Aurora Nealand strives to live at the intersection of Lunacy Avenue and Librarian Drive. She is a sound artist and multi-instrumentalist (saxophones, clarinet, accordion, voice) based in New Orleans, LA. She is deeply interested in the sonification of everyday objects and knowledge-generation through the stories and history that Sound (with a capital S) contains. Nealand is the leader of The Royal Roses, a non-traditional Traditional Jazz band, which draws its approach from collective improvisation’s lineage spanning from New Orleans Early Jazz traditions to the AACM to collage-sound art. Nealand’s other musical projects include The Monocle (her original music project and installation ensemble), redrawblak trio, the Instigation Orchestra, and the Danger Dangers. In 2019, she debuted KindHumanKind: a 90 minute fully staged theatrical show at the Contemporary Arts Center New Orleans based on her original music. She regularly works as a musical facilitator with Found Sound Nation, an organization which facilitates international musical collaboration, and she has been involved with the Walden School for Young Composers as a teacher/performer for 20 years.
Aurora has toured as a featured artist in national and international festivals including Montreal Jazz Festival, Istanbul Jazz Festival, Big Ears Festival, Copenhagen Jazz Festival, MPB Jazz Festival (Natal, Brazil), Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Summerstage NYC, and The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. She has worked with Pauline Oliveros, Jonathan Hart Makwaia, Preservation Hall Allstars, Bill Frisell, Tim Berne, James Singleton, Arto Lindsey, Germaine Bazzle, John Boutte, Johnny Vidacovich and many more. She is the co-founder of SONO (Sound Observatory New Orleans) which facilitates workshops of new music in the New Orleans region. She has been awarded residencies at the New Orleans Contemporary Arts Center, the MacDowell Colony, and the Atlantic Center for the Arts. She particularly enjoys the sound of eggs frying in oil; so many layers there.
