Nathan Hanson’s Rope Ladder

Rope Ladder is saxophonist Nathan Hanson’s string group, featuring Laura Harada (violin), Michelle Kinney (cello), and Kyle Motl (bass). They play Nathan’s compositions in an expansive, improvised style that is equal parts familiar and unexpected, drawing from folk, classical, and jazz sources.

Saxophonist and composer Nathan Hanson makes music that invites listeners to stand outside themselves and the flow of time. His improvisations are “lithe and soaring, engaging in judicious honk ‘n’ splatter” (New York City Jazz Record). In Europe, Hanson has performed at the Atlantique Jazz Festival, Splendor in Amsterdam, and the Sons d’Hiver Festival in Paris. In the United States, he has played at the Knitting Factory in New York, the Outpost in Albuquerque, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and Elastic in Chicago. Hanson investigates how to channel the sound of each performance space. The energy of the audience circulates with the music, silence, and breath. The effect leads listeners to become more present to the unfolding of each moment. He has recorded more than a dozen albums on labels including Innova, nato, BudaMusique, and Skirl.

Violinist Laura Harada enjoys a diverse musical life that spans from Western classical to Eastern microtonal music, Brazilian forro and choro, Argentine tango, free jazz, and creative music of many kinds. A member of National Arab Orchestra in Detroit, she performs in Minnesota with Arabic music ensemble Amwaaj, Samba Meu, and Aby Wolf’s Champagne Confetti.

Michelle Kinney is a lifelong improviser inspired by collaborative cross-genre work and nontraditional contexts for the cello. Michelle’s current music projects include Maithree, a collaboration with veena virtuoso Nirmala Rajasekar; the Stylites, led by guitarist Chris Cunningham; and many projects with cellist Jacqueline Ultan. While living in New York City for 13 years, Michelle was lucky enough to work with some of the most respected innovators in new music, including the unforgettable Butch Morris, Henry Threadgill, Jason Hwang, Brandon Ross, and Stomu Takeishi. She is attuned to all sorts of good and bad noises, willy-nilly ideas, dreams, and textures. Michelle thanks her lucky stars that she’s a musician in 2024 in the Twin Cities— land of future genres.

Kyle Motl is a bassist, composer, and improviser whose playing is noted for both “iridescent delicacy as well as abrasive force” (The Wire). His music “promise[s] to change us by revealing things we could never have imagined” (Free Jazz Collective). Kyle’s work spans composed and improvised musics, including performances and recordings with Anthony Davis, Clucas/Motl/Hubbard, the Peter Kuhn Trio, Treesearch, Zarabanda Variations, International Contemporary Ensemble, and others. He is assistant professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, where he teaches double bass and contemporary music practices.