The career of the Catalan pianist Josep-Maria Balanyà, born in Barcelona, with more than 40 years on stage, 27 albums recorded and more than 140 works, has taken him from classical music and jazz to his specialisation into the field of improvisation and new contemporary music, experimental music and performance. Internationally recognised, Balanyà is also composer, conductor of improvising orchestras, sound artist, painter and photographer.

Josep-Maria Balanyà explores the limits of music in his compositions and performances. He is particularly interested in the combination of different arts and the transfer of art into music. In order to expand and deepen his preoccupation with the fine arts and also with the craft material, he attended courses in painting and etching at the European Academy of Fine Arts in Trier (Europäische Kunstakademie Trier) / Germany.

Under the auspices and organization of the head of the Academy, Dr. Gabriele Lohberg, Balanyà performed for many years a series of interactive concert-performances in the Kunsthalle of the Academy, where fine arts were combined with music and performance. Here he experimented with the interaction between the sounds that arise when working on copper etching plates and the artistic result. He worked with the metal workshop that made or provided sculptures for musical performances. The works are now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in Tarragona. In a teaching assignment for the students of the European Art Academy, he devoted himself to the music images of contemporary compositions and suggested using them as a basis for further musically interpretable drawings. In performative concerts, he not only made musical instruments sound, but - with electronic amplification and alienation - sculptures (Pierre Wéber), paintings (class Joe Allen), bodies (models from the art academy) and objets trouvés as well.

As part of these projects, Balanyà even gave a concert of bells in the cathedral of Trier.

Mainly, his own art production focuses on abstract paintings in which he uses mixed media, but especially acrylic on canvas. His work can be seen in his private gallery in Brussels and in buyers' homes. In addition, he has studied photography and practiced this art since adolescence. His work has followed a process ranging from pictorialism, to direct photography, street photography, macro technique and the study of the human body. He is currently preparing several exhibitions in which he presents a series of impressionist-style photos with movement; this technique gives an abstract pictorial result.

As for his main field, music, Balanyà studied in Barcelona and Switzerland (Swiss Jazz School and Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Bern), he attended composition workshops, led by Helmut Lachenmann, Walter Zimmermann and Ivan Fedele, and improvisation workshops by Borah Bergman in New York. He carried out intensive research into the sounds of nature in Mexico, working with oceanographers and biologists, including mammalogist Bernardo Villa.

Most of his works have a significant amount of improvisation. His work as a solo pianist combines the pure sound of the instrument with prepared or manipulated piano techniques. He has presented various multimedia projects for piano, voice, live electronics, video, Butoh dance, as well as percussion pieces on sculptures, sound objects and fine arts tools. He has created sculptures and sound installations that can be played by the public. He has developed his most imaginative actions at the boundary between music and performance, such as a recital in complete darkness at the Sendesaal of Bremen (Germany).

He has played with first-rate musicians including Claudio Pontiggia, Hans Koch, Joachim Kühn, Franz Hautzinger, Carlos Zingaro, Michiel Borstlap, Walter Quintus, Ksenija Lukic, Hannah Marshall, Das Neue Ensemble Hannover, Americo Rodrigues, Ramón López, Paul Rogers, Mark Sanders, Hannah Ma (dance), Mimi Barthélemy, among others.

Balanyà has played in festivals and radio programs in many countries in Europe and America. He has received several grants in Germany (Worpswede, Eckernförde, Düsseldorf) and Switzerland (Fondazione Arp). He is currently based in Brussels and in Barcelona.

The concerts by Balanyà are powerful ​rituals –​ it could be said that he plays the piano with his whole body – during which ​we can perceive the presence of music change into matter.

Hans Koch has quit his carreer as a recognised classical clarinetist to become one of the most innovative improvising reed-players in Europe. He has been working with everyone from Cecil Taylor to Fred Frith since the eighties. As a composer he has shaped the sound of Koch-Schütz-Studer since the beginning as well as working for radio-plays and film. Since the nineties he has been working with electronics as an extension of the saxes/clarinets as well as with sampling/sequencing. As a reed-player he is always working on his very own

Classical flute lessons. Later, alto sax lessons with various teachers, including Jürg Solothurnmann. Studies in the general section of the Swiss Jazz School, Bern. Played in various ensembles, including the Arundo Sax Quartet (classical and jazz). Since 1989, free improvisation. Participated in workshops, with Lauren Newton, L  Quan Ninh, Pauline Oliveros, Jo lle L andre, and Josep-Maria Balany , among others.

Composer and performer of new and improvised music. Born in 1963. Studied trumpet and composition at the Graz Academy of Music and the Performing Arts and at the Vienna Conservatory. Since 1989 he teaches ensemble, composition, and arrangement at the Vienna University of Music and the Performing Arts. He is (guest-)soloist in various ensembles, partner in international art cooperations (e.g. of Elliott Sharp, Ben Patterson, Joachim Kuhn, Tony Oxley, Otomo Yosihide, John Cale, Zeitkratzer), and creator of his own projects („Franz Hautzinger Speakers Corner

Konzertdiplom an der Hochschule für Künste in Bern. Bis 2002 Student an der Universit t in Bern, wo er die F cher Theaterwissenschaften und Philosophie belegte. Till Wyler arbeitet derzeit in Theater- und Filmproduktionen als Musiker mit, realisiert verschiedene Performances und spielt zu Lesungen.

Wildbolz lives in The Netherlands since 1996. She is broadly experienced in improvised and composed music. Wildbolz has worked enthusiastically with other musicians and artists in the areas of dance, theatre and film, aiming to investigate the intertwining, limiting and possibly overlapping fields of these disciplines. Her actual focus goes into her collaboration with the Japanese danser and performer Kei Takei. www.cristinwildbolz.nl

Since years main activities in the field of experimental music. Concerts all over the world with his groups BTMZ (with Richard Teitelbaum, Günter Müller and Carlos Zingaro), with his string-trio (with Barre Phillips and Martin Schütz), BENT II (with Franz Hautzinger and Steve Noble) and EAM (electronic-acousticmeeting). He inititates several projects as COMUNICACION INVISIBLE in which the collaboration with other arts as dance, fine arts, text and video are central.

Franziska Baumann, a vocalist, flautist, composer and sound artist, is experienced in a diversity of improvised and composed music. As a vocalist she explores the human voice as a multi-faceted instrument expanding traditional boundaries. As a composer her repertoire is diverse and includes commissions for electroacoustic and improvised projects to experimental radioworks, largescale site-specific sound environments and installations, all of which are characterizes by a very personal language. www.franziskabaumann.ch

Luzern (*26.8.63, in Meggen) Education: Akademie für Schul- und Kirchenmusik, Luzern, Jazzschool Luzern (allg. Abteilung) Autodidaktische Studien, div. Workshops (u.a. bei Ray Anderson, George Lewis, Josep Maria Balanya, Monika Günther/Performance) Orchestral Projects: Morschachblasorchester (Free Impro), Swiss Improvisers Orchestra (Scenic Free Impro) Bands: NEXT (Dieter Ulrich, Jürg Solthurnmann, Christian Hartmann), IGEL (Urban M der, Christian Hartmann, Markus Lauterburg), Nashi Dela (Thomas K.J. Mejer, Ilja Komarov)Laurence Revey Band Art director: „early bird“ - Festival, Luzern

Born 1945, plays piano since entering school. Since puberty interested in and playing of free improvised music an jazz (plays in jazz quintet since 20 years). Active Member of WIM.

The percussionist Markus Lauterburg lives in Luzern. He improvizes together with various groups, he is providing backgroundmusic to old silent movies, composes for various formations, gives solo concerts and participates in international meetings of improvised music.

1950 born in Zurich, CH Since 1989 artist in visual arts and lecturer at the professional school of visual arts Biel-Bern – CH. installations, productions in multimedia, performances,stage-settings, objects and paintings.

1965, lives in Solothurn. Since 1994 she participates in various exhibitions in Switzerland as well as abroad. Video, fotos, painting, installations. www.annatinagraf.ch

is a freelance dancer,choreografer and director of Dakini Dance Projects. She did her dancestudies in Switzerland, Japan and New York.Currently she is touring with the soloperformance „fragile“ and the researchproject „the human plant“ with her Company. Susanne is teaching in Basel, Zurich and Bern and gives Workshops in Switzerland and internationaly. Winner of the culturprice 2004 of the city of Biel-Bienne.

Studium der Psychologie, Psychopathologie und Musikwissenschaft an der Universität Bern, abgeschlossen mit dem Lizentiat (Lic. phil. I, Thema der Diplomarbeit: „Eine Untersuchung über den Zusammenhang zwischen Delinquenz und minimaler cerebraler Dysfunktion bei Jugendlichen“) Promotion Dr. phil. I, Universität Bern.Habilitation. Erlangung der Venia docendi für Psychologie an der philosophisch-historischen Fakult t der Universität Bern. Habilitationsschrift: „Nichtverbales Verhalten: Interne Repräsentation und externe Präsentation“.

My main filed is focused on the functioning of the human brain. The functional neuroimage is a new method that allows visualizing the neuronal activity so to speak live. In this field magnetic resonance scanner are applied.