Steph Richards/Qasim Naqvi duo & Nick Millevoi/Andy Pitcher duo

Steph Richards & Qasim Naqvi:

Steph Richards is a dynamic improvisor known for her innovative approach to the trumpet and interdisciplinary expression as a composer. An “innately adventurous trumpeter”, (Downbeat), she has collaborated with visionaries Henry Threadgill, Anthony Braxton, Muhal Richard Abrams and John Zorn as well as art pop luminaries Yoko Ono, St. Vincent, David Byrne and Laurie Anderson. Characterized by The New York Times as “boldly inventive…Richards composes in ways that standard notation could never document.” her works span interactions with film, poetry, electronics, choreography and scent and have garnered critical acclaim including Record of the Year by the New York Times and Downbeat. Her seminal record Supersense (2019) featuring all-star improvisers Jason Moran, Stomu Takeishi and Kenny Wolleson includes multimedia artist Sean Raspet creating singular, abstract scents to both inform and converse with the recording.

Her work as an improviser has brought her into contact with progressive voices in jazz and experimental music, including Ravi Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, Mary Halvorson, Tomeka Reid, Nicole Mitchell, Ingrid Laubrock and Jeff Parker while her conducting work, informed by the concept of "Conduction" developed by Butch Morris, has taken her to orchestras around the world, where she continues to push the boundaries of musical expression.

As a founding member of Bang on a Can's Asphalt Orchestra and a collaborator with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Anthony Braxton's Tricentric Orchestra, Henry Threadgill's Kestra, and the Kronos Quartet, Richards’ ensemble work has resulted in hundreds of premiered works by composers including Nico Muhly, Tyondai Braxton and John Luther Adams, interdisciplinary artists Mike Kelley, Laurie Anderson and Yoko Ono, and with choreographers Susan Marshall, Paul Taylor, David Dorfman and the Merce Cunningham company.

Pakistani-American drummer and composer Qasim Naqvi is perhaps best known as a founding member of acoustic trio Dawn of Midi. Outside of his work in D.O.M., Naqvi is an accomplished solo artist with a passion for analogue and modular synthesizer systems. 

His concert music has been performed/commissioned by The BBC Concert Orchestra, Jennifer Koh, The London Contemporary Orchestra, Stargaze, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Crash Ensemble, The Now Ensemble, The Erebus Ensemble, yMusic, The Helsinki Chamber Choir, Cello Octet of Amsterdam, Alexander Whitley, Cikada, The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (MusicNOW Season) and others. He has been a featured composer at the Musica Nova Festival in Helsinki, the Spitalfields Festival in London, Ultima Festival, Southbank Centre and the Rest is Noise Festival in Holland.

Qasim's soundtracks for film have appeared on HBO, NBC, PBS, Showtime, New York Times Op-Docs, VICE Media, at The Tribeca, Sundance, Toronto, Rotterdam and London Film Festivals, at dOCUMENTA 13 and 14, The Guggenheim Museum, The Tate Britain (Turner Prize 2018), MOMA P.S. 1, IDFA, Berlinale and others. He has worked with Laura Poitras, Nicola Marsh, Mariam Ghani, Tremolo Productions, Masterclass, Marc Levin, Naeem Mohaiemen, Smriti Keshari, Prashant Bhargava, Erin Heidenreich and others.

Nick Millevoi & Andy Pitcher duo:

“When Nick Millevoi plays the guitar, it's like a rocket darting skyward between clouds.” —NPR Music

Nick Millevoi is a guitarist and composer whose personal sound reflects the full history of electric guitar music, from early rock & roll and surf music through noise and the avant-garde. With his band, Desertion Trio, Nick has released four full-length albums on the Cuneiform, Long Song, and Shhpuma/Clean Feed labels, which have been called “potently surreal” (Rolling Stone), “a nonstop instrumental thrill-ride” (Aquarium Drunkard), and “supremely weird desert noir” (Noisey). His most recent releases are Digital Reaction, featuring guests that include Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Lushlife, and Jason Nazary, and The Sounds of Grassy Sound with Ron Stabinsky, featuring a guest performance by the Meat Puppets.

‘Pitcher’s ears are always searching the sonic horizon for the sound of the future’ - Premier Guitar

Andy Pitcher is a Brooklyn based improvising/composing acoustic/electronic guitarist. With a reactive electronic guitar style, Andy explores a duo between the instrument in hand and the electronic processing at foot. Andy has played with folks like The Armed, Ray Anderson, Motyka, & Gabriel Marin’s Social Assassins, and has lent improvised guitar sounds to producers like Joel Hamilton, Jake Alexander Miller, & Kurt Ballou.

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