Ania Paz

A Spanish pianist and composer, is known for her modern and driving sound, impregnated by a new fusion of Caribbean and Afro-Peruvian styles, within the Jazz language. She was born in Lima, Peru, where she started studying music at the age of 4, and wrote her first composition at the age of 6. Her passion for music took her to different countries and musical cultures, studying classical music as well as jazz first in Germany, and then in the United States, where she got her Masters Degree. She is currently a resident of the Dominican Republic. She is the leader of the Ania Paz Jazz Ensamble, which successfully performed at the Dominican Republic Jazz Festival in Cabarete, at the XVI Festival Internacional Jazz en Lima, and at the Festival Cultural Hermanas Mirabal in Salcedo and Tenares. She also performed at several international jazz festivals and concerts, such as the TCI Jazz Festival in San José, California; the Colonial Jazz Festival in Santo Domingo; the Festival Jazz Astwood; as well as at jazz clubs, Theatre Halls and main TV shows in the Dominican Republic, Peru, Germany, Spain and the US, such as Jazz Zone (Lima), Cinemacafe (Santo Domingo), Danny's Skylight Room, Many's Place and St Peter Church (New York). She also won the Jazz Composition Prize with her Jazz Ballad "Serenidad" at the Casa de Teatro Competition, where Michael Camilo and Juan Luis Guerra were part of the Jury; and received an award in the Latin category with her Song "Inspiración Mía" at the USA Songwriting Competition. She produced and successfully released the CDs Festejo Dominicano, Ania Paz Jazz Ensamble, Meta Arará and Una mujer feliz, as well as the DVD of her life performance at the XVI Festival Internacional Jazz en Lima. As an educator, she has been teaching and presenting Master Classes at Universities and Music Institutions in Germany, the United States, Peru and the Dominican Republic; she created the curricula for the Departamento Folclórico del Conservatorio Nacional de Música in Santo Domingo and for Jazzymas – which she founded; and she wrote several jazz and modern styles methods. As a researcher, she participated at the second international convention of the Afro-Latin and American Research Association, with a presentation about the development of African rhythms in different areas of America. As a result she received recognition for extraordinary support from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Anne Pajunen

(born in Laholm, 1968, resident Stockholm/Sweden), is a Swedish composer, viola player and singer. She has freelanced on the viola in various orchestras since 1995. As a singer she has produced and performed numerous stage concepts, solo as well as in various constellations. Contemporary music together with performance, are the two main elements in Pajunen's music. She works with all aspects of a performance, set design, costumes, etc, and she strives for a strong visual expression along with music, sound and words. The performances are often based on interaction with the audience, or experimenting with memory games and reactions in a live situation. Pajunen studied at the Academy of Music And Drama at the university in Gothenburg in 1988-1995 and at the Sibelius Academy, Helsinki, in 1990-1991. She also studied viola with Garth Know. Pajunen is a member of Fylkingen, FST (Society of Swedish Composers), STIM (the Swedish Performing Rights Society) and Folkoperans Orkester. She is a member of Svenska Mordena Operaensemblen – S.M.O.K (Swedish Modern Opera Ensemble) and Lórchestre Disparu, which is an ensemble with V, fl and live-video.
Selected works: Elevator small talk, 2009, for sax-a; Elevator small talk, 2009, for fl; Work together with composer Patric Simmerud: Absence, 2012, for S and electronics, text by Anne Pajunen and Patric Simmerud.
Publications direction: Available at Svensk Musik/Swedmic AB
Awards, selection: Received the Bob Kelly Music award 2009

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