Jazz & Sonic Arts Mainstage Concert - In the Moment: A Collective Sonic Journey

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.

Kalia Vandever is a Grammy Award Winning trombonist and composer living in Brooklyn, NY. Her approach to the trombone is distinctive and defined by her sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational voice. She leans into the challenges of the instrument and allows patience and melody guide her process.

In her compositional practice, Kalia draws from her love of songs and improvisation, creating a landscape of sounds that resonate in the body and hold the listener. She released her debut ensemble album, "In Bloom" in 2019 which has been described as "the rise of an exciting voice for the music" (Seton Hawkins, Hot House Jazz Magazine). Her sophomore album, Regrowth released in May, 2022 on New Amsterdam Records and "confirms her strengths as a composer and bandleader with a distinctly contemporary point of view." (Nate Chinen, WBGO Jazz) Her debut solo album,We Fell In Turn featuring her works for trombone, voice and electronics released on AKP Records in March, 2023.

Kalia received her Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Studies at the Juilliard School in 2017. She has toured and performed internationally with her quartet, performing at festivals such as the Winter Jazz Festival and BRIC Jazz Festival. She is also known for her work as a side-woman, performing with jazz artists including Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, Fay Victor, to name a few. She has also performed with popular artists including Harry Styles, Lizzo, Japanese Breakfast, Moses Sumney, Jennifer Hudson, and Demi Lovato. She has appeared on Saturday Night Live twice, as well as Samantha Bee's Full Frontal.

Photo by Bao Ngo.

Simon studied with a huge range of drummers in the US, Australia and Korea. Since 1990 he has performed regularly throughout Australia, Europe, Asia and the US. He has produced a large collection of solo drumming recordings and over the past 20 years he has been involved in numerous ongoing collaborative projects including Chiri (trio with Bae il Dong and Scott Tinkler), Showa 44 (duo with Carl Dewhurst), duo with Scott Tinkler, and most recently, a duo with saxophonist Hinano Fujisaki.

He has also played regularly with many of Australia’s most established ensembles including the Phil Slater Quintet, Matt McMahon trio, the Australian Art Orchestra, Vince Jones,  Paul Grabowsky sextet, Cameron Undy’s 20th Century Dog, Stu Hunter, as well as various groups led by Scott Tinkler. Over the past few years Simon has collaborated with numerous local and international artists including Jen Shyu, Gian Slater, Kim Hyelim, Chris Hale, Tony Malaby and Kris Davis, Jo Jonghun and Lim Mijeong (Byeolsinak), Mary Rapp and Carl Dewhurst, as well as with Henry Kaiser, Bill Laswell, and Rudresh Mahanthappa. 

Lester St. Louis is a New York City-born and based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and curator. Lester has worked in, performed and created in artistic environments in The United States, Canada, South America, Europe and China with groups and artists such as Dré Hočevar Trio, Jaimie Branch Fly or Die, Ensemble Adapter, TAK Ensemble and many more. As a composer, Lester has been commissioned by artists such as the JACK Quartet, Mahan Esfahani and Stefan Jackiw, RAGE THORMBONES, Lauren Cauley and others. In the near future Lester will be continuing to develop groups such as MADD (with Dré Hočevar and Leafar) as well as TRANSFER (with Jordan Balaber, Daniel Brew and Rocío Bolaños) along with many new ventures.

French Canadian clarinetist François Houle’s impassioned performances showcase a highly distinctive and original artistic voice. His remarkable ability to seamlessly transition between musical genres with characteristic flair and vitality has established him as one of the most versatile and distinctive clarinetists of his generation.

François Houle, a highly sought-after soloist and chamber musician, has expanded the clarinet’s repertoire through commissioning works by contemporary Canadian and international composers. He’s premiered over a hundred new compositions, including those by esteemed ensembles like Sea and Sky, The Turning Point Ensemble, and Standing Wave. Houle has collaborated with leading Canadian ensembles like ECM+, Bozzini Quartet, and Fibonacci Trio. 

His extensive touring has led to solo appearances at major festivals worldwide. Recent highlights include the world premiere of “The Secret Lives of Colour” in Berlin, Germany. A prolific recording artist, he’s released over twenty recordings as a leader, earning multiple JUNO and West Coast Music Award nominations. He founded Afterday Audio, a record label documenting his musical projects and collaborations. Houle has also appeared on numerous recordings on various labels. 

He’s composed works for small and large ensembles, including a concerto for clarinet recorded with the Turning Point Ensemble on the ATMA Classique label. 

Houle’s accolades include multiple Best Clarinetist titles from Downbeat magazine’s Readers and Critics’ Polls. He holds degrees from McGill and Yale and served as an artist-in-residence at the Banff Centre. He’s also a Fellow of the Civitella Ranieri Foundation. 

He currently teaches at Vancouver Community College and the Victoria Conservatory of Music, having previously taught at the University of British Columbia. Houle also served as artistic Director of the Vancouver Creative Music Institute for five years and was appointed “Associate Composer” of the Canadian Music Centre in 2008. 

As a Backun artist and clinician, he uses Backun clarinets, mouthpieces, bells, and barrels. He also performs on Signature European cut reeds as a Légère Artist.

Award-winning pianist, composer, bandleader and producer George Burton has been called "formidable" (NPR), "charismatic" (The New York Times), "revolutionary" (Nextbop), and "soulful" (Philadelphia Inquirer); his music "multidimensional" (Phila. Inq.), "sublime" (NPR). Burton has established himself as a visionary and prolific force on the piano, a standout who consistently turns heads both on record and in the live music scene, across the jazz spectrum and beyond. His dazzling virtuosity and wide-ranging approach beautifully reflect his experience—beginning with rigorous classical training, branching into the heady nightlife of the Philadelphia jazz scene, and refining his stunningly distinctive style in the New York clubs and on stages worldwide.

"Her voice a transparent gossamer of silk." Hers is an instrument that can shape sound and syllable, making it the messenger of every articulation whether it is a whisper, an ululation or a prance on the edge of a scream." -All about Jazz (USA)

Sissel Vera Pettersen is a multifaceted artist. She is a sound improvisor and composer who fuses highly creative vocal techniques with live electronic processing, and is also a brilliant sax player. Her diverse recorded work can be heard in over 50 international CD releases and she has toured all over Europe, in the USA, Canada, the Middle East and Africa. She was the artistic director of acclaimed Norwegian vocal ensemble Trondheim Voices from 2016-2025, and also works regularly with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra both as a singer and sax player. She has collaborated with artists including Chick Corea, Marilyn Mazur, Lionel Loueke, Marc Ducret, Jon Balke, Toumani Diabate, Django Bates, John Hollenbeck, Theo Bleckmann Christian Wallumrød, Terje Isungset, Tim Hagans, Helge Sten and Ståle Storløkken. Pettersen has been nominated several times for the Danish Music Awards and for the Norwegian Grammys, and won a Norwegian Grammy in 2022 with Trondheim Jazz Orchestra and Gurls. She regularly collaborates within contemporary dance and theatre, both as a performer, composer and musician, and she is also a visual artist, exhibiting paintings and graphic prints.

"Capable of producing sustained lines of the utmost purity, wild ululations and the occasional melodic line that simply disappears off the treble clef, Pettersen's voice is an instrument of extraordinary flexibility. ...one of those powerful emotional jolts that really stirs the soul." -The Arts Desk (UK)