Ashley Au

Ashley Au is a Winnipeg-based bassist, composer, sound artist, arranger, and queer creative.

A multifaceted musician, Ashley specializes in the upright and electric basses—performing, touring and recording internationally for the better part of the last decade. As a composer and sound artist, Ashley’s work can be found behind various theatre works, installation works, opera and dance productions nationally and internationally.

As an administrator, Ashley has worked in literary publishing, visual arts, dance, and of course, music. Ashley is the current artistic director of Cluster New Music + Integrated Arts Festival and the stage producer for the Pride Winnipeg Festival.

Current and past projects include work with Weakerthans frontman, John K. Samson; Christine Fellows; Carly Dow; internationally-acclaimed Americana tastemaker, Scott Nolan; composer/jazz trumpeter Chuck Copanace; the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre; Prairie Theatre Exchange; Weather Parade Dance Theatre; Citadel Theatre; Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers; and Polaris Prize-nominated live hip-hop outfit, Super Duty Tough Work among others.

Meghan Cheng is a new media artist and violinist based in Toronto, Ontario. She received her MFA from York University and her BMUS from Berklee College of Music.

She creates audio visual installations for live performances, galleries and public spaces. Cheng explores how technology can be used to bring attention to the human experience and the natural world around us. Cheng has created installations for InterAccess, ArtworxTO, Gallery 345, VectorFest and more. She has collaborated with artists such as Thin Edge New Music Collective, Barbra Lica and Abigail Richardson-Schulte.

Cheng has been an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts (2017), ONCulture (2022) and STEPS Create Space (2022). She was honoured with an OAC New Media grant in 2023, and an OAC Chalmer’s Professional Development Grant in 2018.