Maribel Alonso

Art Omi: Music 2023 Alum-in-Residence: Maribel Alonso (Art Omi: Music Alum 2015) was born in Mexicali, Baja California, and studied bassoon performance in Mexico and Vienna. Her musicality and creativity for improvisation have earned her various grants and residencies, including funding from the National Funds for Arts and Culture (FONCA) for a tour of Mexico and Columbia with her program of newly commissioned works by Mexican women composers. She has performed in the most important theaters within Mexico, and internationally in Germany, Austria, Lebanon, Thailand, Canada, United States, Ecuador, Argentina, and Colombia. Recently, she has been working on commissioning new music by women composers to bring more equity to the music community. She’s an active part of TSUNAMI (Mexican Women Musicians Network) along with her duoBig Bambi (electric bass and bassoon), both of which have albums available on streaming platforms. Her solo project Nomad Bassoon brings music and various workshops to distant communities, migrant shelters, girl’s shelters and centers for persons with autism. Since2018Maribel has been the Bassoon Professor of the Faculty of Music UNAM and Escuela Superior de Música in Mexico City.

Miss Olithea (Olithea Anglin) is excited to be part of Art Omi’s music residency for 2023. Her favorite credits include the Afrofuturism Festival at Carnegie Hall and the JAM residency with Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber at MoMA. She has released three EPs: Long Day’s Journey, To Be Seen and Heard, and a sound healing meditation recording called Cosmic Church. In 2020 she started The Vocal Journey, a voice studio focused on holistic and evidence-based strategies for healthier vocal production. For more information check out MissOlithea.com

Vanja Contu is a classically trained harpist who has always been interested in investigating the possibilities of her instrument and trying to further the limits of it. In addition to a classical music career, she works in contemporary and artistic fields with her own compositions and improvisations, using the instrument in unconventional ways, including preparing it with various objects and using it in dialogue with electronics. She collaborates with different musicians and artists, working a lot with site-specific performance. She’s the only harpist collaborating with Salvi Harps (a worldwide leader in harp manufacturing) to test and check instruments and develop prototypes.

Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and aspiring albatross. Elhajli lives in Brooklyn and attempts to write songs most days while staring at a pale white desk. They make no money most of the time so have free time to attempt to write songs. They make some money performing such songs, and they make most of their money researching songs at an archive run by Anna Lomax.

Miguel Frasconi is a composer and improviser whose instrumentarium includes glass objects, modular electronics, and instruments of his own design. His glass instruments are struck, blown, stroked, smashed, and otherwise coaxed into vibration, while his unique approach to electronics takes a similar approach in the sonic domain. He has composed operas, chamber works, and dance scores, and performs in a number of NYC-based ensembles, including NewBorn Trio and Lampshade. Miguel has worked closely with composers John Cage, Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, James Tenney, Joan La Barbara, and Jon Hassell. His music has been released on New Albion, Porter, Clang, and independently.

Stefano Grasso is a contemporary trained percussionist devoted to improvised and creative music. He received his graduate and master’s degrees from the Conservatory of Milan, focusing on contemporary and improvised music. In September 2023, he’ll be starting a Master’s in Open Creation — improvisation/composition/contemporary performance — at FHNW Basel. As a drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist, he has had the luck to work with musicians he loves a lot from many different countries and from very different generations, and lively activity in different ensembles (from solo to big ensembles) throughout Italy and Europe.

Kamikaze Jones (John Istona) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores extended vocal technique, queer hauntologies, and ritualized erotic transcendence. His work has been featured by Anthology Film Archives, Black Mountain College Museum, Wave Farm, and The Poetry Project. He is the host of Pure Garbage: An Oral Examination of John Waters and the Arts Editor of WUSSY Magazine.

Andres Marino was born in Mendoza, Argentina, and graduated with honors in music production from the National University of San Luis in 2008. Subsequently, he received a degree in jazz technician with a specialization in piano at the Manuel de Falla Conservatory in Buenos Aires. He has received integral training that includes working with different musical genres, instrumental training, composition, arrangements, recording engineering, and music production that allows him to work solidly in diverse fields ranging from his experiences with jazz groups to composing and playing experimental electronics.

Suwa (SooHyun Moon) is a Korean pansori singer of this traditional genre. She loves to create a new wave of music with her traditional, unique vocals and breathing. She also writes songs, collaborates with artists from other genres, and improvises with her voice and traditional Korean drums. She’s sung pansori since she was 13, holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Korean traditional music, and has won three grand prizes at the Korean National Music Competition.

Elisabeth Rossé studied music at the conservatories of Boulogne-Billancourt and Paris (CRR, CNSM), and perfected her skills as a violinist in early music with V. Biffi and M. Grébil, and in improvised music with D. Pifarély. She also has vocal and theatrical training from École Lecoq and a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Paris Nanterre University. She developed her creative literary and musical activity on stage as both a poet and violinist, where she honed a technique of simultaneous voice and violin. She participated in the improvised music ensemble Grand8 (Marseille) and has composed pieces for violin and for voice, often in a rhapsodic style.

Dominyka Šeibok is a Los Angeles-based flutist hailing from Lithuania. She integrates movement into her artistry and collaborates with choreographers, dancers, and cinematographers. She has been recognized with first prizes in numerous international competitions and has received a Presidential Honor from the Republic of Lithuania for her artistic achievements. During her master’s at the Hochschule der Künste Bern, Dominyka was awarded a prestigious Swiss Lyra Foundation Scholarship and served as Principal Flute with the Szczecin Philharmonic in Poland. As a co-director of the non-profit organization Five Skins Interdisciplinary, Dominyka is dedicated to fostering creative growth within her communities. She shares her expertise by teaching classical flute, movement, free improvisation, and interdisciplinary performance courses.

Sam Wenc is a composer and interdisciplinary artist who often works with sound, text, and fabric. As a multi-instrumentalist, he utilizes guitar, pedal steel guitar, vibraphone, electronics, field recordings, and found objects to compose structured and formless work that is curious about the themes and parameters of “folk” music. He has released music on labels such as Noumenal Loom, Obsolete Staircases, Where to Now (UK), Moone Records, his own label—Lobby Art, and received an MFA in Music & Sound at the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College.