This brand new, highly energetic trio meeting spans broad musical backgrounds in Middle Eastern percussion, and European/North American free improv/free jazz, deep listening - and whatever emerges around and in between. Flutist Livia Schweizer (IT), percussionist Hadi Hrekes (SYR), and cellist Wilson Tanner Smith (US/FI) present 2 sets of freely-improvised music at El Fant
20:00, 25 April 2026
€10-€20 suggested donation

Artist bios:
HADI HREKES is a skilled percussionist and a student at the Sibelius Academy’s Global Music Department in Helsinki, Finland. With a solid foundation in darbuka and ethno-oriental percussion, he has gained recognition for his rhythmic talent, solo improvisations, and collaborative nature. Hadi’s musical journey includes various records and collaborations, as well as participation in numerous festivals and ensembles in Syria, Lebanon, the Arab region, the Balkans, and Finland. He has lent his talents to renowned Syrian drama series and has composed cinematic rhythms. Passionate about blending different traditions, he enjoys experimenting with live ethno-oriental percussion and incorporating elements of world percussion into his work. Hadi continually explores creative projects that celebrate unity and diverse soundscapes in the global music scene.
www.instagram.com/hadi.hrekes

LIVIA SCHWEIZER is a flutist, improvisor, educator and artistic researcher based in Helsinki. She is known for her interest in improvisation and non- conventional music notation as a tool of bringing together creative souls from different backgrounds and cultures. After graduating from the conservatory of Livorno (Italy), attracted by the Finnish contemporary music scene, Livia moved to Helsinki to study at the Sibelius Academy with Mikael Helasvuo. Since moving to Helsinki Livia has been working as a versatile freelancer working for example as a flutist for Korvat Auki, Eloa, Turku Philarmonic Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Jyväskylä Sinfonia, Pori Sinfonietta, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Avanti!. Now Livia is member of the E.C.I.O. – European Composers Improvisers Orchestra, and she is one of the founders of the Earth Ears Ensemble; a Helsinki-based group dedicated to performing new music written by lesser-known composers. In parallel to her work as a flutist freelancer Livia is a music teacher for the International School of Helsinki Finland, and she is a doctoral candidate at the Sibelius Academy. Her artistic research focuses on how non-conventional notation can be used to foster intercultural collaborations in contemporary music.
www.liviaschweizer.com

WILSON TANNER SMITH is a cellist, composer, improviser, and theatre artist currently based in Helsinki. His musical sensibility is informed by free improvisation/free jazz, ambient, DIY and found sounds, and by many cross-cultural/-genre collaborations in his former hometown, Chicago, and more recently across northern/western Europe. He frequently collaborates across music, theatre, and dance projects, and has performed at venues such as the Deutsches SchauSpielHaus, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art, Estonia Kontserdisaal, Kreenholm Factory and Victory Gardens Theater.
His latest album is “Perpetual Guest” (Sawyer Editions, 2026), created from recording sessions and performances at the defunct Narva Textile Factory at the Estonian-Russian border in Narva, Estonia; and he is also a member of the improvising quartet Mad Myth Science, whose debut album was released August 2023 to acclaim from The Wire, the Quietus, Chicago Reader, and Stereogum.
www.wilsontannersmith.com