ISB 2023 Convention Presenter — Krista Kopper

A fanatic of modern and contemporary music, Krista Kopper is a versatile double and electric bassist. She has traveled the country playing musicals as well as commissioning, performing, and recording works for the double bass written by some of the most influential modern composers. An avid improviser, she enjoys exploring the infinite variety of sounds that a double bass can produce. She has degrees from Wichita State University and a masters degree in double bass performance from The Hartt School where she studied with Robert Black. Krista is also the creator and host of The Backstage Creative, a podcast that focuses on the people who work behind the scenes of theater. She currently trains for ultramarathons and is involved in the local music scene in the Kansas City area.

Damon Smith studied double bass with Lisle Ellis and has had lessons with Bertram Turezky, Joëlle Leandré, John Lindberg, Mark Dresser and others. Damon’s explorations into the sonic palette of the double bass have resulted in a personal, flexible improvisational language based in the American jazz avant-garde movement and European non-idiomatic free improvisation. Visual art, film and dance heavily influence his music, as evidenced by his CAMH performance of Ben Patterson’s Variations for Double Bass, collaborations with director Werner Herzog on soundtracks for Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, and an early performance with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company.

Damon has collaborated with a wide range of musicians, including: Cecil Taylor, Marshall Allen (of Sun Ra’s Arkestra), Henry Kaiser, Keith Rowe, Jaap Blonk, Roscoe Mitchell, Michael Pisaro, Wadada Leo Smith, Weasel Walter, Marco Eneidi, Wolfgang Fuchs, Peter Brötzmann and Peter Kowald.