Liquid Music

Jlin / n! = 3!
With Daniel Bernard Romain, Leonardo Sandoval & musicians of the SPCO

Thu, Oct 2, 2025, 7:30 pm
Walker Art Center
Copresented by Liquid Music, Northrop, and the Walker Art Center
Produced by Liquid Music and Pomegranate Arts

A math lover, former steel factory worker, and proud resident of Gary, Indiana, Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America and one of the most influential women in electronic music. Jlin’s thrilling, emotional, and multidimensional compositions have earned her praise as “one of the most forward-thinking contemporary composers in any genre” (Pitchfork). This specially-crafted program demonstrates Jlin’s expansive musical universe with solo electronic material; collaborations featuring omnivorous violinist and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain and renowned tap improviser and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval; and the Kronos Quartet-commissioned Little Black Book performed by members of The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

Little Black Book is presented in partnership with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra.

About the artists

Jlin (Jerrilynn Patton) has quickly become one of the most distinctive composers in America and one of the most influential women in electronic music. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize nominee for Perspectives—originally commissioned and performed by Third Coast Percussion.  Her mini-album Perspective, featuring the original electronic versions of the suite, was released to critical acclaim on Planet Mu 2023. Her much-lauded albums Dark Energy (2015) and Black Origami (2017) have been featured in “Best of” lists in The New York Times, The Wire, LA Times, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and Vogue. She has remixed works for major artists including Björk, Max Richter, Martin Gore (of Depeche Mode), Galya Bisengalieva, Marie Davidson, Nina Kraviz and Ben Frost. In the last decade, Jlin has been commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, Third Coast Percussion, the Pathos Quartet, legendary choreographers Wayne McGregor & Kyle Abraham, fashion designer Rick Owens and the visual artists Nick Cave and Kevin Beasley. Jlin has collaborated with contemporary artists including William Basinski, Dope Saint Jude, Holly Herndon, Zora Jones, and the late, iconic SOPHIE. Her latest album, Akoma (Planet Mu), was released on March 22, 2024 featuring collaborations with Philip Glass, Bjork, and Kronos Quartet. Most recently, Wesleyan University commissioned two pieces from Jlin using sounds of Javanese Gamelan, performed live by the Javanese Gamelan Ensemble and Paula Matthusen’s Toneburst Laptop Orchestra. In May 2025, Jlin composed and premiered the first ever piece of electronic music commissioned by the US Library of Congress.  

Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) is a Black, Haitian-American composer who sees composing as collaboration with artists, organizations and communities within the farming and framing of ideas. He is a prolific and endlessly collaborative composer, performer, educator, and social entrepreneur. “About as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (New York Times), Roumain has worked with artists from J’Nai Bridges, Lady Gaga and Philip Glass to Bill T. Jones, Marin Alsop and Anna Deavere Smith. Known for his signature violin sounds infused with myriad electronic and African-American music influences, Roumain takes his genre-bending music beyond the proscenium. He is a composer of solo, chamber, orchestral, and operatic works, and has composed an array of film, theater, and dance scores. He has composed music for the acclaimed film Ailey (Sundance official selection); was the first Music Director and Principal Composer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company; released and appeared on 30 album recordings; and has published over 300 works. He has appeared on CBS, ESPN, FOX, NBC, NPR, and PBS; and has collaborated with the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Kennedy Center, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Sydney Opera House. He was Artist-in-Residence and Creative Chair at the Flynn in Burlington, Vermont. Currently, he is the first Artistic Ambassador with Firstworks; the first Artist Activist-in-Residence at Longy School of Music; and the first Resident Artistic Catalyst with the New Jersey Symphony. Roumain is an Atlantic Center Master Artist, a Creative Capital Grantee, and a Hermitage Artist Retreat Fellow. He has won the American Academy in Rome Goddard Lieberson Fellowship; a Civitella Ranieri Music Fellowship Award; an Emmy Award for The New Look of Classical Music; National Sawdust Disruptor Award; and the Sphinx Organization Arthur L. Johnson Award.  He has lectured at Yale and Princeton University and was a Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College. He is currently a tenured Associate and Institute Professor at Arizona State University Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval is celebrated for blending America's tap tradition with Brazil's rich musical and rhythmic heritage. A true dancer-musician, he helped bring tap to a wider audience in Brazil through numerous TV and stage appearances, and by co-founding the Companhia Carioca de Sapateado. In 2012, he gained global recognition as a finalist in Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony's talent show, Q'Viva! The Chosen. Sandoval was named one of Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch in 2021 and is the recipient of a 2022 Vilcek Foundation Prize for Creative Promise in Dance, a 2022 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Choreography, and a 2024 Princess Grace Award in Choreography.

Now based in New York, Leonardo is a core member of Michelle Dorrance’s acclaimed company, Dorrance Dance, performing worldwide at venues like the Joyce Theater, the Guggenheim Museum, New York City Center, BAM, Canada’s National Arts Center, Hong Kong Arts Festival, and London’s Sadler’s Wells. Alongside composer Gregory Richardson, he directs Music From The Sole, a NYC-based tap dance and live music company that explores tap dance's Afro-diasporic roots and its lineage to a wide range of Black dance and music, from jazz to samba, house, and passinho (Brazilian funk). The company has appeared at Lincoln Center, the Joyce Theater, New York City Center, and the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, among others. Music From The Sole has received support from organizations like the New England Foundation for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, and has held residencies at Jacob's Pillow and The Yard. In 2019-2020, Leonardo was the National Dance Institute's inaugural artist in residence. His recent choreography, commissioned for Philip Glass' 85th birthday celebrations, was described by the New York Times as "a choreographic revelation."

As a solo artist, Leonardo has appeared at the Caramoor Jazz Festival (presented by Jazz at Lincoln Center) and the National Folk Festival. He has collaborated with musicians including Michael Mwenso and the Shakes, Ben Sollee, and the Quebe Sisters, and has been featured on PBS, BBC, MSNBC, and Fox.

Leonardo is a passionate advocate for arts education, leading workshops, classes, and lecture-demonstrations on tap, body percussion, and Afro-Brazilian rhythms to diverse audiences globally, including through partnerships with the National Dance Institute and Lincoln Center Education.

ABOUT THE SAINT PAUL CHAMBER ORCHESTRA 

Founded in 1959, the Grammy Award-winning Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) is renowned for its  artistic excellence, remarkable versatility of musical styles and adventurous programming. SPCO concerts are primarily musician-led and include a broad range of repertoire, from Baroque works to new music, in close collaboration with a dynamic roster of internationally acclaimed Artistic Partners. Through a distinctive musician-led artistic model, SPCO musicians lead and develop the orchestra’s programming, determine members and choose artistic collaborators.