Dorothy Carlos (solo cello)Doyeon Kim (gayageum) and Tomas Fujiwara (drum set)Yacouba Sissoko’s SIYA (kora and n’goni)

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Dorothy Carlos is an experimental cellist and electronic musician working in improvised performance and multi-channel sound in New York City and Chicago. Her work utilizes randomized electronics and extended techniques to explore fragility and imaginaries. Dorothy is the current Alba Artist in Residence at Experimental Sound Studio Chicago.

DoYeon Kim is a traditionally trained Korean gayageum performer, who has developed a uniquely broad approach to music that incorporates Korean music, jazz, improvisation, and more, and is credited with introducing the gayageum to the improvisational music scene worldwide. DoYeon is the winner of numerous international competitions, including the Dong-A Ilbo Traditional Music Competition (Gold Prize, 2009) and the On-Nala Korean Music Competition (Gold Prize, 2011). She holds graduate degrees from the New England Conservatory of Music and Berklee’s Global Jazz Institute. Her first album, GaPi (2017), was nominated for a 2018 Korean Grammy Award in the crossover album category. More recently, DoYeon was an invited music director for Gyeonggi Sinawi Orchestra, a traditional music orchestra in Korea, was recognized by Grammy.com as one of the 7 Musicians Pushing Ancient Asian Instruments Into The Future (2021), and is performing projects at Roulette as a Van Lier Fellow (2023).

Described as “a ubiquitous presence in the New York scene…an artist whose urbane writing is equal to his impressively nuanced drumming,” (Point of Departure) Brooklyn-based Tomas Fujiwara is an active player in some of the most exciting music of the current generation. He leads the bands Triple Double, 7 Poets Trio, and the Tomas Fujiwara Percussion Quartet; is a member of the collective trio Thumbscrew (with Mary Halvorson and Michael Formanek); has a collaborative duo with Taylor Ho Bynum; and engages in a diversity of creative work with Anthony Braxton, John Zorn, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Matana Roberts, Taylor Ho Bynum, Amir ElSaffar, Benoit Delbecq, and many others. In 2021, he won the Downbeat Critics Poll for Rising Star Drummer, and premiered two suites of new music as part of his Roulette Residency: “You Don’t Have to Try” (with Meshell Ndegeocello) and “Shizuko.” His most recent work is “Dream Up,” a suite for percussion quartet, commissioned by NYSCA and Roulette Intermedium. Tomas Fujiwara’s 7 Poets Trio (with Patricia Brennan and Tomeka Reid) will release its second album in September 2023 on Out Of Your Head Records. “Drummer Tomas Fujiwara works with rhythm as a pliable substance, solid but ever shifting. His style is forward-driving but rarely blunt or aggressive, and never random. He has a way of spreading out the center of a pulse while setting up a rigorous scaffolding of restraint…A conception of the drum set as a full-canvas instrument, almost orchestral in its scope.” (New York Times)

Master kora player Yacouba Sissoko devotes his musical gift to expand the awareness of West African history and culture, spread the word of peace, and empower his listeners to take charge and realize their imagined futures. His performances have a magical effect on audiences as he skillfully transforms traditional songs and stories that he learned from his forefathers into modern day messages of peace, love, and harmony. Yacouba continues to blend his virtuosity effortlessly with other musical styles, whether in Indian ragas or Appalachian tunes. Currently, Yacouba can be seen performing regularly with Regina Carter and his own band, SIYA.