JESSICA MOSS & KA BAIRD

Join us in the unique acoustic atmosphere of our sanctuary for the first concert in a series presented in partnership with Nova Arts: A night of solo performances by Jessica Moss & Ka Baird. Thursday, May 4th, 8pm. 

Jessica Moss is a Montréal-based violinist and composer who began writing and performing solo work under her own name in 2014; she has since made four full-length albums. Moss uses amplified and processed violin (and voice) to create works of expressive electronic- and drone-inflected post-classical Minimalism and Maximalism, with a distinctive melodic sensibility that often channels Klezmer, Balkan and Middle Eastern tropes, and an ear for textural grit and timbral noise forged from her 15-year tenure in agitprop postpunk band Thee Silver Mt. Zion (2001-2016).

Moss self-released her debut solo album Under Plastic Island, recorded with Guy Picciotto, in fall 2015. Two acclaimed albums on the Constellation imprint followed: Pools Of Light (2017) and Entanglement (2018); her third, Phosphenes, was released in November 2021—all three co-produced with Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem In My Heart, Matana

Roberts, Suuns). A Closer Listen has described Moss as “an artist whose solo work has surpassed her collaborative work, she becomes her instrument and channels its harmonic power”; Loud And Quiet has called her solo music “inventive, powerful, deeply engaging, carrying real weight.” Moss has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe, including appearances at Big Ears, WSO New Music, Le Guess Who?, ATP, Supersonic and Basilic Hudson 24-HOUR DRONE. Over the past two decades she has contributed to writing, arrangements and recordings by artists like Carla Bozulich, Vic Chesnutt and Big|Brave, among many others. Most recently she made the soundtrack to award-winning documentary Laila At The Bridge, composed and performed the original live score for DUST by Australian company DanceNorth, joined Feist’s touring band, released a record with Roy Montgomery, and played on albums by Sarah Davachi and Daniel O’Sullivan. Moss is also a founding member of the avant-Klezmer quartet Black Ox Orkestar.

Ka Baird is a performer, composer and sound designer based in New York City. They are known for their live performances which include extended voice and microphone techniques combined with electronics and psychoacoustic interplay of flutes and other woodwinds. They create a present tense sound with a vigorous, ritualistic delivery that seeks extreme release through physical exertion and psychic extension. They have worked/collaborated with many other musicians, artists, filmmakers and choreographers, both in structured compositions and in their dedicated practice of improvisation and interdisciplinary work.   

They were one of the core members of Spires That In The Sunset Rise, founded in Chicago in 2001. Their debut solo album "Sapropelic Pycnic" was released through independent Chicago label Drag City in 2017. Their latest recording "Respires" was released through Brooklyn based imprint RVNG Intl in October 2019. Recent national and international engagements have included performances at Unsound Festival (Krakow, PL), Lampo (Chicago, IL), Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL), MoMA PS1 (Queens, NY), Issue Project Room (Brooklyn, NY), The Kitchen (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia, PA), TUSK Festival (Newcastle, UK), Incubate (Tilburg, NL), KRAAK (Brussels, BE), Le Guess Who (Utrecht, NL), and the Festival Of Endless Gratitude (Copenhagen, DK). They have been artist-in-residence at We Jazz Festival (Helsinki, FI), Sonoscopia (Porto, PT), Inkonst (Malmo, SE), Experimental Sound Studio (Chicago, IL), and Pioneer Works (Brooklyn, NY). They were a 2020 recipient of the Foundation of Contemporary Art's Emergency Grant and a Jerome Foundation Artist-in-Residence at Roulette Intermedium in 2018.