Soprano Anita DeChellis holds an MA in voice performance from Duquesne University, and over the past five years has developed a style that, says David Krasnow of The Village Voice, "bridges free jazz and art song." She's performed with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, the Pittsburgh Opera Chorus, as a soloist with the Boston Pops, and at New Music/improvisation venues such as the Knitting Factory, the Improvised and Otherwise Festival (NY), the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival (CA), and the SoundShift Festival (Baltimore).

Pianist Dan DeChellis began his studies at age five, later earning an MA in piano performance at Duquesne and studying improvisation with Paul Bley, Ran Blake, and Masashi Harada at the New England Conservatory. Encompassing influences as diverse as Anton Webern and Brian Eno, his playing blends lyricism, explosive energy, and advanced harmonic theory, and has invited critical comparisons to pianists such as Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, and Borah Bergman. He has released nine CDs on the Sachimay label and collaborated with musicians like Gerry Hemingway, Mat Maneri, Sabir Mateen, and Bhob Rainey.

Percussionist Matt Hannafin studied Iranian classical percussion with master Kavous Shirzadian, Arabic and Indian percussion with Jamey Haddad and Glen Velez, and voice with composer La Monte Young and Pandit Pran Nath. Blending the timbres and techniques of Iranian, Asian, contemporary classical, and industrial musics, his work explores its own unique sonic territory. Recent collaborators have included Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Borbetomagus guitarist Donald Miller, and Ukrainian bandura virtuoso Julian Kytasty.

Both DeChellises are members of the improvisation groups the Focus Quintet and the Dan DeChellis Chamber Quartet. Dan DeChellis and Matt Hannafin are members of the electro-acoustic improvisation trio Chainworks, with electronics player Brian Moran. All three ensembles are documented on Sachimay Records recordings (www.sachimayrecords.com).