Soundweavings: Participant Concert, May 7

Sandeep Bhagwati is a multiple award-winning composer, theatre director, poet and academic, born in Mumbai (India). He studied composition and conducting at Mozarteum Salzburg and Musikhochschule München, and computer music at IRCAM Paris. His operas, multi-disciplinary staged works, compositions and comprovisations are performed worldwide at leading venues, festivals, theatres and museums and by renowned ensembles* and by eminent soloists**. He has published widely, both as a public voice and in academia, and is a sought-after keynote speaker and jury member and has founded/curated inter-arts festivals (e.g. A*Devantgarde München) and trans-traditional (a term he coined in 2010) projects with Asian composer-performers and European new music ensembles. Professor of Composition at Karlsruhe Music University since 2000, he became Canada Research Chair for Inter-X Arts at Concordia University Montreal in 2006. There he founded matralab, a interdisciplinary and trans-traditional research/creation node for live arts. Since 2013, he founded and directs trans-traditional music ensembles in Berlin, Pune, and Toronto. Between 2017-2023, he led the TENOR Network, a global research forum for new music notation practices and technologies. Since 2020, he is co-founder / co-editor of “TURBA - The Journal for Global Practices in Live Arts Curation”. His artistic work was the focus of a “Homage Season” 2023/24 initiated by the Quebec New Music Society (SMCQ) and has been a consultant for New Music Concerts Toronto since 2022.

Photo credit: Alain Lefort

Jeremy Dutcher is a Two-Spirit song carrier, composer, activist, and ethnomusicologist from Tobique First Nation in Eastern Canada. He gained international acclaim for his album Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa, which earned him the 2018 Polaris Music Prize and Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the 2019 JUNO Awards. His musical style blends the songs of his community with neoclassical, jazz, and pop influences, and has led him to collaborate with such iconic artists as Beverly Glenn Copeland and Yo-Yo Ma. Dutcher’s work has taken him to the world’s great concert halls, NPR’s Tiny Desk, and the judges’ table of Canada’s Drag Race.

Alexis Emelianoff is a sound artist based in Montréal, Canada, inventing and performing with acoustic and electronic instruments. Her approach is highly divergent and dependent on exploration in material research and physics; temperature changes, magnetism, and water conductivity have all animated installations. She designs systems to allow the ‘breakthrough’ of the electrical medium and its sonic form, whether periodic, arrhythmic, abrasive, obstinate... Current projects include hybrid sound output systems and adapting the Western piano to Persian music. 

She has performed in Canada, Europe and the United States, including the MuSA Symposium for Sonic Arts (Germany), Columbia University New York, the Banff Centre, and the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at UC Berkeley; and has published in Leonardo Music Journal. She was a member of the Topological Media Lab and the Balinese Gamelan group Giri Kedaton.

Currently Alexis is a member of the research organization Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and was recently invited as the first artist in residence at the École de Technologie Supérieure in Montréal.

Recipient of Robert L. Jamison Endowment.

Based in Montreal/Tio'tia:ke, Mexican-Colombian singer, performer, composer and sound artist Valentina Plata (b. 1997) conjures sound worlds through improvisation and her voice in relation to her field recording practice. Her work explores themes of magical idealism, movement and personal narratives. 

Her passion for collaboration is reflected in her project Vaiu, in the multidisciplinary collective Esse and in her work with composer Sandeep Bhagwati. 

She is currently completing a bachelor's degree in Electroacoustic Studies at Concordia University and is the recipient of the Undergraduate Fellowship Award with LePARC (Milieux Institute).

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

STATHIS//DAVEY//KIM are a Melbourne based collective of three female composers who have an extensive multi-instrumental practice including the use of analogue synthesizers. Their practice spans large scale fully immersive sound installations, to live electronic music performance.

SDK’s site-responsive installations are presented in expansive settings where nature and human-made structures co-exist. They interact with site by using features present (rock faces, bodies of water and architecture) as surfaces from which to bounce sound off, creating delays and rhythms. Furthermore the trio incorporate diegetic sounds as key voices in the work, allowing them to work with, instead of overriding the environment.

Stathis//Davey//Kim’s sound is presented in multi-channel diffusion, sonically mapping a new awareness of the physical space. Audiences are placed directly into the center of their sound worlds, as the work shifts and moves around them. Conceptually Stathis//Davey//Kim explore the paradoxes of site, the beauty and sparseness, the functional and the fantastical, natural and manufactured and in all this question human’s impact on ecologies. Their work allows audiences to experience a unique aspect of site, where sound, nature and architecture interact. For audiences, these types of singular sonic experiences bond the location to memory through the extraordinary experience of immersive sound and music.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Chris Votek is an acclaimed cellist, composer, arranger, producer, and sound engineer living and breathing music in Los Angeles. He is a disciple of the legendary Indian violinist Dr. N Rajam, much of his work involves adapting the oral tradition of Hindustani raga to the cello and the cross-pollination of Western and Indian Classical Traditions. 

As an intercultural music translator he has arranged symphonic music with Neelamjit Dhillon for Ustad Zakir Hussain, notably his Triple Concerto for Tabla, Bansuri, and Sitar with orchestra premiered by the Symphony of India in 2023. Votek’s original chamber and electroacoustic compositions have been presented at REDCAT, the Hammer Museum, Clockshop, and SF Soundbox. His string quintet Memories of a Shadow received critical acclaim “superbly blending raga melody with early European polyphony”. 

A sought after touring and studio cellist, Votek has performed or recorded with a diverse array of artists, including Sigur Ros, Julia Holter, PARTCH ensemble, The Marias, Chris Martin, Homayoun Shajarian, Haushka, Father John Misty, Wild Up, Mamak Khadem, Arabic Orchestra MESTO and many others.

Recipient of Cyril and Elizabeth Challice Fund for Musicians.

Gelareh Pour’s music carries the weight of centuries and the breath of something entirely new. An Iranian-Australian musician, she moves deftly between tradition and innovation, her voice and the sounds of her Persian Kamancheh and Qeychak Alto weaving together the intricate threads of a shared musical heritage and the raw spontaneity of the contemporary. Hers is a music that bridges worlds—not just sonically, but in the profound connections it forges between cultures, stories, and people.

Her journey began in Iran, where she immersed herself in the roots of Persian music, earning a Bachelor’s degree. Years later, in Australia, she expanded her exploration with a Master’s in Ethnomusicology at the University of Melbourne, her thesis, The Lives of Iranian Women Singers in Diaspora, uncovering the quiet power and adaptability of women navigating identity through music.

For over three decades, Gelareh’s career has flourished. From her duo ZÖJ with drummer Brian O’Dwyer to collaborations with leading ensembles, her improvisational brilliance and emotive performances have graced festivals and stages across the globe.

In 2024, she was honoured with the Sidney Myer Creative Fellowship, recognising her singular voice as a performer, composer, and storyteller. 

Through her work, Gelareh opens doors—between cultures, histories, and hearts.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Saraswati Nandini Majumdar is a vocalist in the North Indian ‘khayal’ style. She has trained in Varanasi, one of India’s main centres for classical music, and Delhi, under maestros Rajan and Sajan Mishra. She has performed and taught music in India, the US, and Europe.

The pedagogy she has built, and her workshops called ‘Freedom and Discipline,’ explore improvisation not only as musical practice but also as politics and philosophy for life. As an improvisational artist, Nandini actively seeks collaborations with other musicians, movement artists, and writers from around the world. Most recently, she performed in a devised ensemble piece ‘Memories in Water,’ at MASS Gallery, Austin.

Currently based in Austin, Nandini will be completing her Ph.D. at the University of Texas in May 2025. Her doctoral project considers the intersections between artistic improvisation, vernacular South Asian performance traditions, jazz, postcolonial and critical race theory, and contemporary poetics. She is also the author of articles on arts and culture, a book of walks through Varanasi, and several children’s books.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Alexandra Ivanova is a Berlin-based pianist and composer, born in Austria with Bulgarian roots and having called France, the Middle East and the Gulf her home. The range of cultural influences she has experienced gives her an “unorthodox approach to her compositions” (All About Jazz). She was classically trained at the piano as a child and is primarily self-taught in jazz, performing with her trios since the age of 16 before finding a mentor in pianist Tarek Yamani (US/LEB). In the recent years, she has also dedicated herself to learning the Arabic Qanun.

In 2023, she released her debut album “Beauty in Chaos” with her Berlin-based trio, combining jazz with influences from Maqam-based traditions, Arabic classical music, odd metres and Afro-Cuban claves. The trio toured Saudi Arabia and Europe, showcased at jazzahead! 2024 and opened Cairo Jazz Festival 2023 with guest vocalist Lynn Adib (FR/SYR) who is featured on the album’s title track.

Alexandra has received various scholarships for her composition work. She has performed her music at the Havana Jazz Plaza Festival, Unterfahrt Munich, Porgy & Bess Vienna, Reykjavik Jazz Festival and on further stages in Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, France, the Netherlands, the UK and the UAE. 

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

George Rahi is an artist and composer based in Vancouver, unceded Coast Salish territories. He works with speculative instruments and technologies as a method of exploring acoustic and digital anomalies, modes of listening, and spatial and architectural thinking. His work includes installations, instrument making, solo + ensemble performance, and works for radio, theatre & public spaces. Recent presentations have included: Artificial Sonification exhibition (Matera), Stavanger Konserthus, Kunst-Station Sankt Peter (Cologne), Fusebox Festival (Austin), Institute for New Music (Salzburg), and Orgelpark (Amsterdam). His work has been supported by awards such as the Lab30 Audience Award, Canada Council for the Arts Guest of Honour (Frankfurt), and through mentorships with artists such as Dewa Alit and Trimpin. He has been an artist in residence at Elektronmusikstudion (Stockholm), Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts, Locus Sonus Research Group (Aix Marseille University), and hcma architecture. He is currently working towards a new album of contemporary gamelan music with Insitu Recordings, an arts collective and recording label based in Bali.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Maryam Rahmani is an Iranian born Santur player who has been living in Adelaide since 2019. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Playing Traditional Music from Tehran University. 

Maryam’s musical journey began with playing Santur when she was 12 years old, and she had the chance to get lessons chest to chest from the masters in Iran. The journey took on a more academic approach when she attended university, which gave her the opportunity to explore various aspects of Iranian classical music.

Passionate to discover her hometowns unique sounds, she started to play Kamancheh which is another bowed string instrument form Iran, and also dutar (Persian word for “two strings”), a traditional lute-like instrument known for its resonant sound from Khorasan(North-East side of Iran), that allowed her to unmask the other side of traditional music.

Enthusiastic about the intricate interplay of rhythm and poetry, Maryam’s love for literature and poetry naturally led her to explore Persian meters and their integration into music. During her university years, she delved into the study of tombak (the Iranian goblet drum), enriching her understanding of rhythm. Fascinated by rhythmic patterns, she also embraced the art of flamenco dance when she came to Adelaide, blending the worlds of Persian and Spanish rhythms in her creative pursuits.

Recipient of Frelyn Memorial Endowment.

Eun Ji Kim (Stage name_Kklily) is a Korean traditional percussionist, educator, and cultural entrepreneur. She graduated from the Korea National University of Arts with a major in percussion and earned a Business Marketing degree from Centennial College in Canada in 2024.

As the CEO of Eunji Kim Project, she has planned and produced numerous performances that blend traditional Korean music with contemporary styles. She has performed internationally in Denmark, Sweden, Mongolia, France, Germany, China, and Hungary, showcasing the richness of Korean traditional music on global stages. In 2017, she won the Grand Prize at the Gang Gam-chan Festival National High Court Pansori Contest and has been invited to perform at prestigious venues, including the National Theater of Korea.

Beyond traditional performances, she actively collaborates with jazz musicians and other artists, pushing creative boundaries. She released her single album Remain and is currently performing at major venues across Canada, including Dundas Square, Casa Loma, CNE, and TD Korean Employee Network events. Dedicated to promoting Korean traditional music worldwide, she continues to expand her artistic influence while deepening her expertise in business and marketing.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Jay Yoo is a Korean Canadian guitarist and composer based in Toronto, holding both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Jazz Performance from the University of Toronto. Active in both performance and teaching, he draws inspiration from a wide range of genres, collaborating on projects that span jazz, funk, R&B, and musical theatre. Jay is a member of the Korean fusion band Haneum, the award-winning group Snaggle, and leads his own ensembles, including Jay Yoo Group and Next Perfect Day. His discography features the duo album Here, Now (2019) with Jenna Marie Pinard, Dual Unity(2022) with Mark Kazakevich, and the jazz quartet EP Cosmic Latte (2023) from his time in Denmark. He’s also involved in several current collaborations, including Robert Lee’s upcoming album Forbidden West (2025), which blends Korean traditional music influences, and Baejjange, a trio focused on Korean percussion and vocal traditions.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Drawing from Newfoundland folk roots and contemporary jazz influences, Jessica Spurrell is a Toronto-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Her 2024 EP, A Blessing, A Pearl, explores adolescent heartache through striking prose, woodwinds, harp, strings, and synth.

In 2021, Jessica was awarded the SOCAN Foundation Young Canadian Songwriters Award for her song, Bury Me. She was subsequently selected for the 2022 TD Incubator for Creative Entrepreneurship, as well as the 2023 Folk Music Ontario Developing Artist Program. Most recently, Jessica participated in the 2024 Intercultural and Creative Music Fellowship through Humber Polytechnic. Under the creative direction of composer and sitarist Kiya Tabassian, she and 6 other fellows worked for 14 weeks to create an interdisciplinary music project for performance at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto.

Jessica thrives on collaboration as a composer, lyricist, and performer. She also has a keen interest in music production and recording technology. Jessica is a recent graduate of the Bachelor of Music program at Humber Polytechnic, where she explored styles such as Jazz and Latin music. Jessica has called many places home, including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and Germany.

Recipient of John W. Kieley Endowment for Emerging Musicians.

Cikwes is a nehiyaw ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ soul singer songwriter and Juno nominee from Bigstone Cree Nation. Her music explores her Cree language, nêhiyawêwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣ and nehiyaw ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ musical methods that include the hand drum, chanting cahkasinahikanak ᒐᐦᑲᓯᓇᐦᐃᑲᐣ also known as spirit markers or syllabics. Her intimate performances are accompanied with heartfelt stories and laughter. Using percussive breath and the Cree syllabics, she invokes a feeling of comfort similar to that of a wepisowin, a traditional baby swing. A matriarch for the revitalization of the Cree language and Nehiyaw musical methods, her nehiyaw ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐤ song writing and voice are an emblem of hope and beauty for the continuation of nêhiyawêwin ᓀᐦᐃᔭᐁᐧᐃᐧᐣ.  Her unique blend of Nehiyaw music, jazz, soul, pop, folk, blues has garnered her music awards and nominations internationally, including a Grammy consideration.

Recipient of Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

ረብሻ(Rebsha) is the Ethio-ambient duo created by Feven Kidane and Nebyu Yohannes. Delighted to be invited to Soundweavings at Banff Centre, Kidane and Yohannes fuse their background in ambient and Black American music with their East African heritage, generating a sonic landscape stretching from sub-Saharan Africa to the Pacific Northwest. ረብሻ’s dedication to decolonization while recognizing cultural tradition as members of the Ethiopian diaspora is paramount to their work. With Kidane and Yohannes on a mix of brass, strings, and their recent learnings of traditional Ethiopian instruments, the pair blend acoustic and electronic textures to score the memories of their ancestors (Tizita) and carry these lifetimes into the present, holding them under the light of today’s world.

reb·sha: noun 
1. noise, riot, disturbance.

Recipient of Michael Davies Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Jaash Singh is a multi-award-winning percussionist, specializing in folk music and dance accompaniment. He is featured on many notable recordings, has done over a thousand live performances, and has experience in film, theatre, and as an educator. He has been involved in eastern European, middle eastern, and mediterranean music and culture for 15 years, and has worked extensively with many community organizations who focus on making cultural experiences accessible to a wider audience. He is known for his work with such artists as Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Ventanas and Measha Brueggergosman. He is known for his exciting rhythmic grooves and his magnetic audience engagement.

Recipient of Michael Davies Scholarship Endowment Fund.

Brian O’Dwyer is an Australian-based drummer and composer whose practice focuses on experimentation, improvisation, and sonic exploration. His work challenges conventional drumming by integrating extended techniques, unconventional instruments, and percussive textures to create dynamic, immersive soundscapes. Rooted in both structured composition and free improvisation, his approach prioritises spontaneity and responsiveness, allowing rhythm and sound to evolve organically.

Brian’s practice extends beyond traditional performance, incorporating interdisciplinary collaborations with artists across music, film, theatre, and visual art. He is particularly interested in the intersection of percussion and space, using live performance to engage with acoustics and audience perception. His solo and collaborative projects often explore the physicality of drumming, the relationship between rhythm and movement, and the boundaries between noise and music.

Deeply engaged in the experimental and contemporary music communities, Brian’s work reflects an ongoing commitment to pushing the limits of percussive expression. Whether through live performance, recording, or composition, his practice remains centred on the constant redefinition of what drumming can be, embracing both traditional and unconventional sounds in the pursuit of new musical possibilities.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Amir Amiri is a visionary santur player, composer, and cultural inventor who bridges the past and future, tradition and innovation. His artistry merges ancient inspiration, dazzling virtuosity, and fearless creativity, elevating the santur into bold new musical territories.

Born in Tehran, Iran, Amiri is a master of the santur, a 72-string instrument with origins dating back to approximately 500 BCE. Since arriving in Canada in 1996, he has founded numerous groundbreaking ensembles that redefine the sonic possibilities of Persian music.

His duo Perséides with double bassist Jean Félix Mailloux was a featured act at the National Arts Centre’s Sounds of Persia: Canada’s New Music Masters in 2018, where Amiri also served as Artistic Director. His ensemble projects continue to push musical boundaries, including the Amir Amiri Ensemble, which embodies the fluidity of Middle Eastern musical influences, and Ensemble Kimya, a Montreal-Paris collaboration weaving together early classical and contemporary music from Europe, the Middle East, and India.

Expanding his creative horizons, Amiri composed the score for the feature film Universal Language, Canada's official submission for the 2025 Academy Awards.

Honored as CBC Artist of the Year in 2003 by the Galaxie Rising Stars Program, Amiri continues to captivate audiences worldwide with his magnetic presence and deeply evocative performances.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Elham is a dynamic musician thriving in Montreal's vibrant music scene. As a co-founder of the DIBA collective upon her arrival in Montreal in 2014, she has immersed herself in the city's cultural fabric and cultivated her musical talents.

Her musical journey commenced in her teenage years, enriched by the tutelage of eminent Iranian masters such as Ali Ghamsari, Arshad Tahmassbi, and the Tar virtuoso, Hossein Alizadeh. A skilled multi-instrumentalist, she's mastered traditional Persian instruments like Tar, Setar, Shourangiz, and Robab.

Passionate about singing since childhood, Elham has overcome obstacles to express her voice, finally finding freedom in Canada. She has participated in over 150 concerts across Canada, collaborating with musicians of diverse nationalities. One of her notable collaborations was a concert at the Montreal Symphony House, as part of the OSM's programming, featuring a repertoire dedicated to Persian culture titled "Journey to the East, from Scheherazade to Simorgh."

She has also performed at various prestigious festivals in Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto, sharing her music and passion with a wide audience. Supported by the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Canada Council for the Arts, she has undertaken several touring series in Montreal and beyond, showcasing her dynamic presence in the music scene.

Simultaneously, her studies in cultural organization management at HEC Montreal University reflect her commitment to developing her artistic career in an informed manner.

Recipient of Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Murat Çolak is a Turkish-American audio engineer, producer, and composer based in New York City. He earned his master’s degree in music composition and technology in 2013 from Istanbul Technical University and completed his doctorate in music composition at Boston University in 2018. 

Murat’s first introduction to digital audio was in 2003, when he was a college student in Istanbul. He initially produced electronic dance music as an enthusiast. Years later, while creating sonically complex electroacoustic pieces as a composer, he developed a deep interest in acoustics and audio engineering. In 2018, he moved to NYC and started working as a part-time audio engineer. During the pandemic, he completed a 26-week advanced audio mastering program at Mastering Academy in Hamburg.

Since 2020, Murat has worked full-time as a mastering, mixing, and recording engineer out of his studio, GERYON. He specializes in contemporary classical and experimental music but is equally at home with EDM, rap, and pop. His engineering work can be heard on critically acclaimed art music labels like KAIROS, Edition Wandelweiser, NEOS, New Focus, Innova, Carrier, Important Records, and more.

Jessica Ozon is an emerging audio engineer and composer from St. John’s, Newfoundland. She is a recent graduate from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, where she completed a Bachelor of Music with a major in composition. Jessica began working as an audio engineer during her time as an undergraduate student, and has had the opportunity to record and mix everything from solo guitar to full orchestra for student audition videos, live events, and recording sessions at MUN’s School of Music. She has also worked as an assistant engineer for recordings of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Tuckamore Music Festival, and the 2024 Sound Symposium. This past summer, Jessica participated in Soundscape Festival’s Sound Recording program in Blonay, Switzerland, where she gained experience recording contemporary classical music under the mentorship of Dr. Denis Martin. She was also a participant in the Tuckamore Festival’s 2024 Young Composer program. Outside of her work as a recording engineer, Jessica teaches piano lessons at Intervals Music Studio and is a sound technician at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s.