Alex Chang is an electric acoustic harpist. She experiments with the diversity and sweep of resonances of the electric harp — from astral tones to wailing walls of distortion. Her musical practice finds its foundations in free jazz, indie rock, Celtic and new music, and her classical training. She explores entanglements and embodied practices through the concepts of free jazz and improvisation and the ways in which music moves through us and puts us in relation and dialogue with others. Her interest in interdisciplinary collaborative practices attends to how improvisation opens up our sentience, our emotional and empathic relations around us and beyond as intertwined beings for connection and healing. Within her interdisciplinary practice, she focuses on the arts and environment and centering BIPOC communities.

She is also the co-director of Improv Spaces and runs the Improv Spaces Music Festival with creative partner percussionist Adam Forman. Improv Spaces is based in upstate New York in Saratoga County and Capital Region, developing projects that can help to serve as a hub in the region and provide resources for new music with a community of interdisciplinary collaborators locally and beyond.

Alex Chang was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards and the John W. Kieley Endowment for Emerging Musicians.

With a passion for the unorthodox and a knack for cultivating unique ensemble identities, Melbourne-based saxophonist, improviser and composer Andrew Saragossi has established himself across several and varied creative outlets as a chameleon with a wind instrument - not bound by genre or personal taste, but by a relentless search for deeper musical meaning.

Whilst firmly grounded in the jazz tradition, his curiosity, and his deeply personal approach to improvisation and extended instrumental techniques (honed during his Master of Music studies in the Netherlands/Germany (2018-20)), has evolved to broaden his sonic palette beyond the stereotypical function of the saxophone.  His creative work sits equally in the abstract as it does in the conventional, achieving an honest balance between raw spontaneous expression and refined execution – always in service of the music at hand.

Saragossi has released 12 albums with his diverse and critically recognised original projects including; MEATSHELL (2020 Maastricht Jazz Awards), Milton Man Gogh (finalists 2020 B-Jazz International Competition) and Loose Leaf.  In 2022, Saragossi was nominated for the prestigious Freedman Jazz Fellowship and is currently undertaking the Bespoke Artist professional development program with Speak Percussion. 

Andrew Saragossi was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Stella Anning (she/her) has had a versatile career performing with a variety of artists and has established herself as a guitarist, singer, composer, bandleader, improviser and performer.

In 2022 Stella released her second album, an EP of her most recent project ‘STAT’ (Stella Anning Trio), performing all Stella’s original instrumental compositions. The trio performed for Melbourne International Jazz Festival in 2023 and have performed at venues around the country including Lazybones (SYD) and the Ellington Jazz Club (PERTH). 2024 has been a pivotal year for the band, with the addition of a pianist and Stella taking on a new role as songwriter/vocalist. The group have been performing an immense catalogue of new compositions around Melbourne as they prepare to head to the studio in July.

Stella is currently the guitarist and backing vocalist for John Flanagan, Sal Kimber, ISEULA and is guitarist for the Jazzlab Orchestra and Women of Soul.

Some notable performances include: Castlemaine Jazz Festival 2024 (Stella Anning), Bluesfest 2024 (Women of Soul), the National folk festival (John Flanagan, Canberra), Dashville Skyline (John Flanagan, NSW), the Corner Hotel (WOS, Melbourne) and Echuca Winter Blues Festival (ISEULA).

Stella received mentorship from Aaron Choulai in 2023 through the Australian Art Orchestra. Stella is endorsed by Cole Clark Guitars as of 2023.

Stella Anning was generously supported by the Jenny Belzberg Endowment.

Snow is a Chinese-Canadian composer from Burnaby who is pursuing her Bachelor’s degree in composition at the University of British Columbia. As a composer, a pianist, and someone who loves visual arts, Snow has directed her focus toward the integration of visual arts and music, particularly in the creation of graphic scores and entirely art-based compositions. Beyond visual arts, she is drawn to various art forms, having created works for interactive dance with electroacoustic music, live instruments, and visual design. In terms of sonic exploration, Snow concentrates on the sound itself and the combination of sounds as a whole. She aims to find all the subtle sounds an instrument, or unconventional ones like a household item, can produce. She then creates a unique sound world that depicts her view of the surrounding world.

She is also interested in the intercultural aspects of combining Chinese traditional instruments with Western instruments, and collaborated with the Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra’s wind quintet in the summer of 2023. Recently, she has collaborated with UBC Contemporary Players Ensemble and premiered at the West Coast Composer Symposium; Currently, she’s working with Allegra Chamber Orchestra and will have her piece premiered in June 2024.

Snow Diao was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards and the Judith Anne LaRoque Scholarship Endowment.

Olivia is an experimental improviser, clarinettist and composer who has performed with International Contemporary Ensemble (NYC), SoundSCAPE New Music Festival (Europe) & Ensemble Evolution (NYC), has been an Ensemble Mise-En resident composer (NYC) and has composed numerous electroacoustic works including with the Center for Computer Research in Music & Acoustics, Stanford (California).

In 2023, Olivia’s projects included their NYC-based commissioning project for underrepresented voices Shrew Brew, their duo project Eunoia with Argentinian vibraphonist Pauline Roberts, and composition commissions with both SoundSCAPE New Music Festival for pierrot + percussion and American Modern Ensemble (NYC) for wind quartet + harp. In September Olivia attended the Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive for experimental improvisers. In December, they curated two nights of experimental music at Arts on Site (NYC) for their project !$@%! supported by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.

In 2024, Olivia has an upcoming two-week residency with their improvised electronic music duo at Billilla Estate (Melbourne, Australia) in which the musicians will respond sonically to the environmental contexts of the historic grounds. 2024 commission premiere performances for Olivia include new compositions for Horizons Ensemble (Boston), Dior Quartet (New York), and Neave Trio (Netherlands) and Sydney Contemporary Orchestra (Sydney). Olivia’s work on themes of motherhood, mental health and identity continue in 2024 with the premiere presentation of :: Leo :: an electroacoustic piece from their 2022 album :: MXM :: in Sioux Falls.

At the Melbourne University (Australia) School of Jazz and Improvisation, Olivia holds a PhD stipend to experiment with handmade Arduino synthesizers, clarinet processing and Ableton. This is part of their doctoral research on the history and sociology of improvised computer music seen through a Queer, Feminist and Anti-racist lens. In addition to PhD candidature Olivia holds their Master of Music: Performer-Composer from The New School (NYC).

Olivia Jones was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Jake Baxendale is a saxophonist and composer based in Te Whanganui-A-Tara / Wellington, Aotearoa / New Zealand. He was born in the UK and grew up in Mohua / Golden Bay, developing a freedom of expression, love of nature and community-oriented mindset that he demonstrates in his life and music. He has received a number of national awards and nominations, including the Aotearoa Music Awards "Best Jazz Artist 2021" with prog-jazz band The Jac and the APRA NZ "Best Jazz Composition 2020"for his composition “Tūī”. He has toured South Korea with The Jac, tours Aotearoa and Australia regularly with both The Jac and trans-Tasman collaboration Antipodes, and has performed nationally with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, STROMA, The Troubles, Richter City Rebels, The Rodger Fox Big Band, The Wellington Mingus Ensemble, Bazurka, and his own trio JB3, among many others. In recent years, Jake released "Sanctuary", an album of large ensemble compositions in collaboration with Jasmine Lovell-Smith, completed a Masters of Music at The University of Auckland that explored new approaches for practicing and developing a musical vocabulary for improvisation, launched a new project “Gardening Music”, and became a father. Most recently, Jake was commissioned for the 2023 Wellington Jazz Festival, arranging lyrics from Ursula Le Guin’s version of the Tao Te Ching for a 7-piece band.

Jake Baxendale was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards and the Susan and Graeme McDonald Music Endowment.

One of Canada’s brightest talents, violinist Jonathan Crow exudes “masterful coolness” (The Montreal Gazette) as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University, at which time he joined the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal as Associate Principal Second Violin. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan was engaged as Concertmaster of that symphony, and notably during his tenure, was the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra. In 2011 he was appointed Concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Filarmonia de Lanaudiere and Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil). Jonathan has also performed as a soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montréal, Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, the Victoria, Nova Scotia and Kingston Symphonies, and Orchestra London, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Gustavo Gimeno, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Oundjian, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins.

Jonathan joined the Schulich School of Music at McGill University as an Assistant Professor of Violin and was appointed Associate Professor of Violin in 2010. Current and former students of Mr. Crow have received prizes at competitions around the world, including the Menuhin International Violin Competition, Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, Shean Competition, CBC Radio's NEXT competition, Eckhardt-Grammatte Competition, Canadian Music Competition, and Stulberg International String Competition, and work regularly with orchestras such as the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Camerata Salzburg, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Verbier Chamber Orchestra, Vienna Kammerphilharmonie and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.

In 2016 Jonathan was named Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music, which has enjoyed record attendance and rave reviews in all of his first six seasons. An avid chamber musician, he has performed at chamber music festivals throughout North America, South America and Europe including the Banff, Ravinia, Orford, Domaine Forget, Seattle, Montreal, Ottawa, Incontri in Terra di Sienna, Alpenglow, Festival Vancouver, Pernambuco (Brazil), Giverny (France) and Strings in the Mountains festivals. He is a founding member of the Juno Award-winning New Orford String Quartet, a project-based new ensemble dedicated to the promotion of standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire throughout North America. As an advocate of contemporary music he has premiered works by Canadian composers Michael Conway Baker, Eldon Rathburn, Barrie Cabena, Gary Kulesha, Tim Brady, Francois Dompierre, Vivian Fung, Ana Sokolovic, Marjan Mozetich, Christos Hatzis, Ernest MacMillan and Healey Willan. He also includes in his repertoire major concerti by such modern composers as Ligeti, Schnittke, Bernstein, Brian Cherney, Rodney Sharman, Vivian Fung and Cameron Wilson.

Jonathan has recorded for ATMA, Bridge, CBC, Oxingale, Skylark, and XXI-21 labels and is heard frequently on Chaîne Culturelle of Radio-Canada, CBC Radio Two, and National Public Radio, along with Radio France, Deutsche Welle, Hessischer Rundfunk and the RAI in Europe. One of Canada’s brightest talents, violinist Jonathan Crow exudes “masterful coolness” (The Montreal Gazette) as concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. A native of Prince George (British-Columbia), Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Music in Honours Performance from McGill University in 1998, at which time he joined the Montreal Symphony Orchestra as Associate Principal Second Violin. Between 2002 and 2006, Jonathan was the Concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, becoming the youngest concertmaster of a major North American orchestra. Jonathan continues to perform as guest concertmaster with orchestras around the world, including the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Filarmonia de Lanaudière and Pernambuco Festival Orchestra (Brazil).

Jonathan has performed as a soloist with most major Canadian orchestras including the Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, the National Arts Centre and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestras, the Victoria and Kingston Symphonies and Orchestra London, under the baton of such conductors as Charles Dutoit, Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Sir Andrew Davis, Peter Oundjian, Gustavo Gimeno, Kent Nagano, Mario Bernardi and João Carlos Martins.

An avid chamber musician, Jonathan has performed at many chamber music festivals in Europe and North America, and is the Artistic Director of Toronto Summer Music. He is a founding member of the Juno Award-winning New Orford String Quartet, a new project-based ensemble dedicated to the promotion of standard and Canadian string quartet repertoire. Jonathan is currently Associate Professor of Violin at the University of Toronto.

Photo by Sian Richards