New York based composer/accordionist GUY KLUCEVSEK has created a unique repertoire for accordion through his own composing and by commissioning over 50 works from composers including John Zorn, Lois V Vierk, Fred Frith, Alvin Lucier, and Somei Satoh. He has performed and/or recorded with Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Bill Frisell, Kronos Quartet, and Pauline Oliveros. As well as leading his own critically acclaimed groups, The Bantam Orchestra and Ain't Nothing' But A Polka Band. In 1996, Klucevsek formed The Accordion Tribe, an international line-up of composer/accordionists from Finland, Sweden, Slovenia, Austria, and USA which was the subject of the German documentary film Accordion Tribe - Music Travels. A master of the free bass accordion, his solo and ensemble recordings and performances have gained him the reputation of "a rebel with an accordion" (Downbeat) and a "trailblazing virtuoso" (The Wall Street Journal)

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Since arriving in the U.S. in 1980 from his native country Brazil, CYRO BAPTISTA has emerged as one of the premier percussionists in the country. His mastery of Brazilian percussion and the many instruments he creates himself, have catapulted him into world renown. With his own ensemble, the percussion and dance group Beat the Donkey, Baptista gives free reign to his imagination, mixing his tremendous musical skills, his natural humor and theatrical ways with instruments from Brazil, Middle East, Indonesia, Africa and the US. A recipient of numerous awards as both percussionist and composer, Baptista has worked with Yo-Yo Ma, John Zorn, Herbie Hancock, Laurie Anderson, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, and Snoop Dogg.

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SHINICHI MOMO KOGA & CASSIE TERMAN play in a highly physical realm that includes sound and language to explore an often surreal and dreamlike, yet utterly immediate world together. Comic dilemma, the pathos of human frailty, passionate engagement and associative narratives are woven into a cohesive, wild, delicate, and unpredictable whole. Performances reveal human experiences that are both archetypal and modern, intricate while steeped in simplicity.

KOGA is the founder of the physical theater and Japanese butoh dance company inkBoat. He has collaborated with Yumiko Yoshioka and TEN PEN CHii, Do Theatre, Minako Seki, Sleepytime Guerilla Museum, and often creates improvisation evenings with Yuko Kaseki, Cassie Terman and Sten Rudstrom. Koga's productions, both solo and ensemble, have been experienced throughout North America, Europe and Japan.

TERMAN is a member of The International Action Theater Ensemble. She founded and performed in the three-woman theater group Etiquette, performed with inkBoat, and currently works in collaborative duets with Sten Rudstrom, Shinichi Momo Koga, and Leigh Evans.

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Master contortionist SERCHMAA BYAMBA was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Through years of intensive and uninterrupted training from a very young age of 7 in The Mongolian State Circus, Byamba has performed widely through out the world since the age of 13. Regarded at the top of her field, Byamba is a performer whose unique art transcends boundaries of all theatrical disciplines and endeavors. She was awarded The Golden Elephant grand prize from the Festival of The World's Young Circus and a Gold medal from the All Asian National Festival.

ULZIISAIKHAN LKHAGVADORJ is a throat singer and instrumentalist who performs on the morin huur (horse-headed fiddle) and ever buree (ox horn trumpet). He is a former member of The Mongolian National Tuman Ekh Ensemble and a delegate at the Throat Singers Symposium in Ulaanbaatar.

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NANOS OPERETTA is a new music ensemble working in extended song forms, blending cinematic sound collages, seamless juxtapositions, shifting backgrounds, recurring motifs and vocal narrations. Employing unconventional instrumentation and found objects, they incorporate elements of ethnic, film, modern chamber and cartoon music into meditations on themes of love, disease, and revolution. Nanos Operetta has worked with Myra Melford, Frank Pahl, Koichi & Hiroko Tamano, Ledoh, and Sha Sha Higby. They are 2004 Isadora Duncan recipients.

Led by director/cellist Robin Reynolds, the CHEPIKOV STRING QUARTET is one of the Bay Area's most challenging and evocative chamber ensembles. Specializing in the works of 20th century living composers, CSQ has performed the music of Arnold Dreyblatt, Boris Kovac, and Hyo-Shin Na. The quartet has premiered the works of both composers Dreyblatt and Kovac in the US.