Juan Manuel Romero Silvera

Born: November 26, 1974

Juan Romero embodies the role of musical cultural bridge: blending Latin and Afro-Uruguayan rhythmic heritage with the Scandinavian and global music scenes through both performance and education.

Collaborations & Projects

Juan Romero is actively involved with a range of ensembles:

• Juan Romeros Manuella Orkester, Fire Orchestra, Syrsan, Cosmic Ear, El Siri B.B y La?Perrera and others.

Notable recordings include work with Sara Parkman (Vesper, 2019; Eros?Agape?Filia, 2023), Fire Orchestra (Echoes, 2023), and Cosmic Ear (Traces, 2025)

Present & Community Involvement

Adam Shead

Born: January, 1993

Adam Shead is an accomplished percussionist, composer, improviser, and performance curator based in Chicago. He frequently performs with the Stein/Smith/Shead trio, microplastique, and Cellular Chaos, and is a sought-after percussionist in the Chicago jazz and improvised music scene. For nearly a decade, Shead has curated performances at notable Chicago art galleries such as Slate Arts & Performance and Comfort Station, where he helps promote both emerging and established artists, enriching the local cultural landscape.

Shead has collaborated with prominent figures such as Marilyn Crispell, Roscoe Mitchell, Jason Stein, Damon Smith, John Dikeman, Angel Bat Dawid, Mary Oliver, and Molly Jones, amongst others. He has released music through various record labels, including Amalgam, Ears & Eyes, Scripts, Balance Point Acoustics, Shifting Paradigm, and Irritable Mystic. Shead is the founder and composer of the Adiaphora Orchestra, microplastique, and Adam Shead Quintet and works regularly as a sideman in such groups as Ben Zucker’s Fifth Season, the Jake Wark Quartet, and Undisclosed Sims. From 2018 to 2020 Shead curated and hosted the impro jam, a bi-weekly multi-disciplinary free improvisation jam session, at Slate Arts and Performance - from 2021 to 2022 the impro jam took place at Cafe Mustache.

Alex Pertout

Lee Noyes

Born: January 14, 1977

Lee Noyes is a Sweden-based experimental musician and improviser known for his innovative approach to percussion, strings and electroacoustic sound. Blending minimalism with noise and extended techniques, his work spans solo performances, collaborations, and interdisciplinary projects. Noyes' practice is rooted in free improvisation and often challenges conventional musical structures, making him a distinctive voice in the global avant-garde and improvised music scenes.

Benita Haastrup

Groovosophers

The Groovosophers band was formed in Krakow in March 2023, continuing the tradition of the Goddard Quartet/Quintet band, founded in 1997 at the jazz workshops in Chodziez. Over the years, musicians have met in various lineups and musical genres, and in 2023 they decided to fulfil their dreams and combine their strengths, creating their own energetic material together.

In July 2023 and 2024, the band played at the Night of the Museum at the medieval castle Pieskowa Ska?a in Su?oszowa. In April 2024, Groovosophers was a part of the celebration of the opening of the Improwizacja Jazz Club in Krakow and as guest, Leszek ??d?o on soprano saxophone joined the band on stage. In September 2024, the band played as a headliner on the 8th Hammond Kielce Festival. The band plays energetic concerts in jazz clubs around.

Clifton Swiggett

Janne Tuomi

Born: September 28, 1973

Janne Tuomi was born in 1973 in Tampere, Finland. Coming from a family of musicians and music educators, it was only natural that this first-born began playing the piano at the age of six. But the infatuation was not to last as percussion soon lured him away from the ebonies and ivories.

Tuomi commenced studying at the Conservatory of Tampere in 1995 and further honed his skills at the Carl Nielsen Academy of Music in Odense, Denmark. After undertaking a study trip to New York City, Tuomi graduated from the Conservatory in 2000 with honours.

In 2001 he travelled to Los Angeles to take private lessons. Five years later, Tuomi passed his degree examination with honours with a solo concert at the contemporary music festival Tampere Biennale.

Kyle Beck

Born: August 27, 2001

Hello! I'm a freelance musician operating out of Western Pennsylvania. Currently on the work-week grind we all know and "love," I write percussion ensemble and steelband music, and (hopefully someday) play live jazz.

My primary instruments are drum set and vibraphone, and I also play bass guitar and am learning trumpet.

Thiago de Mello

Born: 1933

Gaudencio Thiago de Mello (Barreirinha, state of Amazonas, 1933 - New York, 2013) was a NY-based Brazilian composer, arranger, conductor, band leader (founder of the Amazon big band which performed all Sunday nights at Sweet Basil-NY during the 1980s) and multi-instrumentalist (piano, acoustic guitar, percussion). He was brother of poet Amadeu Thiago de Mello.

Thiago got Grammy nominations for albums he recorded with Paul Winter and Sharon Isbin. He also recorded several albums with Brazilian jazz singer Ithamara Koorax (with whom he also toured in both Brazil and USA) as well as with Luiz Bonfa, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Dexter Payne, Susannah McCorcle, Claudio Roditi, Carlos Pingarilho, Jorge Pescara, Anna Ly and many others