MYRA MELFORD is one of the world's most renowned and critically acclaimed pianists and composers. Melford's ensembles have included some of the most innovative voices in contemporary music, including Dave Douglas, Erik Friedlander, Joseph Jarman, and Leroy Jenkins. "Myra is at once a dancer, a romantic and a savage suckerpuncher at the bench...beating all hell out of the piano and making it beautiful." -Coda Magazine. Melford's ongoing search for new sounds and new directions in her music led her to the harmonium, a small hand-pump organ traditionally used in Indian and Pakistani classical and devotional music. She was awarded a Fullbright scholarship to study North Indian music on the instrument in Calcutta.

myramelford.com

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KUNST-STOFF is known for its unusual and highly visual theatrical dance works, which merge different art forms, often creating unexpected collisions and provocative beauty. Blending classical ballet, contemporary dance and airborne athleticism, Kunst-Stoff's distinctive movement style extends the body beyond codified limits. "A remarkably harmonized company... some of the finest ballet-trained daredevils to be found in any metropolis". San Francisco Examiner. Artistic Director Yannis Adoniou and resident choreographer Tomi Paasonen have a decade-long history of creating interdisciplinary art.

kunst-stoff.org

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Butoh dancer LEDOH BAISANG was born into the Ka-Ren culture indigenous to Burma and Northern Thailand. In Kyoto in 1989, Ledoh discovered Butoh via master performer Katsura Kan, with whom he performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to five-star reviews. Ledoh's site-specific solo collaborations with composers Reverend Markus Hawkins and Michael Kosacki have electrified audiences in and around San Francisco for over ten years. Ledoh is the founder and artistic director of Butoh dance company Saltfarm.

saltfarm.org

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BORIS KOVAC is a composer, instrumentalist and multimedia artist from the Pannonian part of Yugoslavia. From 1989 he has been the leader of the Chamber Theatre of Music Ogledalo in Novi Sad and leader of his own critically acclaimed ensembles LaDaABa Orchest, Ritual Nova, Academy of Fine Skills, and Happy Man Institute. Kovac's music reflects aspects of European chamber music, Pannonian ethnic music, jazz, avant-garde rock, minimalism and improvised music. To the knowledge of the composer, Kovac's music has never been performed in the US. 3 Drops of Blood presents the composers string quartets in partnership with the Chepikov String Quartet with participation of the composer.

boriskovac.com

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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 and 3 Drops of Blood have partnered in 2005, through three installments of the series, to present the works of composers Boris Kovac (Yugoslavia), Arnold Dreyblatt (USA/Germany), and Hyo-shin Na (Korea).

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