Nick Dunston is a composer, improviser, and sound artist. Called an “indispensable player on the New York avant-garde" (New York Times), his performances have spanned a variety of venues and spaces across North America and Europe. In addition to 9 albums released as a leader, he has been commissioned by artists and organizations such as Wet Ink Ensemble, Bang on a Can, JACK Quartet, A L'ARME Festival, Ex-Aequo, Tenth Intervention, Johnny Gandelsman, TROMPO, Gaudeamus Festival, PULSE String Quartet, and Ekmeles. As a sideman he has worked with artists such as Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Vijay Iyer, Mary Halvorson, Tyshawn Sorey, Moor Mother, Darius Jones, Lucrecia Dalt, Joy Guidry, Son Lux, Craig Taborn, Dave Douglas, Allison Miller, Anna Webber, and Amirtha Kidambi. In 2019 he was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette, which supported the creation of the trans-media song cycle La Operación, the double bass quintet piece The Floor is Lava!, and his debut studio album, Atlantic Extraction, which was referred to as “the debut of 2019” (JazzTimes Magazine). In 2020 in collaboration with Dogbotic Labs, he co-created “Ear Re-training”, a music composition course focusing on media-bending experimental techniques and concepts. Alongside Katherine Young, Dunston was featured as the inaugural Artists-in-Residence with Wet Ink Ensemble for the 2021-2022 season, where he created his 14-piece ensemble work Reverse Broadcast, himself performing on double bass, live-processed radio, and improvised Conduction. He released his improvising trio album Spider Season in 2022 in which Pitchfork Magazine noted “Even in a trio setting, Dunston’s curiosity creates a plethora of possibilities. No two songs of his ever sound alike.” His performing and improvising can also be heard on the 2022 film Everything Everywhere All At Once, which won the Oscar that year for Best Original Score. Nick Dunston’s most recent album, the Afro-surrealist-anti-opera COLLA VOCE, was released in 2024 on Out Of Your Head Records. He has given artist talks and presented his works at academic institutions such as The University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts, The University of Iowa, and Stony Brook University. He was nominated for the Deutscher Jazzpreis (German Jazz Prize) in 2023, 2024, and 2025; and alongside Cansu Tanrikulu, won the SWR Jazz Prize of 2024. Dunston currently resides and maintains an active presence in both the Berlin and New York experimental music scenes.