Conner Satyro was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Conner Satyro is an eclectic musician currently based out of Calgary, Alberta.  His artistic works paired with his educational background & experience as a bandleader, solo performer, accompanist and involvement in DIY independent music communities, have culminated into an extensive resume spanning the North American underground. A reputation garnered through precise execution and an undeniable artistic voice across original, collaborative and supportive roles.  

As a drummer he has toured coast to coast nationally with Seth Anderson’s band, sessioned for gunk-pop pioneers Black Ends, performed at the 2023 Canmore Folk Fest and during his first international tour, gigged on a boat underneath the Golden Gate Bridge with Fever Feel.  He has played on recordings for Singaporean musician Gazelle, LA guitarist Benjamin Fortin, Seattle indie rock band Dusty, Oakland based songwriter Mitchell Manburg and Subway. In 2025 his former band YOY with critically acclaimed musicians Daniel Seah (Singapore) & Kogano Moe (Japan) released Three Pals from Not America marking 9 years of international collaboration.  

In 2026 Conner released 4 records, toured & played live on 90.9 CJSW with his free jazz duo Fact, performed for the provincial government at The National Music Centre and is gearing up for a three week solo US tour.

Ketija Ringa-Karahona was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Ketija Ringa-Karahona is a Latvian flutist based in the Netherlands since 2019. In 2025 she acquired a Master’s degree at the Jazz Department of Conservatorium van Amsterdam. With a foundation in classical music and a love for improvisation, her musical voice bridges genres and explores various sonic territories. She has collaborated with leading jazz/improvising artists including Petter Eldh, Kit Downes, Mary Halvorson, Reinier Baas, Ernst Reijseger, and Pablo Held, among others.

In 2022 she received the Keep An Eye Outstanding Talent Award. In 2023 she was chosen as the Jonge Makers of Amsterdam Jazzfest. Featured in NRC as one of twelve art school graduates in Netherlands in the year of 2023, as well as winner of the Laren Jazz Award 2023. In 2025 she won the Mingus Prize making her the composer of residence for Paradox Jazz Orchestra.

Fall Raye was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Fall Raye (they/them) is a trans/non-binary saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, improviser, composer, and educator living in Boston, MA. They teach piano, saxophone, flute, and clarinet to students of all ages through Noteworthy Experiences. Fall also works as a freelance musician, playing weddings for Everluxe Entertainment since 2021, as well leading their own projects as a bandleader, show organizer, and composer, performing their original music across the US. Fall has appeared on multiple albums including Raul Molina’s Matria, Naomi Nakanishi’s Hear Me Now, and Paolo Paolo Peruzzi’s Songs from the Past and the Holy Spirit. In January 2024, fall, their debut self titled album, released on Boomslang Records. On May 9th, 2025, they released a collaborative album with Devon Gates and Raul Molina entitled, Lamento. Fall has performed with some of their musical idols, including Terri Lyne Carrington, Kris Davis, Miguel Zenon, Elena Pinderhughes, Leo Geovese, and Gretchen Parlato. Fall's artistic vision is to create work that speaks from their own experiences as a trans person, as a person healing from their own traumas, and through their interpersonal relationships, to create a listening experience where the audience can feel less alone, seen, and in community with others

Tess Overmyer was generously supported by the Helen Graham Artist Award.

Tessie Overmyer has established herself as one of the most exciting saxophone players in the Australian jazz scene. Originally from Newcastle, Australia, she is currently based in New York City.

Tessie has performed extensively throughout Australia as both a bandleader and sideperson, appearing at major festivals including the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, the Sydney Women’s Jazz Festival, and the Perth International Jazz Festival. She has played alongside Australian jazz legends like Barney Mcall, Mike Nock, Sandy Evans, Vanessa Perica, and Sam Anning. In 2025 Tessie released her debut album, Tidelines with Earshift Music.

In 2026 she released a second album, Quartet with ABC Jazz, which was the result of a composition commission from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Tessie is currently studying a Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where she has had the opportunity to study with Donny McCaslin, Caroline Davis, Jaleel Shaw, Nicole Glover, and Ingrid Jensen.

Kyle Muir was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Kyle Muir (he/they) is a guitarist, producer and audio engineer working on Wurundjeri land in Victoria, Australia. Muir works in a range of different roles (recording, mixing, mastering, guitarist, singer) across many different styles (jazz, West-African music, singer-songwriter, electronic, sound art).

In 2020, Kyle completed their Honours year with a research focus on West-African Manding music under the tutelage of Guinean-Australian griot musician Amadou Kalissa. Through this project Amadou and Kyle formed the ensemble Mandeng Groove.

Mandeng Groove have since toured Australia and undergone two study trips to West Africa. Notably in 2024, Kyle recorded, mixed and played guitar on the LP Conakry, a collaboration between the Melbourne ensemble and local musicians from Guinea.  

In 2021, Kyle took part in the Australian Art Orchestra’s Creative Music Intensive, a 10-day practise-based music residency at Mt Hotham in Victoria. Undertaking the Creative Music Intensive was formative and Kyle met musicians from across the country, forming new creative connections.

Kyle is currently working on an array of different projects including their 2nd LP for Wybie and producing Flora Carbo’s upcoming LP The Cyclist.

Emil Miszk was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Trumpeter, composer and improviser working at the intersection of jazz, contemporary and improvised music.

His work is shaped by a constant tension between structure and freedom. Rather than developing f ixed bands, he focuses on designing frameworks in which music can unfold in real time — where composition becomes a space for interaction, not a closed form. His projects move across large ensembles, electro-acoustic formats and interdisciplinary contexts, but remain rooted in one core idea: music as a system of relationships between people, sound and place.

As a performer and artistic director, he works with modular formats that adapt to different environments, scales and constellations of musicians, allowing each project to evolve beyond a single version or setting.

FRYDERYK Award winner and board member of the Alpaka Records Label & Foundation. Alongside his artistic work, he is active as an educator, combining artistic research, performance and community-oriented projects. He has extensive experience in international touring, recording and teaching across Europe and Asia.

emilmiszk.com

Daniel Mayer was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Daniel Mayer is an acclaimed bassist and guitarist from New Jersey. A distinctive emerging artist of his generation, Daniel has performed throughout New York City and internationally at venues such as the Panama Jazz Festival, Nublu, Jordan Hall, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. He has performed and collaborated with artists including José Soto, Nasheet Waits, Nat Adderley Jr., Gabriel Nieves, Bruno Bruni, and Fortuno, and currently leads his own cross-genre group performing original compositions spearheaded by his voices on the bass and guitar. While initially starting out on the guitar at the age of nine, Daniel eventually fell in love with the bass and resolved to move forward with both instruments in lifelong pursuit. After earning his B.A. from Bowdoin College, he went on to be awarded the Dean’s Scholarship to pursue his M.M. at the New England Conservatory, where he had the privilege of studying with Cecil McBee, Jason Moran, and Frank Carlberg.

Abi Lee was generously supported by the Marshall M. Williams Endowment.

Abi Lee (she/her) is a pianist, composer, and improviser with Korean heritage based in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia. She relocated from New Zealand to live and study jazz and contemporary improvised music. Driven by her “deep commitment to improvisation” (Andrea Keller, 2024), Lee continues to explore the possibilities and impossibilities of piano and improvisation. Lee’s work blurs the lines between percussive and harmonic aspects of the piano across genres (such as contemporary classical and free jazz). As a recipient of several prizes and awards, Lee presents her works across Australia, taking part in major jazz festivals and sharing the stage with various Australia’s best improvisers. Taking inspirations from improvisers such as Kris Davis, Ornette Coleman, and Tim Berne, Lee’s compositions bring out her unique view of the world with “musical depth and vulnerability necessary to be engaged in high level real time improvisation” (Stephen Magnusson, 2024). Lee’s works has been described: “there is a measured calm to this music, full of minimalist and restive beauty forged from conversational exchange.” (Cowley - Rhythms Magazine, 2024).

Kateryna Kravchenko was generously supported by the Barbara and John Poole Memorial Endowment.

Kateryna Kravchenko is an award-winning Ukrainian vocalist and composer. Following her dream of becoming a jazz musician, she moved to Germany in 2018 to study in Dresden. Since then, she has participated in various prestigious programs and residencies, including Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy in Hamburg, and the Gutenberg Jazz Collective in Mainz, and has toured with her music across Europe.

She has performed with internationally renowned musicians such as Melissa Aldana, Lars Danielsson, Lage Lund, Joey Baron, Ben van Gelder, and Linda May Han Oh.

During her exchange year at the Royal College of Music Stockholm, she focused on composition for large ensemble and created a genre-bending suite inspired by paintings by Ukrainian artist Maria Prymachenko.

Together with Luxembourgish vibraphonist Arthur Clees, she recently released the album Faces, produced by Wanja Slavin, which focuses on poetry about the search for identity and explores not only the unusual combination of vibraphone and voice but also features church organ, percussion and electronics.  

Currently, Kateryna is pursuing a dual master’s degree in Jazz Composition and Vocals at the Cologne University of Music and Dance.
 

Sean Keenan was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artist Award.

Sean Keenan is a musician, composer, and researcher based in San Francisco, California. He is currently a PhD candidate in Cross-Cultural Musicology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, expecting to finish the program in Spring of 2026. He previously studied music at Mills College in Oakland and visual art at Columbia College in Chicago. Keenan often performs with various improvising/experimental groups, both around and outside of the Bay Area, generally playing either electric guitar or bass guitar. He is a regular performer in the Santa Cruz-based Rodrigo Barriga Ensemble, and New York-based group Das Audit. He also regularly performs solo or as a duo, using a mix of acoustic instruments (Hmong gong, Costa Rican ocarina, Celtic lyre, modified bull horn shofar, tambourine), and altering their sounds through electronic processes (reverb, octave generator, delay, pitch shift). His debut solo album Delay Music (2025) utilizes field recordings processed through Max MSP and is now available through Mixed Media Recordings.