Electro-acoustic composer, pianist and percussionist. Through the lens of decolonization, Pablo Leñero explore the symbiosis of indigenous, folkloric, and contemporary expressions of the Americas with Western art practices.
Danika Lorèn is a vocalist and composer from Saskatchewan, now based in Toronto. Their compositional work focuses art song and opera, with improvisation and extended vocal techniques.
Taiwanese percussionist Nikki Huang is passionate about exploring the realm of story-telling and attempts to portray different characters through her performances. She is involved in diverse performance settings, including original music, jazz vibraphone, children’s percussion musical theater, and interdisciplinary workshops.
Jaeyoung Chong is a Montreal-based cellist, composer, and improviser currently pursuing his Doctorate in Music Performance at McGill University, where he researches improvisational methods with live electronics.
Matt Nguyen is an instrumentalist-composer specializing in electric bass guitar with effects. Under the halfdecentheart moniker, Matt's work includes a combination of composed works and improvisational passages, sewn together and presented as an exploration of emotional thoughts and motifs.
Composer, improviser, and visual artist Borey Shin makes synth ballads, ambient music, animations, chamber music, and love songs. As a pianist, accordionist, and synthesizer player, he has also collaborated with many members of the international experimental and improvised music scenes.
Michael Palumbo (MA, BFA) is a musician, producer and concert promoter. He improvises as a soloist and in ensembles, and is the artistic director of Exit Points which presents free-improvised music in concerts that are thoroughly well-produced and attended. Michael also runs the Exit Points record label with monthly releases mixed in Dolby Atmos.
Nigel Deane most often performs on and teaches violin and/or viola and has produced one electro-acoustic multi-media religious ceremony, among other things. Most recently, they've been experimenting with musical forms in pedagogical spaces to engage student orchestras and string classes in more culturally relevant ways.
Thomas Fleming is composer and improvising musician specializing in electric and acoustic guitar.
Guelph, ON, Canada
Ben Finley is a performer-composer specializing in acoustic bass and electric bass (in multiple tunings and with effects).
Guelph, ON, Canada
Raised in the Coachella Valley, annais linares is a Residency Facilitator of Westben's Performer-Composer Residency. Sonically, she is a vocalist, improviser, and collaborator. She is currently working on co-creating musical playground installations.
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Davy Sumner is a Residency Facilitator of Westben’s Performer-Composer Residency. He is also an installation artist, composer, improviser, and Maker based in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Sarah Belle Reid is a Residency Facilitator of Westben’s Performer-Composer Residency. She is a Canadian performer-composer, active in the fields of electroacoustic trumpet performance, intermedia arts, music technology, and improvisation.
