Lisa Mezzacappa is a San Francisco Bay Area-based composer, bassist, bandleader, and producer. Called “one of the most imaginative figures on the Bay Area creative jazz scene” by The Mercury News and “a Bay Area treasure” by KQED public radio, she has been an active part of California’s vibrant music community for nearly 20 years. Mezzacappa’s activities as a composer and bandleader include ethereal chamber music, electro-acoustic works, avant-garde jazz, music for groups from duo to large ensemble, and collaborations with film, dance and visual art.

Recent projects include Cosmicomics, a series of compositions inspired by Italo Calvino’s stories about the origins of the universe; avantNOIR, a suite for sextet rooted in noir fiction; Organelle, a chamber suite for improvisers grounded in scientific processes on micro and cosmic scales; Glorious Ravage, an evening-length song cycle for large ensemble and films drawn from the writings of Victorian lady adventurers; and Touch Bass, a collaboration with choreographer Risa Jaroslow for three dancers and three bassists. Current projects include the duo B. Experimental Band which performs original compositions for improvisers bimonthly in Oakland, CA; and premiering in 2020, The Electronic Lover, an opera podcast created in collaboration with writer Beth Lisick.

Learn more about Lisa on our blog.