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Musicians collaborated in Contemporary East events

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Jen Shyu

Jen Shyu is a groundbreaking, multilingual vocalist, composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, dancer, 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, 2019 United States Artists Fellow, 2016 Doris Duke Artist, and was voted 2017 Downbeat Critics Poll Rising Star Female Vocalist. Born in Peoria, Illinois, to Taiwanese and East Timorese immigrant parents, Shyu is widely regarded for her virtuosic singing and riveting stage presence, carving out her own beyond-category space in the art world. She has performed with or sung the music of such musical innovators as Nicole Mitchell, Val Jeanty, Sumi Tonooka, Linda Oh, Anthony Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith, Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer, Bobby Previte, Chris Potter, Michael Formanek and David Binney. Shyu has performed her own music on prestigious world stages such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rubin Museum of Art, Ojai Festival, Ringling International Arts Festival, Asia Society, Roulette, Blue Note, Bimhuis, Salihara Theater, National Gugak Center, National Theater of Korea and at festivals worldwide.

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Tetsu Nagasawa

Born in 1970 in Japan Started piano at age of 5 Started drums at age of 15 Studied concert percussion Performed in various rock and jazz bands Now resides in Nagasaki, Japan, and active in solo and improvisational ensemble with his original compositions "His music is deep transparent sereneness on the lake at dawn" by JAZZ TOKYO

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Graham Haynes

Graham Haynes(born September 16, 1960 in Brooklyn, New York raised in Hollis , Queens , NY) is an American cornetist, and composer. His two years at Queens College (1978-1980) studying composition, harmony and theory spurred his interest in classical and electronic music (Robert Moog was professor of electronic music at the time). Haynes became a disciplined student , studying trumpet and jazz harmony privately with Gillespie alumnus Dave Burns while playing in the Pentecostal church. The son of jazz drummer Roy Haynes,[1]Graham is known for his work in nu jazz, fusing jazz with elements of hip hop and electronic music. With aspirations to push jazz beyond its traditional boundaries, Graham Haynes' first foray into electronic music came in 1979 upon meeting alto saxophonist Steve Coleman. Together, they formed a band called Five Elements, which launched an influential group of improvisers called M-BaseCollective. After the formation of his own ensemble – Graham Haynes and No Image – and the subsequent release of an album (What Time It Be?),Haynes would spend the balance of the 1980s studying a wide range of African, Arabic and South Asian Music. After a move to Paris in 1990, Haynes incorporated these far-off influences into his next two releases –Nocturne Parisian and Griot's Footsteps. Haynes returned to New York City in 1993 to take advantage of the flourishing Hip-Hop scene; and the resulting album was the sample heavy Transition. After the release of yet another hybridized album – 1996's Tones For The 21st Century– Haynes discovered drum 'n' bass and began working with some of the genres finest DJs and producers in London and the U.S. This manifested in the release of 2000s BPM, a fusion of drum n' bass beats with the classical music of Richard Wagner. Over the years, Haynes has kept busy with several critically acclaimed multimedia projects, composed the score for films Flag Wars and The Promise, and lectured at New York University, while receiving two nominations for the prestigious Alpert Award For The Arts. He has collaborated with artists such as Roy Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Vernon Reid, Meshell Ndegeocello, The Roots, David Murray, George Adams, Ed Blackwell, Bill Laswell, Steve Williamson, and Bill Dixon. Since 2013 Haynes has been a member of the Vijay Iyer Sextet. He is most recently featured on Vijay Iyer's 2017 ECM album, Far From Over. Graham tours annually in Europe, Asia, Brazil and Africa and has appeared several times on national tv. He is in high professional demand as a musical director and composer for film, theatre, dance and multimedia . In 2003 Graham lectured at New York University on the subject of Music and Trance . 2009 Master Class New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music 2010 Taught as adjunct professor The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music . 2013 Guest lecturer Columbia University on composition. 2013 Workshop Città Biella , Italy 2013 Taught masters classes and lectured Banff Creative Centre ,Banff, Alberta,Canada 2014 Guest lecturer at University of Bahia , Brazil 2018 Taught masters classes, lectured and guest conducted Banff Creative Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada In 2017 Haynes had two of his classical chamber works, String Quartet no.1 and Prelude and Fugue for 5 Flutes, performed at Roulette NYC for the Interpretations series. He is currently working on new chamber music works. He has performed over a period of several years with the late Lawrence D. Butch Morris, inventor of Conduction, and has begun working with ensembles using the Conduction method. Conduction ensembles include the Nublu Orchestra, Banff Student Orchestra and the Haynes Flute Ensemble.

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Satoshi Takeishi

Satoshi Takeishi, drums, percussion, has been living in New York since 1991 and he has performed and recorded in vast variety of genre, from world music, jazz, contemporary classical music to experimental electronic music. He continues to explore multi-cultural, electronics and improvisational music with local musicians and composers in New York.

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Ned Rothenberg

Composer/Performer Ned Rothenberg has been internationally acclaimed for both his solo and ensemble music, presented for the past 40 years on 5 continents. He performs primarily on alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and the shakuhachi - an endblown Japanese bamboo flute. His solo work utilizes an expanded palette of sonic language, creating a kind of personal idiom all its own. In an ensemble setting, he leads the trio Sync, with Jerome Harris, guitars and Samir Chatterjee, tabla, works with the Mivos string quartet playing his Quintet for Clarinet and Strings and collaborates around the world with fellow improvisors. Recent recordings include this Quintet, The World of Odd Harmonics, Ryu Nashi (new music for shakuhachi), and Inner Diaspora, all on John Zorn's Tzadik label, as well as Live at Roulette with Evan Parker, and The Fell Clutch, on Rothenberg's Animul label.

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Shoko Nagai

Shoko Nagai is a versatile musical artist who improvises and performs with world-renowned musicians on piano and accordion and composes original scores for films and live performances. Since moving to the U.S. from Japan and studying classical and jazz music at Berklee, she has adapted her mastery of the keyboard to prepared piano, accordion, Moog synthesizer, and other instruments. Whether she is performing Klezmer, Balkan or experimental music, Nagai is a charismatic presence onstage, who hypnotizes audiences with her intense focus and virtuoso sound. Nagai is grantee of Chamber Music America 2021, NYFA 2010 , City Artist Corps 2021, JazJants 2008. " Whether traipsing over a steady, rolling rhythm or swimming through a collage of abstract sound, Nagai, a pianist - treat every moment as an opportunity for deep synchronicity." Giovanni Russonello -New York Times

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Yukari

Japanese flutist and composer, Yukari currently lives in Switzerland after living in New York for 16 years. She has been exploring an extended array of style such as Jazz, contemporary classical music, improvisation, Latin and Brazilian music, and classical Indian music. She has been recognized for her innovation and hybridization of various musical genres. Yukari has released 5 albums as a leader and performed at notable venues such as Carnegie Hall and Blue Note and many festivals (NY flute club festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival etc…) and toured worldwide. Graduated from Manhattan School of Music and she is a pearl flute artist.

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DoYeon Kim

DoYeon Kim is an internationally acclaimed and award-winning virtuoso of the gayageum (a traditional Korean string instrument). In addition to traditional Korean music, DoYeon specializes in free jazz, jazz, and improvisation. She regularly performs solo and group concerts worldwide in Asia, Europe, North America, and South America. As a graduate of the New England Conservatory, and protégé of the world's leading gayageum master Yi Jiyoung, DoYeon has performed alongside many distinguished improvisors, including Joe Morris, Agusti Fernandez, Tony Malaby and Tyshawn Sorey. Her 2017 album Gapi was nominated for a Korean Grammy award, and her latest album Macrocosm, with Joe Morris, received international critical acclaim, and Grammy.com recognized her as one of 7 Musicians Pushing Ancient Asian Instruments Into The Future (2021). DoYeon's approach to playing the gayageum, as well as improvised music, is a singularly unique experience.

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Yuma Uesaka

Saxophonist and clarinetist Yuma Uesaka (b.1991) works within the intersection of jazz, creative music, and new music. Active in New York City since 2014, he came to wider attention with Ocelot, a record with his collaborative trio with Cat Toren and Colin Hinton, and Streams, a duo recording with pianist Marilyn Crispell. As a composer, he's received recognition from the ASCAP Foundation, Metropolis, and Either/Or Ensemble. He has performed with Anna Webber, Jessie Cox, Lesley Mok at venues such as The Jazz Gallery, Roulette, and National Sawdust, and has recorded for Pi, New Focus, NotTwo, and Polyfold Records.

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Sylvie Courvoisier

Pianist-composer Sylvie Courvoisier, a native of Switzerland, has earned just renown for balancing two distinct worlds: the deep, richly detailed chamber music of her European roots and the grooving, hook-laden sounds of the downtown jazz scene in New York City, her home for more than two decades. Few artists feel truly at ease in both concert halls and jazz clubs, playing improvised or composed music. But Courvoisier – "a pianist of equal parts audacity and poise," according to The New York Times – is as compelling when performing Stravinsky's iconic Rite of Spring in league with flamenco dancer-choreographer Israel Galván and pianist Cory Smythe as she is when improvising with her own widely acclaimed jazz trio, featuring bassist Drew Gress and drummer Kenny Wollesen. Then there are her ear-opening collaborations with such avant-jazz luminaries as John Zorn, Wadada Leo Smith, Evan Parker, Ikue Mori, Ellery Eskelin, Susie Ibarra, Fred Frith, Andrew Cyrille, Mark Feldman, Ken Vandermark, Nate Wooley and Mary Halvorson. In music as in life, Courvoisier crosses borders with a creative spirit and a free mind; her music-making is as playful as it is intense, as steeped in tradition as it is questing and intrepid. JazzTimes has said: "Courvoisier keeps you on the edge of your seat because it feels like the piano cannot contain her. Her careening solos seem to overwhelm and overflow the keyboard and keep spilling." Her most recent albums include SEARCHING FOR THE DISAPPEARED HOUR (Pyroclastic, 2021) a duo with Mary Halvorson ; TIME GONE OUT ( Intakt, 2019), a duo with Mark Feldman; the Sylvie Courvoisier Trio with Drew Gress & Kenny Wollaen :FREE HOOPS ( Intakt, 2020) and D'AGALA (Intakt, 2018); LOCKDOWN (Clean Feed, 2021), a Trio with Ned Rothenberg and Julian Sartorius. She currently teaches at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

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Reggie Nicolson

The instantly recognizable style and sound of Reggie Nicholson has elevated him to one of the most distinctive, inventive and inspirational drummer/percussionist of his generation; a formidable technician, but one who uses his considerable skills constructively and with infinite taste. Born in Chicago, his drum concept fitted perfectly the needs of many extraordinary Chicago musicians. Nicholson first gained a reputation as a drummer and percussionist in his hometown of Chicago. A Southside native, he's a graduate of Cornell Elementary, where he was playing drums for the "Area A Band" of exceptional music students and Hirsch High School, as a concert band percussionist. He then made good use of a 4-year music scholarship to Chicago State University's percussion program. During his early days before moving to NYC, Nicholson worked around Chicago with many great musicians, and performed regularly at the famous South side organ club, The Other Place. An active member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) since 1979, Nicholson has absorbed the organization's musical influences to compose and improvise original music. Nicholson has performed and recorded with a wide variety of jazz and new music luminaries such as Jon Logan, Larry Frazier, Mendai, Vince Willis, Phil Cohran, Dewey Redman, James Spaulding, Henry Threadgill, Amina Claudine Myers, Muhal Richard Abrams, Ernest Dawkins, Leroy Jenkins, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Hanah Jon Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Sam Newsome, Myra Melford, Wilber Morris, Elektra Kurtis, Billy Bang, Butch Morris, Yuko Fujiyama, Oliver Lake, Fay Victor, Roy Campbell, just to name a few. In addition, Reggie has toured throughout Europe and Japan. As a composer, he was nominated twice for the Cal Arts Composition Award in 1993/1994, and his compositions were performed throughout NYC including concerts for Roulette, Interpretations, Vision Festival, and the AACM. Nicholson's recordings, which have highlighted his compositions, are "Unnecessary Noise Allowed (1997)" features his quintet, The Reggie Nicholson Concept. "Percussion Peace"(2005) is a solo recording experimenting with electronics and percussion instruments. In 2007, the premier of "Timbre Suite" (Tone Colors) was recorded for percussion ensemble. "Surreal Feel"(2008) shows the maturity and growth of his composing skills with music for brass instruments and percussion. "Mettle" (2018) features his second solo recording for percussion. His latest recording, "No Preservatives Added" (2020), features new compositions for percussion ensemble. Currently, Nicholson is continuing to explore the aesthetics of his musical ideas.

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