Jeff Zahos is passionately dedicated to exploring the confluence of music, sound and movement.   This has led him on an exciting, challenging, eclectic journey as a musical performer and teacher, audio engineer, sound designer, dance musician and musical instrument maker.

He has performed with a wide range of musical ensembles, from the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, the Peoria Symphony to the University of Illinois’s Balinese Gamelan under the direction I Ketut Gede Asnawa and Mande drumming ensemble led by world-renown djembe master Bolokada Conde from Guinea, West Africa to the inter-disciplinary improvisation performance group Colab (of which he was a founding member) and the rock band Faster Forward.  His work as an audio engineer can be heard on recent commercial CD releases by piano virtuoso Ian Hobson, the Atlantic Harp Duo, and his recordings of Sinfonia da Camera and the Champaign-Urbana Symphony can be heard on WILL 90.1FM’s Prairie Performances.  Current CD projects include Bolokada Conde’s African pop/traditional Mande music fusion ensemble Rhythm Manding and mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Buckley.  As a sound designer, highlights include his collaboration with experiential environment designer Grant Bowen on Verses that Hurt, a musical/theatrical/poetic performance, and designing sound for November Dance for the Dance at Illinois, both in 2010.  Also in 2010, Jeff made his debut as a mover, as part of a team developing and performing in View Profile, a telematic dance performance which included remote musical partnering with the Sonic Arts Research Centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland via an ultra-low latency, multi-channel audio connection.

Jeff is currently a third year master of fine arts candidate in sound design at the University of Illinois, where he is developing a site-specific piece with music and movement in the parking garage of the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.