"Benjamin Dwyer is a world renowned classical guitarist, composer, improviser, researcher and educator. While he excels in each of these specific disciplines, it is in the dynamic and interanimating combination of them that defines his philosophy as a musician. He is also deeply committed to cross-disciplinarity and brings his creative musical energies into innovative collaborations with dance, film, theatre and literature.

Dwyer is an elected member of Aosdána (the Irish Government-sponsored Affiliation of Creative Artists), an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, London (ARAM), and a recipient of the Villa-Lobos Centenary Medal (Brazilian Government). For twelve years he was Professor of Music at Middlesex University, London.

As a classical guitarist, Dwyer has performed with all the major Irish orchestras, and with the Neubrandenburg Philharmonic Orchestra (with whom he made his international concerto debut performing Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez), the Santos Symphony Orchestra, the VOX21 new-music ensemble, and the Callino and Vogler String Quartets. While his repertory includes all the major composers for his instrument, Dwyer has distinguished himself as a leading exponent of 20th- and 21st-century music with a particular emphasis on new Irish works.

Dwyer's compositions are performed worldwide by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists such as the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, the Goiánia Philharmonic Orchestra (Brazil), the Orchestra of Experimental Repertory (São Paulo), the Fidelio Trio, violist Garth Knox, bassist Barry Guy, violinist Maya Homburger, and guitarists Smaro Gregoriadou, Fabio Zanon, Xuefei Yang and Craig Ogden, among many others.

As an improviser, Dwyer has worked with leading exponents in the field including Peter Evans, Paul Lytton, Garth Knox, Agustí Fernandez and Charlotte Hug among others. For eleven years, he has been a member of Barry Guy's Blue Shroud Band: one of the world's leading free improvisation ensembles. Working with the Blue Shroud Band has had a deep impact on Dwyer's performance and compositional practices, resulting in works such as KnowingUnknowing for improvised music, film and dance; and what is the word-a setting of Beckett texts for small ensemble (Dwyer, Guy and Homburger) and narrator (Conor Lovett, Gare St Lazare Ireland).

Since publishing his first monograph on Irish composer John Buckley (2011), Dwyer has been strongly committed to research. His further four book publications, book chapter and numerous journal articles focus on a broad range of research areas including Irish Art Music from the 18th century to the present, Irish modernisms in music, the music of Benjamin Britten and György Ligeti, and the burgeoning arena of free improvised music.

On 20 CDs, Dwyer's composed music, classical guitar playing and improvisations have been featured on the Farpoint, Diatribe, Nottwo, Intakt, Aldilà and Divine Arts record labels."

"Rafal Mazur's involvement with music began in his youth with violoncello studies in Krakow. He switched to bass guitar in the late 1980's. Since 2000 he has played an acoustic bass guitar built to his own specifications by luthier Jerzy Wysocki. He has developed an advanced and individual approach to his instrument, and to improvisation in general, in which sonority, extended technique and gesture combine effortlessly in performance. He has taken an important role in Kraków to support young artists and improvised music. A founder of the ImproArt studio of improvisation, he has performed jazz and improvised music in clubs and festivals across Poland and Europe, and in China, South Korea and Israel. In recent years he has collaborated with Lisa Ullen, Frederic Blondy, Charlotta Hug, Raymond Strid, Keir Neuringer, Zsolt Sores and others. His current focus is the band "Ensemble 56" and "Mazur/Neuringer Duo". He is an organizer of the Laboratory of Intuition, a series of spontaneous art presentations in Kraków. Mazur's main field of interest and activity is collective and solo free/spontaneous improvisation. In his practice as an improvising musician and on his way to mastery/artistry he studys Chinese philosophy (Jagiellonian University). He regards Taoism as a strong base for the enrichment of the improviser's attitude, and to this end he practices the Taoist's martial art TaiJi Quan Chen. For Mazur, following the masters of Chinese philosophy and martial arts is crucial in the development of a state of mind prepared for the unexpected situations an improviser encounters in the act of collective free improvisation. During the Polish Sound Art in China tour in 2006, Mazur presented lectures in NiHiLo Gallery in Foshan and Zendai Art Museum in Shanghai, taking the opportunity to meet Chinese improvisers and discuss and compare his approaches to improvisation, Taoism and TaiJi. Mazur's most recent work is the first album of solo acoustic bass guitar free improvisation: 'Sonor Forms'. Released by independent label DTS Records in Krakow on its Transidiomatic series, the disc is the result of investigation into the practice of solo free improvisation."

"Ramon Lopez was born on August 6th 1961 in Alicante, Spain. Drummer, Percussionist and Composer. He began as a self-taught drummer in the mid-1970's. Witnessing a Max Roach solo concert in 1980 was a turning point that fundamentally changed his understanding of music. He was part of local groups until he decided to move to Paris in January 1985 and became increasingly involved in the experimental scene in France. At the same time, he developed an interest in Indian music, and took tabla lessons with Krishna Govinda K.C. He is currently a student of Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, while teaching Indian music himself with Patrick Moutal at the Paris Conservatory (1994-2001) His first recording as a leader, an album of solo drums, was released in 1997 on the British Leo label linked to free jazz music and improvisation. Besides Jazz and Indian music, he is attracted especially to flamenco music. He has worked with some of the great flamenco artists, among them Carmen Linares, Esperanza Fernández, Inés Bacán, Gerardo Núñez, Rafael de Utrera, Chano Domínguez, etc... His musical endeavours have always been challenging; his interpretation of songs from the Spanish civil war (2001) spring to mind, or his duos dedicated to Roland Kirk (2002). From 1997 to 2000 he was drummer in the renowned French Orchestre National de Jazz under Didier Levallet, who continues to expand the traditional vocabulary of the orchestra with new elements. Among many others, Lopez has worked at concerts and festivals and in the recording studio with the following musicians of the jazz avant-garde: Beñat Achiary, Rashied Ali, Majid Bekkas, Anthony Coleman, Andrew Cyrille, Sophia Domancich, Agustí Fernández, Glenn Ferris, Sonny Fortune, Barry Guy, Charles Gayle, Teppo Hauta-Aho, Howard Johnson, Hans Koch, Joachim Kuhn, Daunik Lazro, Jeanne Lee, Thierry Madiot, Roscoe Mitchell, Joe Morris, Ivo Perelman, Enrico Rava, Paul Rogers, Louis Sclavis, Alain Silva, Archie Shepp, John Surman, Claude Tchamitchian, Mal Waldron, Christine Wodrascka... Ramon Lopez is an un-typical percussionist. He is a musician who has mastered a number of different musical traditions. He loves to work with artists from other disciplines, with actors, choreographers or visual artists. He is currently one of the most respected European musicians in the area of contemporary jazz or improvised music. The French government named him "Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters" in 2008."-Jorge García, Institut Valencia de la Musica.