Jason Finkelman

Jason Finkelman combines laptop electronics and acoustic instrumentation to create a distinct ambient, avant-world sound. A specialist on the single string musical bow berimbau, Finkelman is a Philadelphia-born percussionist who performs on African and Brazilian instruments handcrafted by Adimu Kuumba. His roots in improvised music include founding the trio Straylight in 1992, which enjoyed a wide range of collaborative performances in the Straylight Dialogues series at the Knitting Factory. Urbana-Champaign-based since 2000, Finkelman performs continually with a host of genre-blurring improvisers, is a community radio host at WEFT 90.1FM and leads the ever-evolving ensemble Kuroshio, which recently released an eponymous CD on Asian Improv Records (2020).

As a composer for dance, Finkelman has collaborated with choreographer Cynthia Oliver for over thirty years and received a “Bessie” award as a composer for her full evening work SHEMAD (2000). At the University of Illinois, Finkelman directs Global Arts Performance Initiatives at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and leads Improvisers Exchange, a performance ensemble of the School of Music.

In 2023 Finkelman curated for Spurlock Museum, “Nikkeijin Illinois,” an exhibition on the Japanese American experience told through profiles of former and current faculty and staff of the University of Illinois, including his own Yonsei story. Finkelman’s thoughts occasionally manifest through the written word. (Profile photo by Travis_Stansel)

Website: College of Fine & Applied Arts, School of Music

Updated October 2024

Stories from This Author

Nikkei Uncovered: a poetry column

Grappling

Oct. 17, 2024 • Jason Finkelman , traci kato-kiriyama

I recently had the great privilege of being hosted as a George A. Miller Visiting Artist at the University of Illinois and thus being able to spend time with artists Jason Finkelman and his wife, dancer/choreographer Cynthia Oliver. We had an informal salon of sorts at their home and I was able to witness brief touches of their art, when we came to this poem, written by Jason, who is a Nikkei Jewish musician and artist in Urbana, Illinois. As …