Flow by Alicia Castillo
i’ll wait until it’s quiet by Kyle Hutchins
T for 5 Players by Sergio Cote Barco
Gamma by Charles Nichols
Ghost Trance Music by Anthony Braxton
Murmurations by Tiffany M. Skidmore
Performances by
Tiffany DuMouchelle, soprano
Emilie Fortin, trumpet
Kyle Hutchins, saxophones/bass clarinet
Betsy Lantz, flutes
Charles Nichols, electronics
Tiffany M. Skidmore, mezzo-soprano
Walt Skidmore, tin whistle/percussion
Shannon Wettstein, piano
Kendra Wheeler, saxophones
Matik Matik
Cra. 11 #67-20, Chapinero, Bogotá, Colombia
June 17, 2025
8:00 pm
Shannon Wettstein
Pianist Shannon Wettstein invites audiences to hear connections between daring new music and historical masterworks. About why she makes music, “For me, it’s about taking risks—I love taking audiences along with me into unknown territory.”
With over 400 premieres, Shannon has performed at Lincoln Center, at Boston’s Gardner Museum, at the Ft. Worth Modern Art Museum, and Qualcomm’s headquarters in San Diego. Steve Smith of the New York Times wrote that her performance at The Stone was “full of subtleties no recording could catch...a reminder of why we attend concerts.”
Recent performances include Hong Kong’s City Hall, the Monteverde Institute of Costa Rica, and the Camerata of Cremona, Italy. Awards include those from the National Endowment for the Arts, American Composers Forum, and Chamber Music America.
Shannon’s teachers include Sequeira Costa at the University of Kansas, Stephen Drury at the New England Conservatory, and Aleck Karis at the University of California San Diego. Other significant teachers and coaches include Claude Frank and Ben Zander.
Shannon is an assistant professor of piano at Michigan State University and host of Dr. Avant-Garde, a podcast about moving the art of music forward in the 21st century.
Find information about Shannon’s recordings of works by Xenakis, Anthony Davis, Chopin, and others at www.shannonwettstein.com.
Kyle Hutchins
Kyle Hutchins is a visionary experimental performance artist, composer, improviser, and educator, forging new sonic frontiers with his saxophone, voice, cutting-edge technology, and an arsenal of unconventional instruments. Hailed as “epic” (Jazz Times) and “gripping” (Star Tribune), Kyle’s music has been showcased at prestigious venues like Carnegie Hall and The Walker Art Center, and featured at festivals across five continents, including the World Saxophone Congress, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, and the International Computer Music Conference. His artistry has earned him accolades from DOWNBEAT, New Music USA, The American Prize, and American Protégé, as well as recognition in The Roanoker Magazine’s “40 under 40” for 2024.
A leading figure in experimental performance and electroacoustic new music, Kyle has premiered over 350 new works and appears on more than thirty albums as both a leader and sideman. He regularly performs with 113 Composers Collective, Fonema Consort, and Strains Ensemble, and has worked with prominent composers and performers including Pauline Oliveros, George Lewis, Chaya Czernowin, Douglas Ewart, and Claire Chase. Kyle has also developed long-standing collaborations with many contemporary artists such as Ted Moore, Tiffany M. Skidmore, Joey Crane, Emily Lau, Elizabeth A. Baker, Charles Nichols, Eric Lyon, and many more wonderful artists and dear friends.
“Part of electroacoustic improv’s well-hewn dynasty” (Downtown Music Gallery), Kyle is an eminent improviser whose playing is described as “undoubtedly brave” (Issues Magazine) and “frankly unsafe” (I Care If You Listen). His work can be heard on labels such as Carrier, Lurker Bias, Noise Pelican, and Mother Brain, as well as at festivals and series like afterMAF, SKRONK, and CUSP. His ongoing projects, including Binary Canary, Kill All Kings, and Banshee, draw on influences from free jazz, noise music, and punk rock.
Since 2016, Kyle has been a faculty member at Virginia Tech, where he serves as Assistant Professor of Practice in the School of Performing Arts and Director of the New Music + Technology Festival and ArtX Program at the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and a Master of Music degree from the University of Minnesota, and Bachelor's degrees in Music Performance and Music Education from the University of North Texas, studying under Eugene Rousseau, Eric Nestler, Marcus Weiss, and James Dillon.
Kyle is a Performing Artist for Yamaha, Légère, and E. Rousseau Mouthpieces.
Tiffany M. Skidmore
Tiffany M. Skidmore is an American composer and performer based in Montréal, Québec, where she is currently a McGill University Visiting Professor in residence at CIRMMT (the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology). From 2023-2024, she held the Birge Cary Chair in Music Composition at the University at Buffalo (SUNY). She is Co-Founder, Executive Director, and Co-Artistic Director of the Twin Cities-based 113 Composers Collective, an organization that produces the Twin Cities New Music Festival, as well as concerts and guest artist residencies throughout the world.
Dr. Skidmore has received numerous awards for her work from organizations such as the Schubert Club, the Jerome Foundation, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Rimon, and Opus7. She was a 2017 John Duffy Institute for New Opera Fellow, a 2018 McKnight Composer Fellow, and the 2018-2019 Zeitgeist New Music Ensemble Composer-in-Residence. Her chamber, choral, and orchestral work has been interpreted by acclaimed experimental music specialists throughout the United States and Europe, including Kyle Hutchins, Tiffany Du Mouchelle, Talea, TAK, loadbang, andPlay, Bent Duo, Fonema Consort, Ensemble Dal Niente, Duo Gelland, and many others. Her work has been featured in national and international festivals, including the US Navy Band International Saxophone Symposium, the International Clarinet Association Festival, the MN Made Festival, the Shockingly Modern Saxophone Festival, the Virginia Tech New Music + Technology Festival, the New York City Electronic Music Festival, the OpenAir Festival (Sweden), the Open Days Festival (Denmark), and the World Saxophone Congress (Gran Canaria), among others. She is on the composition faculty of the Vienna Contemporary Composers Festival, the Sofia Symphonic Summit, and the São Paulo Contemporary Composers Festival.
Dr. Skidmore holds degrees in Music Composition and Vocal Performance from Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and the University of Minnesota, where she studied with James Dillon and theorist Michael Cherlin, followed by post-doctoral studies with Chaya Czernowin.
Soprano Nina Dante writes that “Tiffany Skidmore’s music brings to mind Sciarrino’s description of his own music: hearing it is like watching a volcano erupt from afar. While Skidmore’s music burns its own path outside of Sciarrino’s aesthetic, the description holds true. Her music often features slow moving textures dotted with energetic events (imagine a constellation moving across the sky over the course of the year, and interjecting shooting stars), a starry sound world, coldly emotional content, and a mix of musical abstraction with direct theatrical/conceptual content. For these reasons, like reading a myth of ancient times, we experience the drama of her works from a distance.”
As a performer, Skidmore has sung professionally with the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Opera companies, Spokane Symphony Chorale, the Minnesota Chorale, the Contemporary Music Workshop, Hymnos Vocal Ensemble, the Gregorian Singers, the 113 Composers Collective, and as a free-lance soloist, primarily performing early and experimental music.
Walt Skidmore
Walt Skidmore works as a software developer and makes music whenever he can. Though primarily a trumpet player, he also plays guitar, bass, piano, and many other instruments. He performed Laborintus II (Berio) with the Contemporary Music Workshop, Consolation II (Lachenmann) for the 2018 Twin Cities New Music Festival, Six for New Time (Oliveros) and Sound Patterns and Tropes (Oliveros) for the Zeitgeist Early Music Festival, Diary of a Lung (Takasugi) for the 2021 Twin Cities New Music Festival, and contributed sound material to Vessel (Horton). He also performs regularly with the Buffalo Silver Band. When not working or making music, he spends time with his wife, Tiffany, children, and menagerie of pets. He's happy to be performing as part of this concert.
Tiffany DuMouchelle
Soprano Tiffany Du Mouchelle is praised for her musical versatility, an electric stage presence and exceptional dramatic sensibilities. Most recognized for her fearlessness in exploring new and challenging repertoire, she ushers the voice into new realms of expressivity, including a vast array of musical styles and languages, featuring over 100 different languages and exploring the genres of classical, world, contemporary, cabaret, and theatrical works.
An avid new music performer, her 2023-24 season includes: performances as Madame and the Voice of Goddess Khan Yin in Su Lian Tan’s opera, “Lotus Lives” with Meridian Ensemble and the role of Venus in Tiffany Skidmore’s “the golden ass” with Slee Sinfonietta; a return to the internationally acclaimed contemporary music festival, June in Buffalo, for her eighth year; the release of “Songs and Dances” by Yvar Mikhashoff on New Focus Recordings. Du Mouchelle has premiered close to 100 new works for the voice, including works by many of the most prestigious composers of the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Anthony Davis, Roger Reynolds, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, and Christian Wolff. Her voice and percussion duo Aurora Borealis, with her husband Stephen Solook, has commissioned and premiered more new works for the combination than any duo of its kind. Their next album will be released on New Focus in early 2025.
Recipient of the prestigious Richard F. Gold Career Grant for American Opera Singers, Du Mouchelle has performed with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Ensemble Signal, Center for Contemporary Opera, Yellow Barn Music Festival, Skålholt Summer Music Series in Iceland, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and American Composers Alliance, and in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Disney Hall, The Consulate of the Republic of Poland, The New York Historical Society, The Ukrainian Institute, the residence of the United States Ambassador in Cairo, and the Acropolium in Carthage.
Her current projects extend from her research and interests in extended voice performance, creative empowerment, and environmental preservation. Tending Ostreidae: Serenades for Settling is an ongoing, immersive, multimedia speculative collaboration between Du Mouchelle, Suzanne Thorpe, Stephanie Rothenberg, and Anne Burnidge. Exploring the acoustical phenomenon of the oyster’s home and the impact of human noise upon that home, Du Mouchelle and Thorpe are creating a soundscape for the project, developing techniques for singing and vocalization while recording sonic elements. Un-silenced is an ongoing commissioning project exploring perceptions of sounding and silencing, relating to the physical manifestation of sound to creative assertion and communication. Performances, beginning in 2024-25 include new works by Marcelo Lazcano, Tiffany Skidmore, and Yiheng Yvonne Wu, with new works that approach the topics of invisible women, silencing, and empowerment through trauma and abuse. The Emboldened Voice Project extends from her performance practice into exploring pedagogical methods of releasing vocal repression and holding patterns, while empowering creative expression within the voice curriculum.
In collaboration with the cultural diplomacy organization Cultures in Harmony, she has served as an instructor of voice, musical outreach specialist, and performer for projects in Cameroon, Tunisia, Egypt and Papua New Guinea. In her voice studio, her students include classical singers, contemporary art music specialists, Peking opera singers, Classical Hindi Music specialists, jazz, blues, and Afro American genre musicians from Sierra Leone, China, Tunisia, France, India, and beyond. Du Mouchelle’s research in performance practice and creative empowerment led her to develop Expression and Creativity Experimental Learning Laboratory (EX.C.E.L.L.), an artist collaborative whose programs focus on supporting creatives of all disciplines to empower and liberate their artistic voices. In fall 2015, Du Mouchelle moved to Buffalo, NY, joining the faculty at University at Buffalo, where she in an Assistant Professor of Music and serves as the director of the vocal performance program.
Charles Nichols
Composer, violinist, and computer music researcher Charles Nichols explores the expressive potential of instrumental ensembles, computer music systems, and combinations of the two, for the concert stage, and collaborations with dance, video, and installation art. His research includes spatial audio, data sonification, motion capture for musical performance, telematic performance, and haptic musical instrument design.
He has worked with ensembles including the Beo String Quartet, Earplay, FLUX Quartet, Hypercube, Klang String Quartet, loadbang, PEN Trio, Sapphire Trio, Third Angle Ensemble, and Transient Canvas, and soloists including Brett Deubner, Susan Fancher, William Lang, Darragh Morgan, Sarah Plum, Kathleen Supové, and Steve Vacchi. He has collaborated with choreographers including Jane Comfort, Scotty Hardwig, and Amy Ragsdale, and artists including Paola Zellner Bassett, Meaghan Dee, Marie Yoho Dorsey, Zach Duer, and Joan Grossman.
Nichols has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation, New Music USA, and PROP Foundation, and awards from the Institut International de Musique Electroacoustique de Bourges, Fundación Destellos, American Prize in Composition, National Academy of Music, Iowa Composers Forum, Montana Arts Council, Peoria Civic Federation, ABLAZE Records, and Phi Beta Kappa.
His recent premieres include Flutter, Pulse, and Flight, three movements for amplified flute, clarinet, violin, cello, and computer, that he performed on computer with Earplay, in the Meyer Constellation sound system at the Taube Atrium Theater in San Francisco, CA; Bluestone, for alto saxophone, electric guitar, piano, and drum set, performed by Hypercube, at the Charlotte New Music Festival in Charlotte, NC; Meadows of Dan, a structured improvisation for amplified trombone and computer, that he performed on computer with William Lang, in the 134.2 channel immersive spatial audio system of the Cube at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA; and Beyond the Dark, ambient synthesized sound and sonified space weather data accompanying kinetic installation art and 3D lighting, that he presented with architect Paola Zellner Bassett, at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC. In the band Modality, he plays electric and MIDI violin, bass guitar, and computer.
NIchols teaches Composition and Creative Technologies at Virginia Tech, is a Faculty Fellow of the Institute for Creativity Arts and Technology, and previously taught at the University of Montana. He was a Technical Director at the Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA) at Stanford and a Research Associate at the Center for Studies in Music Technology at Yale. He has composed as a resident at the Ucross and Brush Creek artist retreats, conducted research as a visiting scholar at the Sonic Arts Research Centre at Queen's University Belfast, and taught computer music workshops at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Banff Centre, CCRMA, and the Charlotte New Music Festival. He has earned degrees from the Eastman School of Music, Yale University, and Stanford University, where he studied composition with Samuel Adler, Martin Bresnick, Jacob Druckman, and Jonathan Harvey, computer music with Jonathan Berger, Chris Chafe, Max Mathews, and Jean-Claude Risset, and performance with Charles Castleman and the Cleveland Quartet.
Betsy Lantz
Elizabeth Lantz is Senior Instructor of Flute in the School of Performing Arts at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). A versatile performer and educator, she has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States and internationally, with engagements in Trinidad, South America, Canada, Europe, the Baltics, and South Korea. She regularly presents masterclasses and lecture-recitals, and her recent performances include featured appearances at the International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) in Seoul and the National Flute Association (NFA) Annual Convention in San Antonio.
Lantz’s creative practice centers on contemporary music, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the integration of technology. In Fall 2024, she premiered The Fluted Bird for amplified flute and computer by Charles Nichols at ARTX in Montreal, a project supported by Virginia Tech’s Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT) and McGill University’s Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). She has also performed at the New Music and Technology Festival at Virginia Tech and the New Music Festival at the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Committed to the expansion of the flute repertoire, Lantz actively commissions and premieres new works. In 2015, she co-commissioned Wish Sonatine by GRAMMY-nominated composer Valerie Coleman, in collaboration with pianist Dr. Richard Masters. The work, inspired by a poem by Fred D’Aguiar and funded by Virginia Tech’s College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences Diversity Committee, premiered at the NFA Annual Convention in Washington, D.C. Wish Sonatine has since entered the standard repertoire and is widely performed in competitions and recordings.
An active pedagogue and adjudicator, Lantz has taught in international residencies in Colombia and Trinidad and served on juries for the Flute New Music Consortium, the NFA Collegiate Flute Choir Competition, and numerous regional and national competitions. At Virginia Tech, she plays an active leadership role as Visiting Artist Coordinator for the School of Performing Arts and previously served as Program Chair for the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention.
Lantz also engages in community outreach and arts advocacy. She is a board member of the NRV Friends of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra, where she coordinates the SMILES educational concert series and organizes the annual TubaChristmas in partnership with the Town of Blacksburg. In recognition of her service, she received the 2024 Certificate for Excellence in Outreach and Engagement from Virginia Tech’s College of Architecture, Arts, and Design.
Originally from Phoenix, Arizona, Lantz holds a Master of Music from the University of Southern California and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Arizona. Her principal teachers include Ann Diener-Zentner, Jim Walker, Tadeu Coelho, and Jean-Louis Kashy. She is a Yamaha Performing Artist.
Kendra Wheeler
Kendra Wheeler is emerging as a prominent force within her discipline. She is recognized for her interpretive insight, contributions to performance and education, and dedication to representation and inclusivity, which have had a transformative effect on the field..
Wheeler's international artist, scholar, and educator career is well-recognized. Wheeler has performed at venues and festivals across North and South America and Europe, including the Chicago Symphony Center and the Ordway Center for Performing Arts. She has also presented solo recitals, masterclasses, and guest artist residencies at notable institutions such as Virginia Tech, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of the Republic of Uruguay. Her remarkable achievements have garnered recognition from the Concert Artists Guild, Vandoren Emerging Artist Competition, and DOWNBEAT Magazine.
In her academic endeavors, Wheeler has lectured on the intersection of music and identity—promoting inclusivity in performance and pedagogy—at conferences and institutions across North America and Europe. Noteworthy presentations include those at Jagiellonian University (Kraków, Poland), the International Conference on Society and the Arts (Zaragoza, Spain), the University of Hartford’s Hartt School of Music (Hartford, CT), and the International Alliance for Women in Music (Eugene, Oregon).
Beyond her research interests, Wheeler leads innovative and community-building projects such as the Folk Music Reimagined series, culminating in her debut album, scheduled for completion in Spring 2025 and release in Summer 2025. She has also established the Women of Color in Classical Saxophone Group. She is the alto saxophonist in the Medusa Saxophone Quartet, an all-women professional ensemble dedicated to supporting emerging and underrepresented saxophonists and composers through performance and educational programs. The Medusa Saxophone Quartet actively engages in performances, residencies, and outreach concerts nationwide.
As an Assistant Professor of Music at Louisiana State University, Wheeler‘s pedagogy focuses on technical proficiency, artistic expression, and a thorough understanding of music's societal and contextual dimensions. Her commitment to her students' development reflects their successes and passion for music and teaching. Kendra Wheeler’s relentless dedication and approach ensure she is a continued leading voice in the evolution of her field.
Wheeler is an Eastman Artist, performing on the EAS 850 Rue Saint Georges and a performing artist for Légère Reeds and Key Leaves.
Emilie Fortin
Émilie Fortin's artistic practice revolves around three axes: the creation of new repertoire through close collaboration between performer and composer, the exploration of new sounds through improvisation, and teaching.
Constantly seeking to enrich the trumpet repertoire, she has participated in the creation of over fifty works. Her future and present collaborations explore physicality connection with training in body mime, dance and theater. In 2018, she created the soloist collective Bakarlari and serves as its artistic director. Dedicated to solo contemporary and creative music by offering concert experiences outside the traditional framework, Bakarlari is supported by Le Vivier Group.
As an improviser, Émilie “possesses a tonal clarity and a knack for inventive, asymmetrical phrasing” (Scott Thomson, FIMAVs Artistic Director). Her collaborations include recordings and performances with, among others, Éric Normand, the Ratchet Orchestra and GGRIL.
She is a member of the Toronto-based ensemble Freesound, a collective of artist-creators dedicated to commissioning and presenting contemporary music in all its forms, and of ék, a mime and sound duo with trombonist Kalun Leung.
Émilie has participated, among others, in the soundSCAPE Festival (Italy), Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance and Practice (Boston), Oh My Ears Festival (Arizona), Re:Sound (Cleveland) and Northwestern New Music Conference (Chicago). She has worked with members of the International Contemporary Ensemble (Banff Centre for the Arts), Ensemble Musikfabrik (Bauwerke Brass Academy), Ensemble Modern (Klangspuren Schwaz) and Vinko Globokar (Laboratorium), and has studied with Marco Blaauw and Bill Forman. In Montreal, she has performed with Productions SuperMusique (PSM) and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM).
A firm believer that pedagogy is an integral part of being a well-rounded performer, Émilie teaches in various high schools and music camps in the Montreal area as a specialist. For three years, she taught trombone, trumpet and music theory in Croix-des-Bouquets and Jacmel (Haiti) as part of the Ambassadors program. During the 2017-2018 season, she had the chance to hone her skills in community teaching with The Global Leaders team, having been one of 35 people selected from around the world to be part of this adventure. This allowed her to be a guest teacher in Bolivia (Conservatorio Plurinacional de Mùsica), Chile (Viva la Mùsica Panguipulli), Panama (Orquestra Veragüense de Vientos ) and Washington (DC Youth Orchestra Program).
As an ardent defender of the representativeness of brass instruments and the democratization of contemporary music, Émilie advocates for these issues as a presenter for organizations and conferences such as IRCAM Forum 2021, UQAM (Gender Differences and Inequalities in Music in Quebec), the Vivier Interuniversitaire and at the Canadian League of Composers. She is also a founding member of the Burning Brass Band, an ensemble that aims to increase the place of women, trans, non-binary and queer people in the Montreal brass band scene.
Originally from Abitibi-Témiscamingue, she studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Val-d'Or in the class of Frédéric Demers; she then studied classical performance with Lise Bouchard at the Université de Montréal. In 2017, she completed her Master of Music at McGill University under the tutelage of Russell DeVuyst.
Émilie has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Montreal Arts Council.
Alicia Castillo
Alicia Castillo (b.1997) is a composer and performer of acoustic and electroacoustic music. She enjoys collaborating closely with performers and crafting narrative driven music that explores auditory perception, sound morphology, and relationships between sound and speech.
Her music has been performed at TUTTI New Arts Festival, EDME New Music Festival, PRISMS New Music Festival, and Ben Verdery’s Masterclass in Maui, where she was invited to perform original guitar compositions. Alicia has also premiered new guitar works by Gabriel Bolaños, Carlos Zárate, and Sofía Matus Cancino. In 2021 she received first place in the Arizona State University Mykytyn Composition Competition and served as the 2022-2023 Composer in Residence for the ASU Wind Ensemble.
Alicia holds dual master's degrees in Composition and Guitar Performance, and a bachelor's in Composition and Theory from Arizona State University. She is an active music educator as a faculty associate at ASU and adjunct faculty at Glendale Community College teaching music theory, aural perception, and electronic music.
Sergio Cote Barco
Colombian composer, improviser, and producer whose work focuses on the use of noise and acoustic phenomena, alternative musical notation, and experimental uses of technology. His works have been performed and commissioned by ensembles such as Ensamble BAHO (Bogotá), Ensamble Ul (Bogotá, Colombia), International Ensemble Modern Academy (Frankfurt), Neopercusión (Madrid), The [Switch ~ Ensemble], Ensemble Motocontrario (Trento, Italy), Mise-en Ensemble (NYC), Ensemble Taller Sonoro (Seville), the National Symphony Orchestra of Colombia, and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His work has been presented at festivals such as Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik (Witten, Germany), Darmstädter Ferienkurse (Darmstadt, Germany), Contemporary Music Days (Bogotá, Colombia), Sacred Music Festival of Madrid (Madrid, Spain), Mise-en Festival (NY, USA), and Casa Tomada (Havana, Cuba). Sergio holds a DMA in Composition from Cornell University, a Master's in Composition from the Royal Northern College of Music, and a Bachelor's degree from Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, where he currently teaches composition and music theory. In 2011, he received the National Composition Award from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia, and in 2014, the Gold Medal from the Royal Northern College of Music and the Contemporary Music Creation Grant from the Ministry of Culture of Colombia. He has been invited as an artist, composer, and improviser to festivals such as Dog Star Orchestra in Los Angeles, the New Music and Art Symposium of Thailand in Bangkok, and Klangraum in Düsseldorf, Germany. Sergio has released solo albums on Edition Wandelweiser Records and Sawyer Spaces, where he improvises sustained sounds over long periods, combining them with digitally produced noises and field recordings. He has also worked as a composer and sound designer for theater productions such as Las cosas particulares de los últimos días, Pronto será octubre, and the dance production Sacrificción, as well as for immersive and stage improvisation pieces. Sergio is an artist with the Colombian label Bogotana Records. He teaches composition and music theory at the Javeriana University and the Bogotá District University.
Anthony Braxton
Anthony Braxton (born 1945), the Chicago-born composer and multi-instrumentalist, is recognized as one of the most important musicians, educators, and creative thinkers of the past 50 years. He is highly esteemed in the experimental music community for the revolutionary quality of his work and for the mentorship and inspiration he has provided to generations of younger musicians. Drawing upon a disparate mix of influences from John Coltrane to Karlheinz Stockhausen, Braxton has created a unique musical system that celebrates the concept of global creativity and our shared humanity. His work examines core principles of improvisation, structural navigation and ritual engagement - innovation, spirituality, and intellectual investigation.
From his early work as a pioneering solo performer in the late 1960s through to his eclectic experiments on Arista Records in the 1970s, his landmark quartet of the 1980s, and more recent endeavors, such as his cycle of Trillium operas and the day-long, installation-based Sonic Genome Project, his vast body of work is unparalleled. His small ensembles of the 1970s through to the present day are considered among the most innovative groups of their respective eras, while his Creative Orchestra Music has brought together the varying streams of American jazz orchestras, marching bands, and experimental practices with the traditions of European concert music in a wholly individual compositional voice. His continuing and evolving current systems of the past 15 years, including Ghost Trance Music, Diamond Curtain Wall Music, Falling River Music, Echo Echo Mirror House Music, and ZIM Music, have served as the artistic incubators for some of the most exciting artists of the current generation. Braxton’s many awards include a 1981 Guggenheim Fellowship, a 1994 MacArthur Fellowship, a 2013 Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, a 2014 NEA Jazz Master Award, and honorary doctorates from Université de Liège (Belgium), New England Conservatory (USA) and the 2020 United States Artists Fellowship.