The tuba player and composer Robin Hayward, born in Brighton, England in 1969, has been based in Berlin since 1998. He has radically extended the tuba’s potential both in the areas of noise and microtonality. His compositions for other instruments reflect a similar medium-specific approach. As an interpreter his specific playing ability has been utilized by leading composers such as Alvin Lucier and Christian Wolff. He has toured extensively both solo and in collaboration. His research to date has been documented in his solo CD Valve Division and various other collaborative releases. Active in many contemporary music ensembles including Phosphor and Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, in 2005 he founded Zinc & Copper Works for continued research into brass instruments.

Axel Dörner studied piano and trumpet at the Musik-hochschule, Cologne. He workes in the fields of Improvised Music, New Music and Jazz. He has developed a totally unique style of trumpet playing based in part on unusual, often self-invented techniques. He has toured in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and appeared on numerous CD and record releases.