Bio

L.K. (Lily Kaufman) is a saxophone player, composer, collaborator and improviser based in Brooklyn, NY and is extremely pleased to still be vertical and ventilating after 5 years in NYC! Past shows have been in a wide range of genres and mediums including classical/avant-garde, free jazz, klezmer and Romanian folk music and electroacoustic duos for saxophone and live processing. In her own compositions she finds inspiration from the Romanian doina dance suite, Jazz and elements of contemporary chamber music. Since 2019, this amalgamation of genres has been project-specific for a debut saxophone EP entitled The Chaos of Longing, released December 15, 2023. The album has been called “A captivating musical foray into identity, heritage, family dynamics, and generational longing” (Romanian Cultural Institute, May 2023). https://lilykaufman.bandcamp.com/album/the-chaos-of-longing

Her Programs have been featured at the North American Saxophone Alliance Conference, the Fresh Inc New Music Festival in Kenosha, WI, the Congressional Building at the United States Capitol and the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Artist in Residence program in Alberta, Canada with her solo concert entitled Darmstadt, Revisited. Concert credits of standard classical repertoire include the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in NYC, The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in Alberta, CA and Golden Rondelle Theatre in Racine, WI. Records she has played on include Wind Concerti  featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra on BCM&D Records, Music for Winds on MSR Classics, Better Springs Vol. 2 on Tiny House Tapes and featured on a  BBCRadio4 Special called The Last Songs of Gaia with improvisations on a work by Lisa Schonberg's Acromyrmex.

The impetus is to connect to the ancestors who had much to bear as we too have much to bear. "But the rigors of their journey have helped to prepare me for mine because in that fine, flying froth and mist of blood, in that darkness of degradation, in all that terror and in all that helplessness a living soul moved and refused to die."