Founded in 2017, the J. Pavone String Ensemble presents original compositions that expand on the themes of Jessica Pavone’s extensive solo work for viola while incorporating recent research into the effects of sonic vibration on human physiology and emotional health. Pavone’s solo viola music, which stems from years of concentrated long-tone practice and an interest in repetition, song form, and sympathetic vibration, is influenced by the ‘folk song,’ which lives largely through oral transmission. Each piece's performance may be unique, reflecting the indeterminacy of Pavone’s output for solo viola; her folk music. Providing the groundwork for her compositional language, she created the J. Pavone String Ensemble as an outgrowth. The compositional techniques borrow from and elaborate on traditional music notation, wherein Pavone experiments with improvisatory techniques, alternating between metered and time-based scores and improvised and notated instructions. Specific sections allow the freedom to move between sounds at the performer’s chosen rate within given parameters. In this system, the musicians develop the skill of responding to a score and a performance space as well as to each other. Through the spaces left open within the structure of each piece, the musicians re-create the work together during each performance. Sustained pitches and clusters of ensemble sounds generate specific physical and cognitive benefits intended to impact the audience physically and mentally, existing within and beyond music’s canonical role. The ensemble approach focuses on a vision of collective improvisation that prioritizes a collaboratively sewn musical fabric, in contrast to the traditional improvisatory method that prizes the individuality and uniqueness of the soloist. The rehearsal method, influenced by her solo work, attends to how the body plays a role in sound and intention. The group has performed at the Suoni Per Il Popolo Festival (Montreal), Logan Center for the Arts (Chicago), the DiMenna Center for Classical Music (Manhattan), NYC Winter Jazzfest, Roulette and ISSUE Project Room (Brooklyn), Firehouse12 (New Haven), Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center (Asheville), the Garner Arts Center (Garnerville, NY), and The Rotunda (Philadelphia). Three studio albums have been released to critical acclaim from The Wire, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, JazzTimes, and San Francisco Classical Voice. Brad Cohen of Jazz Times described her as "a free-thinker who can’t be pigeonholed." In 2019, the string ensemble’s debut album, Brick and Mortar, was hailed by the Chicago Reader's Peter Margasak as "the most assured, bracing work of Pavone’s career." Astral Spirits Records released their second, Lost and Found, in 2020 to critical acclaim from publications such as; The Wire, The New Yorker, NYC Jazz Record, NPR, and Jazzwise. Bandcamp Daily named it a "Best Contemporary Albums of 2020". Chris Ingalls from Pop Matters described their music as "too stunning to lump into genres."

Gill Arno’ was born in Italy and lives in Brooklyn, NY. His work explores areas where sound and image overlap, and is often constructed with found objects and found sound. In the project “mpld” he utilizes two modified slide projectors to create performances where static images become pulsating and fade continuously into one another. The projectors’ mechanical sounds are tapped and manipulated to reveal their musical potential. In yet another film/video project he animates the process of heat radiating and dissipating through three-dimensional bodies. Recently his video piece “Province Of Two Empires” was published online by Contour Editions. It is available at: https://www.contoureditions.com