Gather, Listen, Hear: Background Music

Raven Chacon is a composer, performer and installation artist from Fort Defiance, Navajo Nation. As a solo artist, Chacon has exhibited, performed, or had works performed at LACMA, The Renaissance Society, San Francisco Electronic Music Festival, REDCAT, Vancouver Art Gallery, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Borealis Festival, SITE Santa Fe, Chaco Canyon, Ende Tymes Festival, and The Kennedy Center. As a member of Postcommodity from 2009-2018, he co-created artworks presented at the Whitney Biennial, documenta 14, Carnegie International 57, as well as the 2-mile long land art installation Repellent Fence.

A recording artist over the span of 22 years, Chacon has appeared on more than eighty releases on various national and international labels. In 2022, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Music for his composition Voiceless Mass. His 2020 Manifest Destiny opera Sweet Land, co-composed with Du Yun, received critical acclaim from The LA Times, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, and was named 2021 Opera of the Year by the Music Critics Association of North America.

Since 2004, he has mentored over 300 high school Native composers in the writing of new string quartets for the Native American Composer Apprenticeship Project (NACAP). Chacon is the recipient of the United States Artists fellowship in Music, The Creative Capital award in Visual Arts, The Native Arts and Cultures Foundation artist fellowship, the American Academy’s Berlin Prize for Music Composition, the Bemis Center’s Ree Kaneko Award, the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award (2022), the Pew Fellow-in-Residence (2022), and is a 2023 MacArthur Fellow.

His solo artworks are in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum and National Museum of the American Indian, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Getty Research Institute, the University of New Mexico Art Museum, and various private collections.

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.

Sam Fournier is a Métis multi-instrumentalist, singer/songwriter, composer, performer and arranger based in Winnipeg. As a bassist, Fournier has performed throughout the province and Canada with a wide variety of groups, and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Manitoba Jazz Studies program. While he is known as a versatile sideman, Sam is also developing a personal sound as a solo artist. Through his rich exposure to varying types of music, as well as having abilities on many instruments, Sam hopes to express himself and connect with others through his music. As a composer, Fournier has a deep understanding of harmony, all while delivering melodies that are simple, yet memorable. He explores elements of grief, love, hope, and community through his work. Sam believes that music should be accessible to all, regardless of education or economic status, with the goal of decolonizing the art form while maintaining his personal artistic voice.

Sam Fournier was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

In the words of the NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington, paolo peruzzi (b1994 in Verona, Italy) is an artist “with the curious and inquisitive nature to push the genre forward”. Kris Davis describes paolo as “extraordinarily talented, hardworking, curious”. After graduating in 2019 at the Arrigo Pedrollo Music Conservatory (Vicenza, Italy), paolo went on to pursue a performance diploma at the Berklee College of Music (’23 graduate), studying and play alongside artists such as esperanza spalding, Kris Davis, Terri Lyne Carrington, Matt Stevens, David Friedman, Kenny Werner, Francisco Mela, Pietro Tonolo. paolo has been part of the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, whose mission is to support and sustain a cultural transformation in jazz, with the commitment to recruit, teach, mentor, and advocate for musicians seeking to study or perform jazz, with gender justice and racial justice as guiding principles. Founder in 2015 of the multi-awarded chamber percussion ensemble ‘Palladrum’, paolo is the awardee at the first ‘Tomorrow’s Jazz’ competition, presented by Veneto Jazz in conjunction with the Veneto Jazz Festival.

Paolo Peruzzi was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Award.

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.
 

Benjamin Shannon is carving a niche in the Australian and international music scene distinguished as a percussionist, educator, curator, and composer.

Ben's unyielding pursuit of musical growth fuels his endeavours in teaching, composition, and performance. His involvement in projects Milton Man Gogh, Shamin, Kodiak Empire, Big Dead, Brisbane Conduction Orchestra, and others, have contributed to a portfolio of over 20 releases and countless performances/tours, home and abroad.

His collaborative endeavours include performances with Scott Tinkler, Yitzhak Yedid, Katatonia, COG, The Contortionist, to name a few, also earning acclaim for his compositions at the Bell Awards, Queensland Music Awards, and Australian Art Music Awards.

Having participated in the Banff International Jazz Workshop (2017), Banff Musicians in Residence (2024) and the Australian Art Orchestra Creative Intensive Music Program (2018), Ben's commitment to cross-cultural collaboration is evident.

In 2017, he joined the iconic Art As Catharsis label, contributing to bookings and an administrative role for acclaimed acts Qais Essar, Hekka, Rafiq Bhatia, KNOWER, and more, resulting in consistent events, tours and festivals throughout Australia for local and international artists. 

In his role as conductor of The Brisbane Conduction Orchestra, Ben champions diversity, inclusion, and a secure improvisational space. His tireless advocacy in the Australian contemporary jazz scene is highlighted through constant curation in this field.

Benjamin Shannon was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.
 

Zac Sakrewski is a bassist, composer and session musician from the idyllic Sunshine Coast, Australia. With a strong desire to experiment and a sympathetic ear, he has developed a playing style that transcends genre and function to cultivate collaboration and kindness. His style can be described as multi-disciplinary, spontaneous and versatile. Pulling from a kaleidoscope of influences and genres to create an evocative musical tapestry.

Zac started studying music at the age of 17 and was privileged to study with composer and conductor Robin Smith (Royal Philharmonic, Mike Oldfield, Kanye West (pre Ye)) and Guitar Legend Phil Emmanuel. To further his studies, he attended the Queensland Conservatorium of music, studying improvisation and composition with renowned Israeli composer Yitzhak Yedid and Double Bass with Peter Walters, Helen Russell and Michael Morgan (Metropolitan Opera) during his undergraduate and later, with Marian Heckenberg (QSO) during his masters studies. Zac has developed an expertise integrating technology with the acoustic and electric bass, utilising effect pedals, ableton and MAX for live to create melodies and soundscapes that simultaneously compliment and juxtapose the original form and function of the instruments.

Zac’s current projects include Milton Man Gogh, Lamborghini Eagleman, Dropbear Lodge, Faux Bandit, Jam of a Lifetime, Milk Buttons, Strangely Enough, Cowbird, Martin Kay’s Forage, June Cartel and The Polaroids and has shared the stage with International and domestic artists such as Yitzhak Yedid, Phil Emmanuel, Julian Arguelles, Kristin Berardi, Kayleigh Pincott and many more.

Zac has released two albums under his own name and his compositions have been nominated for prestigious awards such as the International Songwriting Competition, BELL awards, Queensland Music Awards and the 4ZZZ hottest 100. In 2024 as a part of Milton Man Gogh, Zac attended the Musicians in Residence course at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity under the guidance of Megumi Masaki where he, and the other members of the band connected with likeminded artists and collaborated with artists such as Jane Siberry, Michael Clarke and François Salque.

Zac Sakrewski was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards.

Jonathan Kawchuk is a Canadian composer and sound artist, notably having scored Before the Ice (2024) and episodes of David Suzuki's The Nature of Things. His work spans theatre, film, and sound installations and he has worked on albums for Nico Muhly and Ben Frost, and studied field recording under Chris Watson. An alumnus of several music residencies, he is a Grammy voting member, recording artist on Paper Bag Records, and the Canadian representative for acoustic conservation non-profit Quiet Parks International.

Kawchuk’s most recent record Everywhen was created by playing back vocal recordings deep in the Canadian Rockies, allowing them to reverberate, and then re-recording the result in multichannel surround sound after they had gathered the forest’s characteristic echo. His next album will explore the paleoecology of Alberta/BC using instruments built from living fossil wood species, extended vocal techniques, and concatenative synthesis.

Jonathan Kawchuk was generously supported by the Alice and Betty Schultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music.

Perhaps a product of nominative determinism, Oscar Peterson is a musician & composer redefining musical boundaries. He works as a double bassist, electric bassist, guitarist, drummer, composer, arranger & musical director in Sydney & across Australia. 

Oscar graduated from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music jazz program in 2019. In July 2023, he attended the Siena Summer Jazz Workshop in Siena, Italy, studying with Linda Oh, Matt Penman, Reinier Baas, Gerald Clayton & Shai Maestro. In 2022, he was selected as a member of the Australian National Jazz Orchestra Youth Big Band, performing at the Sydney Conservatorium International Jazz Festival and the Perth International Jazz Festival. In 2017, Oscar attended the Australian Art Orchestra's Creative Music Intensive in Tasmania, studying traditional Korean music and Indigenous Australian music. Other career highlights include touring internationally with ARIA-nominated Zela Margossian Quintet and performing for Herbie Hancock at the Sydney Opera House for International Jazz Day in 2019. 

Recently, Oscar has been performing and touring with the Michael J Brady Trio and indie-rock band Safety First, and is currently working on a debut album project with his own quartet.

Oscar Peterson was generously supported by the Repsol Emerging Artists Award.

Megumi Masaki is a pianist, multimedia performing artist, educator and curator. She is recognized as an innovator that reimagines the piano, pianist and performance space. Her work pushes boundaries of interactivity between sound, image, text and movement in multimedia works through new technologies, including hand-gesture-motion tracking to generate and control live-electronics and live-video, AI, 3D visuals, keyboard-controlled computer game, e-textile sensors and active infra-red tracking. As a Japanese-Canadian artist, her work also explores how human rights and environmental issues can intersect and be communicated through music. Over 70 compositions have been created with/for Megumi and she has premiered 150 works worldwide. Megumi was appointed to the Order of Manitoba and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
www.megumimasaki.com

Music is definitely part of Darrell Green’s family pedigree — his father was a bass player after all — but this jazz drummer also has his own preternatural sense of groove. Over a career that’s spanned more than two decades, Green has become a master technician and prolific sideman, sharing stages with everyone from Blue Note vibraphonist Stefon Harris to saxophonist Red Holloway. Though jazz is his primary focus, Green is conversant in every genre from straight-ahead jazz to Latin and West African music.

Oakland-raised Green has been playing drums for as long as he can remember. In fact, his first birthday present was a toy drum. When he was 7 years old, Green landed his first professional gig at Cosmopolitan Baptist Church. Four years later he matriculated in the Young Musicians Program at UC Berkeley and apprenticed under Kent Reed. “He would take me to his gigs. I would help him set up so I got exposed to the real life of a musician,” says Green. During high school Green was a section leader in both the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra and the Bay Area Wind Symphony. Additionally, he played drums in the Castlemont High School Jazz Band and backed the Castleers choir. After high school, Green attended the California Institute of the Arts on a scholarship, where he majored in jazz studies with an emphasis on African percussion.bio

Throughout college Green drove up to the Bay Area every weekend to play a trio gig at San Francisco’s Club Deluxe, which featured Marcus Shelby on bass and Howard Wiley on saxophone. In 2001 he began touring with Lavay Smith and Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers, and also formed a trio with guitarist Julian Lage and bassist David Ewell. Two years later, Green joined the Dave Ellis Quintet and performed at the Monterey Jazz Festival. He consolidated his career as a gun-for-hire, and started getting calls from heavyweights like Harris and Dr. Lonnie Smith whenever they came to town. He developed a style that’s rooted in modern post-bop, but retains elements of his gospel and classical lineage. As a soloist, Green became known for his bedrock groove and inexhaustible creativity.

In 2005 Green landed a scholarship at the Manhattan School of Music, where he began a comprehensive study of jazz performance. Shortly thereafter he began working with David Weiss, saxophonists JD Allen and Sherman Irby, and the Myron Waldon/Daron Barrett Quartet. He became a sought-after musician for both session work and live shows.

Green has toured with James Hurt, James Zollar, Brad Leali, Jesse Davis, and Stacy Dillard. Currently, he is touring with Pharoah Sanders, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Sherman Irby, Steve Turre, Faye Carol, Lavay Smith and the Red Hot Skillet Lickers, and Jeremy Pelt. He is one of the most in-demand drummers in New York , Europe, and Japan.

Janine Windolph (Atikamekw/Woodland Cree) is a Saskatchewan-based filmmaker, video editor, educator, fine-craft artist, and storyteller. She is the Director of Indigenous Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Prior, Janine was the Curator of Community Engagement at the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. She has her Master of Fine Arts: Interdisciplinary in Indigenous Fine Art and Media Production.

Janine was a co-producer for RIIS Media Project Inc wherein she co-directed RIIS from Amnesia: Recovering the Lost Legacies (feature-length documentary) that features the history of the Regina Indian Industrial School (RIIS). 

Janine’s filmography includes roles as producer, director, narrator, writer and/or editor.  She directed Stories Are In Our Bones, Lifegivers: Honoring Our Elders and Children, The Land of Rock and Gold, Ayapiyâhk ôma niyanân “Only us, we are here at home,”

Janine is working with Buffalo Mountain Banff; a community group to Buffalo Mountain, and providing production support to the Buffalo Mountain Video Project that is part of her sons’ homeschooling.

Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace by multi-instrumentalist Shabaka Hutchings is, in a sense, a debut album. And yet, the album also serves as a reintroduction to the artist, a levitating, stunning work chock full of the lessons he’s learned over the course of his life and career. And perhaps, most importantly, it represents the spirit of exploration that the artist is most tapped into these days.

London-born, Hutchings spent much of his childhood in Barbados. Beginning at age nine, he studied the clarinet, playing in calypso bands while studying classical repertoire, often practicing over hip hop beats by artists such as Nas, as well as to the music native to Barbados. He imparted that at the time, “The idea of being a particular ‘type’ of musician who limited themselves by genre was totally alien to me and my peers, it was just about playing with skill and dedication, and whether music moved me or left me cold.”

Consequently, after studying clarinet at Guildhall School of Music from 2004-2008, he collaborated on a kaleidoscopic range of projects: recording and/or touring with Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics, Soweto Kinch, Floating Points and Courtney Pine amongst many other bands, as well as being a part of the London Improvisers Orchestra. He’s also composed pieces for the BBC Concert Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Ligeti Quartet, and performed the Copland Clarinet Concerto with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Britten Sinfonietta as well as the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra.

Over the course of the past decade, the lion’s share of his touring and recorded work has been with three bands: Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming and Shabaka and the Ancestors. “In these formations,” he shared, “I’ve been able to display a fundamental approach to creative practice in different contexts spanning Afro-Caribbean fusion, London dance music club culture and the rich South African jazz tradition – all within the freedom afforded by the legacy of the American ‘jazz’ tradition.” That approach reflects a mantra he absorbed early in his life.

“My primary school teacher told me ‘the music isn’t hard, just practice it mechanically then relax and let your soul shine through’. This is an adage which I’ve kept throughout my life of learning how the musics and instruments of different cultures relate to my personal vision of sound.”

His musical exploration includes employing a variety of flutes, including the ancient Japanese Shakuhachi, which he started playing in 2020 during the pandemic. “Since then, it has slowly changed the scope of my musical inner landscape and drawn me towards a multitude of other instruments in the flute family,” he explained. “As more flutes have been added to my arsenal including Mayan Teotihuacan drone flutes, Brazilian Pifanos, Native American flutes and South American Quenas, I’ve started to appreciate the underlying principles that cause these instruments to resonate most fully and use this understanding to form a concept allowing me to freely move between instruments.”

On New Year’s Day 2023, in the wake of the release of his 2022 debut EP, Afrikan Culture (which notably featured the artist primarily on flutes), Shabaka announced that beginning in 2024 he’d take a hiatus from playing the saxophone publicly. He clarified in July 2023 on his Instagram page his intention to cease playing with bands in which the saxophone was his primary instrument (including The Comet Is Coming, Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors).

For the flute-forward album Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace, Hutchings tapped into a remarkable cadre of players, including percussionist Carlos Niño and bassist Esperanza Spalding. Vocalists including Saul Williams and Lianne La Havas contributed to “Managing My Breath, What Fear Had Become” and “Kiss Me Before I Forget”, respectively. Floating Points, with whom Shabaka shared a stage with for their performance of Promises at the Hollywood Bowl, provided additional production on the track “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”.

“I invited a bunch of musicians I’ve met and admired over the past few years of touring throughout the United States to collaborate and everyone said yes, which I constantly find breathtaking,” he disclosed. His aim was to gather the musicians at Rudy Van Gelder’s historic studios, which he says “informed the sound of so many seminal jazz albums that have shaped my musical aptitude. We played with no headphones or separation in the room so we could capture the atmosphere of simply playing together in the space without a technological intermediary. After recording hours of inspired interactions, I set to work producing an album from the material.”

When asked about the meaning of the song’s titles, he explained that his previous album’s song titles can be read as poems, respectively. “The narrative aspect of my albums is always intentional,” he explained. “Around the release of the Shabaka and the Ancestors album We Are Sent Here by History, I coined the term ‘sonic poems’ to express how I’m intending the listener to relate to the words associated with the sounds contained on the disc. Each title on this disc was extracted from a longer poem written specifically for the album which only achieved its full meaning in the presence of the music.”

He further relayed that “How the listener interprets the words in relation to the sounds is personal and it’s this subjective unravelling of complex ideas that’s an integral part of the journey I intend to take the listener on. This idea permeated sons of Sons of Kemet’s Black to the Future album whereby each track title reads as a poem. Perceive its Beauty, Acknowledge its Grace follows in this tradition of titles as symbolising a narrative which is necessarily subjective and expansive in relation to the listener’s experience with the heard music.” –Ayana Contreras
 

Jodi Proznick is a Canadian jazz bassist, composer, educator and producer. In 2019, she was named Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and has been nominated for three Juno Awards. She was also a recipient of the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Arts and Music Awards in 2022.

Jodi Proznick has earned a reputation as one of Canada’s finest jazz artists. She has won numerous National Jazz Awards, including Bassist of the Year in ’08 and ’09. Her group, the Jodi Proznick Quartet, was awarded the Acoustic Group of the Year and Album of the Year in ‘08 and the Galaxie Rising Star at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival in ‘04.

In addition to leading her own group, Jodi has performed with many of Canada’s top jazz musicians, including PJ Perry, Don Thompson, Kirk MacDonald, Guido Basso, Oliver Gannon, Dee Daniels, Phil Dwyer, and Laila Biali. She is regularly in demand to perform and record with visiting jazz artists including Michael Bublé, Byron Stripling, Michael Feinstein, David “Fathead” Newman, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ed Thigpen, Jeff Hamilton, Peter Bernstein, Charles McPherson, Seamus Blake, George Coleman, Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy, Harold Mabern, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotundi, Eddie Daniels, Jeff Hamilton and Lewis Nash.

In addition to recording her own Juno-nominated CD as a leader, Jodi has been featured on over 50 recordings as a side person.

Jodi began playing bass at the age of 13 under the direction of her father David, an award-winning music educator. In ‘93, Jodi received the General Motors Award of Excellence, establishing her as one of the top young musicians at Musicfest Canada, and then went on to receive a scholarship to study bass at McGill University in Montreal. After graduating, Jodi played with many of the top musicians in Montreal, including Juno winners Christine Jensen and Renee Lee as well as Montreal greats Andre White and Greg Clayton. She was awarded the IAJE Sisters in Jazz award in ‘98 as one of the best up-and-coming female jazz musicians.

Jodi moved to Vancouver in ‘00, where she now lives with her husband and collaborator, pianist Tilden Webb, and son Tristan. Her personal highlights include opening for Oscar Peterson in 2004, performing as a featured soloist with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and recording numerous times for CBC Radio. Another highlight in Jodi’s career was when she was asked to be the featured bassist in the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Winter Games’ closing ceremonies and soundtrack.

Jodi’s deep passion for education lead her to pursue a Masters Degree in Education at Simon Fraser University. She was a faculty member at Kwantlen Polytechnic University (2012-2020) and Capilano University (2003-2013) where she taught improvisation, jazz theory, jazz history, popular music history, rudiments, jazz combo and bass lessons. She is currently the Department Head of the Jazz Program, Artistic Director of the Summer Jazz Workshop and Sister Jazz Day at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra School of Music where she teaches jazz bass, combo, jazz history and jazz theory. She has been a guest adjudicator and clinician at many festivals, colleges, universities, and conferences across Canada including faculty at the prestigious Banff Centre for the Arts.
 

Ivy Pan (she/her) is a project management professional rooted in the performing arts, education, and entrepreneurship. With a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto, specializing in the violin, Ivy has honed a dynamic skill set. Her expertise encompasses strategic planning and successful execution of fundraising events, educational programming, concerts, competitions, and tours. Ivy is passionate about supporting artists and has contributed to organizations like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, York Region Arts Council, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Ivy currently serves as the Program Manager, Performing Arts - Music at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Jacqueline Bell is curator at Walter Phillips Gallery. Recent exhibitions include Cassils: Movement (2024, co-curated with Carol Stakenas); The Shape of an Echo: Selections from the Permanent Collection (2022); darkness is as deep as the darkness is by Rita McKeough (2020); A materialist history of contagion by Candice Lin (2019); Guidelines by Carmen Papalia with Heather Kai Smith (2019); If the river ran upwards (2018) with Silvina Babich, Alana Bartol, Diane Borsato, Carolina Caycedo, T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Anne Riley, and Genevieve Robertson; THE CAVE (2018) by Young Joon Kwak with Marvin Astorga, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Adrian Stimson, and Kim Ye; and the exhibition and performance, Everything I Say Is True (2017) by Kite. Prior to joining Walter Phillips Gallery, Bell contributed to a number of projects and exhibitions at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). As an independent writer, Bell has been published by C Magazine, FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, and X-TRA: Contemporary Art Quarterly, among others. She is a graduate of the MA Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere program at the University of Southern California.

Michael J Brady (he/him) is a Sydney-based musician who traverses jazz, folk and indie music making. Working primarily a guitarist; he draws on effects, voice, and multiple instruments as a means of exploring and sharing sound. 

Since 2016 he has led the Michael J Brady Trio, exploring shifting textures within the improvised trio format. The group have toured the Australian East Coast four times, collaborating with artists including Sandy Evans, Sasha Gavlek, and Flora Carbo. Michael released his debut album ‘Brady//Donkin//Phipps’ with the group in late 2023. He is also a founding member in indie-rock outfit Jackie Brown Jr, working as a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and songwriter. He has completed four tours with the group, releasing two Eps.

Michael holds a Bachelor of Music (honours)/Bachelor of Education having studied at the University of New South Wales (2018) and completed an exchange semester at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University (2015). Since his studies he has taken part in the Australian Art Orchestra’s 2021 Creative Music Intensive and the 2023 Siena Jazz University International Jazz Workshop. In 2023 Michael and his trio were artists in residence at the University of New South Wales Creative Practice lab.

Michael Brady was generously supported by the Repsol Emerging Artists Award.

Chia-Ching Hsieh, a Taiwanese percussionist, got a master degree of National Taipei University of the Arts Institute of Orchestra and Percussion and is now studying in University of the Arts Jazz Studies M.M. Notably, she was a member of the Ju Percussion Group, National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra and touring various countries. 

Key Achievements:
Participated in the Higher Education Sprout Project, collaborating on the project “Looking Sounds” with musician Jean Geoffroy.
Played the opening show for 2018 Taiwan Lantern Festival with Ju Percussion Group.
Won the 2018 TNUA Emerging Young Artists Competition and performing the Timpani Concerto “Raise the Roof” with TNUA Orchestra in TNUA Concert Hall. 
Won the 2019 Music Start in Taiwan and got the sponsor to hold the percussion recital ‘’Constant Conjunction’’ in New Taipei City Art Center. 
Played ‘’Disney in Concert: Little mermaid x NTSO’’ with National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra at National Taichung Theater in 2020. 
Participated in various performances and tours, including Guandu Art Festival, Tokyo University of Music, and concerts around China. 
Notable performances in 2023 include invitations from Key of She, Femme ensemble at Kimmel Center, and participation in the Taiwan International Percussion Convention.

Recent Highlights (2023-2024):
Invited by Key of She, playing the opening show at the Please Touch Museum. 
Being the members and performed in Tony Miceli’s jazz ensemble at Chris’ Cafe.
Featured in the 11th Taiwan International Percussion Convention at Taiwan National Concert Hall.
Accepted into the Boysie Lowery Living Jazz Residency, participating and playing in the 36th Clifford Brown Jazz Festival in Delaware. 
Collaborated with Iming Lin Quintet and played at the Second Friday Jazz Festival.
Invited by David Goldflies for the re-recording of the 1995 album “One Tan Arm.”
Played in the Funk-Fusion Band Partly Cloudy at The Roof Top Philadelphia.
Featured in Uarts Transfusion, being the special guest and participating in the Roy Ayers Tribute Night.
Featured in the Taiwan pop band ‘’Fool and Idiot’’ and Start to Touring in Shanghai at March.

Chia-Ching Hsieh was generously supported by the Denis Jackson Memorial Scholarship Endowment.

Matt Smith is a trumpet player and composer hailing from Perth, Western Australia. Matt is a keen contributor to Perth’s vibrant music scene, performing regularly with Brass Party, Mace Francis Orchestra, PROOF, Odette Mercy and her Soul Atomics, Crucial Rockers, Steve Hensby Band, Perth Cabaret Collective, De Cuba Son, Pete Jeavons Nonet amongst others. In 2023 Matt released his debut album, Driftwood, a collection of eleven compositions for large and small ensembles inspired by the landscapes and memories of growing up in the South West region of Western Australia.

Matt Smith was generously supported by the John W. Kieley Endowment for Emerging Musicians.