PIANO SUMMIT 2026 - A BlueStem Presentation

Matt Blair is a pianist, composer, multimedia artist, and educator living in Madison, Wisconsin. His work draws upon diverse musical traditions such as jazz and improvisation, sound art, minimalism, and electronic music. Since 2018, Matt has been releasing music on his label, Scribbled Fang Records. Recent releases have included Shadow Sets, a collection of compositions for solo piano that was produced by Dave King (The Bad Plus, Happy Apple), Post Rock Lately, the debut record of Collector, an improvising trio featuring Jakob Heinemann on bass and Devin Drobka on drums and electronics, and Flights and Poor Health Good Spirits, both releases by Big Thanks, a Minneapolis-based Trash House trio featuring Miles Allen on saxophone and clarinet and Jack Lussenden on drums. Other recent releases have included After Party (out on Dinzu Artefacts), the debut record of Yins, an electronic duo with Devin Drobka, and Resorts (out on Shifting Paradigm Records), a piano trio featuring Devin Drobka’s compositions with Aaron Darrell on bass.

Miss Lee / Pianist and singer | Miss Lee started her career in Japan and came to play in Korea, China, U.S., Canada and Europe. She plays as a solo artist, has played with artists including Shun Kikuta and currently tours with the Cash Box Kings, Bob Stroger, and Gerry Hundt. The winner of 2018 Chicago Blues Piano Contest, she was invited to play Otis Spann tributes in Chicago Blues Festival in 2019, and on the main stage in 2024. She made leader albums “Union Meetin’” (2014) with her Chicago friends and “Lee’s Boogie”(2017) on her own, and now “The Chicago Blues Trio!!” (2024) is nominated for the 2025 Blues Blast Music Awards in the Best Acoustic Blues Album category.

Mabel Kwan is a pianist and performer of experimental music. Her self-produced work is a meditation on sound, contradictions, and our perceptions of what is familiar or strange. She plays with STOMACHS, Honestly Same, Em Spel, the Jason Roebke Quartet, the Christopher Dammann Sextet, Kwan/Pauly/Shaw trio and Ensemble Dal Niente on keys, accordion, and synths. She frequently collaborates with dancer and choreographer Ayako Kato, and pianist Sharon Udoh. Mabel is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Carrie Shaw | Praised in the New York Times “as graceful vocally as she was in her movements”, “consistently stylish” (Boston Globe), and as a “cool, precise soprano” (Chicago Tribune), Carrie Henneman Shaw is a two-time McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians winner (2010, 2017). She has premiered major works by such Minnesota composers as Jocelyn Hagen and Abbie Betinis, whose annual Christmas carols she records for Minnesota Public Radio, and sung American premieres by such composers as Georg Friedrich Haas, Hans Thomalla, and Augusta Read Thomas. In addition to her work as an interpreter of contemporary works, Carrie specializes in music of the 17th century and has performed operatic roles with one of America’s leading Baroque opera companies, Boston Early Music Festival. Carrie is a member of Chicago’s Ensemble Dal Niente, Quince Ensemble, and uluuul. She holds degrees in English and voice performance from Lawrence University and a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She teaches at the University of Washington in Seattle.