My Little Realities

My Little Realities (MLR) is a platform to explore the joy of creation, an experimental folkloric world fusion collaborative. Bridging traditional motifs, poetry, and improvisation across multiple genres, we inspire intimate dialogue and collective expression. There is trust in community that allows for leaps of daring, and deep tranquility where we meet the unknown together. These journeys draw upon themes that cross cultures into the space between the familiar, that cultivate harmony to enhance openness, respect, and shared experience.

A little About us…

Graham Nelson is an ethnomusicologist, singer, and performer specializing in flutes from around the world. Performing traditional melodies and contemporary works, he is recognized for his particular work in jazz harmonica. Whether on festival stages, in studio, or at intimate listening evenings his arranging and improvisational prowess delights audiences working with some of the most recognized musicians on the avant Chicago scene and abroad.

Ben Zucker engages in acts of creative juxtaposition and speculation as a composer, audiovisual artist, and multi-instrumentalist. Acclaimed as a "master of improvisation" (IMPOSE Magazine), and “more than a little bit remarkable” (Free Jazz Blog), they have contributed to experimental music scenes across North America and the UK with “stirring compositions...built on a lifetime of musical curiosity” (Chicago Reader), as well as albums, multimedia situations, and frequent performances on vibraphone, brass, voice, and electronics. They currently live in Chicago, working as a freelance musician, lecturer, curator, and President of New Music Chicago.

Evan Kopca’s musical engagements on clarinet and bass clarinet span across a collective of genres and practices that explore classical, contemporary improvisation, jazz, video game, and lo-fi music. Locally in Chicago, Evan frequently performs 1920s traditional jazz music in various groups around the city. He is also a member of Duo Riso: a group that is dedicated to performing new contemporary classical works and engaging in interdisciplinary mediums of collaboration and performance. Similar interests have most-recently taken him to perform similar music in Toledo, Boston, Montreal, and Mexico City. Aside from performing around Chicago, Evan posts videos of original lo-fi inspired music on his Youtube channel centered around clarinet melodies. Some of the recordings are also paired with original animations created through 2D & 3D modeling programs. In addition to his own channel, Evan has also recorded clarinet for the award winning web series Diasporan on the NutzDesign YT Channel.

Juliann Wang is a singer songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and poet crafting a fusion of folk and avant traditions. Her synergy of practice is drawn from a diverse palette of creative sources and deep well of personal experience. Through storytelling she reaches into the past of a very unique experience growing up around traditional Chinese opera. Her expressions are like travels by train through uncharted lands, infused with a rich tapestry of experience that breaths life into her genre crossing sonic sculptures, which she shares with a band of eclectic music makers…