Ben LaMar Gay is a composer and instrumentalist who moves components of sound, color, and space through folkloric filters to produce brilliant electro-acoustic collages. An explorer of many genres and mediums who has been called a “polymath” by the Chicago Reader, his true gift is an ability to create constellations of disparate ideas that poetically expand our definition of “Americana.” He has presented several albums on International Anthem, most recently the critically-lauded Open Arms to Open Us, which was co-released with Nonesuch Records. At this performance he presents his steadfast working quartet, fresh off a month-long tour of Europe. The band includes Will Faber (guitar, voice, flute), Matthew Davis (tuba, voice, flute), Tommaso Moretti (drums, flute), and Gay himself (cornet, keys, voice, flute).
Tomin is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist, bioinformatician, and poet from Brooklyn, New York. His primary instruments are the flute, trumpet and alto clarinet, and he participates in the creative music scene as a performer, improvisor, composer and fan. Outside of music, he works in computational genetics, with a focus on oncology. On this occasion, Tomin’em will feature Tcheser Holmes on drums, Teiana Davis on Keyboards, Clérida Eltimé and Lester St. Louis on Cellos, Luke Stewart on bass, Linton Smith on Trumpet and Tambourine, and Tomin on assorted winds, keys and percussion.