Gino Robair has performed and recorded with Tom Waits, Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Nina Hagen, Terry Riley, Lou Harrison, John Butcher, Derek Bailey, Peter Kowald, Otomo Yoshihide, and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet. He is one of the “25 innovative percussionists” included in the book Percussion Profiles (SoundWorld, 2001), as well as a founding member of the Splatter Trio and Pink Mountain. His opera, I, Norton, based on the life of Norton I, Emperor of the United States, has been performed throughout North America and Europe. http://www.ginorobair.com
A native San Franciscan, Matthew Goodheart has gained an international reputation as an improviser, composer, and sound artist. Following an early career as a free-jazz pianist, he has created a wide spectrum of often unusual sounds that explore the relationships among performer, instrument, and listener. His work ranges from large-scale microtonal compositions to open improvisations and immersive sound installations – all unified by the analytic techniques and performative methodologies he has developed to bring forth the unique and subtle acoustic properties of individual musical instruments. Goodheart’s approach results in a “generative foundation” for exploring issues of perception, technology, cultural ritual, and the psycho-physical impact of acoustic phenomena.
His work has been featured throughout the US, Canada, and Europe in such festivals as the the International Spectral Music Festival, June in Buffalo, Klappsthulfest, Jazz Ao Centro, The Illuminations New Music & Arts Festival, and many others. He has performed and recorded with such luminaries as Wadada Leo Smith, Fred Frith, Pauline Oliveros, Glenn Spearman, Gianni Gebbia, Vladimir Tarasov, and Jack Wright, and works frequently with the new music ensemble sfSoundGroup. He has won numerous awards, and is the recent recipient of a Fulbright and the 2014 Berlin Prize in Music Composition. http://matthewgoodheart.com/