Ben Zucker

Ben Zucker makes “stirring compositions…built on a lifetime of musical curiosity” (Chicago Reader). An intentionally wide-ranging composer, audiovisual artist, and multi-instrumentalist, he has contributed to experimental scenes of the Bay Area, New England, London, Chicago, and beyond. Performance highlights include working with musicians including Anthony Braxton, Gareth Davis, Myra Melford, Karen Borca, The Crossing, The Vocal Constructivists, Rinde Eckert, and the San Francisco Choral Artists, in addition to frequent appearances as an ensemble contributor, and bandleader of the experimental jazz quartet Fifth Season, and creative music collective Mad Myth Science. Their composed works have received awards and performances by ensembles including the Mivos Quartet, the Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, Khorikos, Ensemble Dal Niente, and the Chicago Composers Orchestra, as well as being performed at DOCNYC, the Darmstadt Fereinkurse, Art Omi, Trinity College Dublin, Nordic Percussion Festival, Ostrava New Music Days, Ear Taxi Festival, and the Banff Centre. He has been acclaimed as a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine) and “more than a little bit remarkable” (Free Jazz Blog) for his solo albums combining brass, percussion, voice, and electronics, released on labels including Whitelabelrecs, Dinzu Artifacts, ears&eyes records, Shimmering Moods Records, Amalgam, Verz Imprint, and I Low You. They currently live in Chicago, working as doctoral student at Northwestern University, student labor organizer, Vice President of New Music Chicago, and as varied and caffeinated a freelance life as possible.