Jad Atoui Biosonics Premiere

Jad Atoui was born in Lebanon in 1993 and moved to New York in 2012 where he studied sound art and sound engineering. Using bio-sensors, field recordings and analog gear he composes and performs electronic and electroacoustic music. His work has been featured in the Pompidou Center (2012, Paris) and at The Stone in NYC. Jad Atoui has worked and performed with John Zorn, Pauline Oliveros, Eliott Sharp, Ikue Mori, Bill Frisell, Sharif Sehnaoui among others. In 2015 he spearheaded the “Biosonics” project in collaboration with scientist Ivan Marazzi in order to incorporate bio-sonification of behaviors as compositional tool.

Ivan Marazzi is an Assistant Professor, Molecular Biology, at Mount Sinai University. His Lab studies how stress perturbations reveal the secrets of biology. Marazzi is widely published, including in Cell, Science, Nature.

Michael Coltun is a bassist and composer living in New York City. His work ranges from experimental music, noise, West and North African music, Middle Eastern, and Jewish music. He leads the band Les Rhinocéros, who have released three records on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. He has toured all over North America, Europe, and Asia with artists such as Cheick Hamala Diabaté, Janka Nabay & The Bubu Gang, Les Rhinocéros, Ramzailech, and many others.

Joanna Mattrey is a violist active in both the new music and free improvisation communities who’s playing often incorporates textural gestures, preparations, and electronic alterations. She plays regularly with Marc Ribot’s Young Philadelphians, Tredici Bacci, Anonym, Ancient Enemies, and her string trio with Sean Ali and Leila Bordreuil has performed at Issue Project Room, the Whitney Museum, the Rubin Museum, and presented a sound installation based on Stockhausen’s interpretive music at MoMa’s PS1. She is currently working on a solo electro-acoustic rendering of Cardew’s ‘Treatise.’ This year she has performed at The Newport Jazz Festival, The NYC Winter Jazzfest, and SxSW.

Curt Sydnor is a keyboardist and composer who performs in the NYC area. In recent years he has played in groups led by Mirah, Janka Nabay, and Yonatan Gat, among others. In 2015 he gave the US premier of Opera, Quasi Fortississimo, an evening-length solo piano work composed by Greg Saunier. In the same year he also released the album Materials and their Destiny, based on a multimedia suite exploring the late drawings of architect Louis Sullivan.

Lester St. Louis is a Cellist/Composer/Improviser and curator born and based in New York. Lester’s work focuses on developing models of thought and practice for exciting and provocative results in creation. Research, performance [performance practice], praxis, and composition are his primary tools for investigation and creation. Lester has performed with Dré Hočevar, Bram De Looze, Joe Morris, Tony Malaby, Tyshawn Sorey, Nate Wooley, Ingrid Laubrock, Pascal Niggenkemper, Richard Barrett, Milana Zarić, Chris Pitsioko

Austin Vaughn is a musician specializing in the drumset. His solo music has primarily been an acoustic celebration of various phenomena, e.g. exploration of overtones and sympathetic vibration via “extended” techniques in addition to the totally ordinary. Austin moved to New York in 2011 after attending Oberlin Conservatory, where he studied old-fashioned, new-fangled, and timeless musical stylings. He works often with Ashcan Orchestra, Luke Temple, Ron Shalom, and Sam Evian.