NICO DANN, drums Nico Dann has been playing drums and percussion for over 10 years. Born in 1983 in Amsterdam to Canadian musician parents Steven Dann and Janice Lindskoog, he began playing piano early on and then switched to drums at the age of 13. In 2001 Nico began studying drums with world-renowned teacher Jim Blackley. From 2002 to 2006 Nico lived in Montreal while earning a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance at McGill University. During this time he studied with many excellent musicians including Remi Bolduc, Chris McCann and Michel Lambert. Since 2003, Nico has been playing in professional groups at venues in and around Toronto and Montreal. These have included, in Montreal, the Upstairs Jazz Club and in Toronto, the Distillery Jazz Festival in 2005. Nico’s is fluent in many genres including jazz, Rock, Funk, African and Latin music, and everything in between. In the summer of 2006 Nico was a participant in the Banff Summer Program for Jazz and Creative Music. There he studied and played with world class musicians Gene Lake, Clarence Penn, Marcus Strickland and Dave Douglas. In recent years, Nico has begun to perform more internationally. Notable engagements with bands ranging from Modern Jazz to Indie-Rock include the Boston Pride festival (2004), the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, the Jazz Bar in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Bowery Ballroom in Manhattan, NY (all in the summer of 2006).  The Summer of 2007 Nico performed at Montreal’s OFF Jazz festival in June and October of 2007 saw Nico co-leading an Indie-Rock band at New York’s CMJ music festival.  In March of 2008 Nico had the opportunity to play with renowned musicians Steven Dann (his father) and Joel Quarrington. This performance of Peter Lieberson's Rumble at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa marked his classical music debut. Nico currently lives in Toronto where he continues to be an active performer and teacher in the local music scene.