded over 25 records as a leader or co-leader for different labels, notably ECM , Tzadik and Intakt Records and 30 cds as a sideperson. She has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Yusef Lateef, Ikue Mori, Tony Oxley, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Joëlle Léandre, Herb Robertson, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Lotte Anker, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Tomazs Stanko among others. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. Since 1996, she has been touring widely with her own groups and as a side person in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe.

Currently, Courvoisier is the leader of her TRIO with Kenny Wollesen and Drew Gress. She performs regularly Solo and since 1997, in Duo with violinist Mark Feldman. She co-leads the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet with Scott Colley and Billy Mintz. Since 2000, she has been a member of Mephista, an improvising collective trio with Ikue Mori and Susie Ibarra. She is currently playing and touring in different projects of John Zorn including Cobra and Masada Marathon. She is also playing in Erik Friedlander's Trio, Herb Robertson's Quintet and Nate Wooley's Quartet. Since 2010, she has been working as a pianist and composer for flamenco dancer Israel Galvan's project "la Curva" with more than 150 performances around the world.

Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes créateurs; Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Création; Switzerland's 2010 Grand Prix de la Fondation Vaudoise de la Culture; 2013's NYFA (NewYork Foundation For the Art) Music/Sound Fellowship."

"Miles Okazaki is an American musician based in New York City. He is known for his technical command of the guitar, his rhythmic approach to improvisation and composition, and his work in contemporary music theory. Okazaki grew up in Port Townsend, Washington, a small town near the Olympic Mountains in the Pacific Northwest. He got his first classical guitar at age 6, and began playing regular gigs on electric guitar by age 14, after studying for several years at the Centrum Jazz Workshop. He received many awards as a guitarist throughout his early years, and eventually placed 2nd in the Thelonious Monk International Guitar Competition.

Okazaki moved to New York City in 1997 to pursue a career in music and begin writing his own material. His teacher on guitar at this time was Rodney Jones, who recommended him for his first gig, with Stanley Turrentine. Okazaki spent four years on the road with vocalist Jane Monheit, while also writing and rehearsing the music for his first album, Mirror, which was released independently. The album received a "Critics Pick" in the New York Times, calling it "a work of sustained collectivity as well as deep intricacy." He expanded to a septet for his second album, Generations, described by pianist Vijay Iyer "the sonic equivalent of Escher or Borges, but with real emotional heft,". His third album, Figurations, was recorded live with a quartet, and was selected as one of the New York Times top ten albums of 2012, described by Ben Ratliff as "slowly evolving puzzles of brilliant jazz logic." In January of 2016 Okazaki recorded a new album, Trickster, that will be released later this year. Okazaki wrote, produced, and illustrated these albums.

As a sideman, Okazaki works in many areas, ranging from Standard repertoire to experimental music. Recently he has been seen most frequently as the guitarist for Steve Coleman and Five Elements. In the last few years, he has worked with a wide variety of artists including Kenny Barron, Jonathan Finlayson, Amir El Saffar, Adam Rudolph, Dan Weiss, Linda Oh, Darcy James Argue, Jane Monheit, Vijay Iyer, Francois Moutin, Doug Hammond, Carl Allen, Ohad Talmor, Mary Halvorson, John Zorn, Jen Shyu, Mark Giuliana, Patrick Cornelius, Rajna Swaminatham, Matt Mitchell, Craig Taborn, Tony Moreno, Ben Wendel, Donny McCaslin, and many others.

Okazaki currently teaches guitar at the University of Michigan. His first book, Fundamentals of Guitar, was released in 2015. He has also taught at the Banff Institute, The New School, Queens College, The Juilliard School, Amsterdam Conservatory, and many other institutions. Outside of guitar, his past teachers include Anthony Davis (composition), Ganesh Kumar (Carnatic percussion), and Kendall Briggs (counterpoint). His awards and grants include Chamber Music America's "New Works" (2007), Chamber Music America's "French-American Jazz Exchange" (2009), the Jazz Gallery and Jerome Foundations Residency Commission (2010), the American Music Center's Composer Assistance Program (2011), the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation's US Artists International grant (2012), the Rockefeller Brother's Fund Artist Residency (2012), and the Jazz Gallery Mentorship program (2015). He holds degrees from Harvard University, Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School, and lives in Brooklyn, NY."

"John Hollenbeck is a composer of music uncategorizable beyond the fact of being always identifiably his. A conceptualist able to translate the traditions of jazz and new music into a fresh, eclectic, forward-looking language of his own invention, intellectually rewarding yet ever accessibly vibrant. A drummer and percussionist possessed of a playful versatility and a virtuosic wit. Most of all, a musical thinker - whether putting pen to paper or conjuring spontaneous sound - allergic to repetition, forever seeking to surprise himself and his audiences. [...]

Hollenbeck received degrees in percussion and jazz composition from the Eastman School of Music before moving to New York City in the early 1990s. He was profoundly shaped by the mentorship of two hugely influential artists: trombonist/arranger/composer Bob Brookmeyer and composer/choreographer Meredith Monk. His relationship with Brookmeyer reached back to the age of 14, when he attended the SUNY Binghamton Summer Jazz Workshop, and continued at Eastman, through NEA-funded composition study, and finally on the bandstand with Brookmeyer's New Art Orchestra and in the studio with Brookmeyer and trumpet great Kenny Wheeler. For Monk, Hollenbeck composed and performed the percussion scores for five of her works: "Magic Frequencies," "Mercy," "The Impermanence Project," "Songs of Ascension" and "On Behalf of Nature."

Hollenbeck's awards and honors include four Grammy nominations; the 2012 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, the 2010 ASCAP Jazz Vanguard Award and a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship; winning the Jazz Composers Alliance Composition Contest in 1995 and 2002; Meet the Composer's Grants in 1995 and 2001; and a Rising Star Arranger win in the 2012 and 2013 DownBeat Critics' Polls as well as in 2011 for the JHLE as Rising Star Big Band. John was a professor of Jazz Drums and Improvisation at the Jazz Institute Berlin from 2005-2016 and in 2015 joined the faculty of McGill University's Schulich School of Music."

"Akrtureye, an electronic music alias that is a frequency, filament, and flicker between dimensions. Born in the hum stuttering its way into rhythm, with a musical aim to be a vessel for the different, the splintered, and the beautifully irregular. The aim is creation.

My instruments are relics and rituals: spinning turntables, analog machines with memories etched in static, percussion gathered from far corners, Indian bells, metals that sing when struck, and sabar echoing ancestral syllables.

Each sound is a fragment of some deeper architecture, a structure of curiosity, chaos, and connection. Hearing the world sideways, chasing that strange signal just beyond hearing."

"Eli Greenhoe is a composer, songwriter, producer, and guitarist from Brooklyn, New York. His concert works have been commissioned and performed by such artists and ensembles as Contemporaneous, loadbang, Bergamot Quartet, Aki Takahashi, S.E.M. Ensemble, and George Manahan, among others. His music has been programmed at the Bang on a Can, Chatter, Yellow Barn, Ostrava Days (CZ), and Tokyo to New York (JP) festivals. In 2018 he was awarded a Charles Ives Scholarship from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2021 he was selected as a finalist in the Beth Morrison Projects "Next Generation" program. He has received additional recognition from ASCAP, American Composers Orchestra's EARSHOT, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Yale School of Music.

As a songwriter, Greenhoe has led bands in New York City and elsewhere nearly his entire life. Currently he records music and performs as half of Airborne Charlie, a project he co-leads alongside composer/multi-instrumentalist Hans Bilger. The duo released their debut album in 2020, and in 2023 founded Miniwagon, a music and media production company.

In recent years, Greenhoe has been engaged as a performer in a multitude of musical spaces. He plays regularly in the improvising sextet Locomotive, co-led by Adam O'Farrill and David Leon, and alongside violinist/composer Ledah Finck in the avant-folk duo Freddy and Sally. Other notable recent engagements as a guitarist include performances with Contemporaneous, the Yale Philharmonia, and the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. As a conductor, he recently premiered Adam O'Farrill's For These Streets, an evening-length work for improvising ensemble, at the Jazz Gallery in New York.

Greenhoe is also active in interdisciplinary collaboration: his film and commercial music has been featured in Vogue Magazine online and as an official selection of the 2020 Maryland Film Festival (with filmmaker Max Bowens).

[...]

Eli is currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts Degree at the Yale School of Music, where he has studied primarily with Martin Bresnick, David Lang, and Aaron Jay Kernis."