Matana Roberts is an alto saxophonist working in various mediums of performance, including improvisation, dance, poetry, visual art, and theater. She has played alongside such musical luminaries as Steve Lacy, Eugene Chadbourne, Henry Grimes, Hannah Marcus, Fred Anderson, Nicole Mitchell, Jeff Parker, Robert Barry, Joe Maneri, Miya Masaoka, Vijay Iyer, David Boykins, and Ralph Alessi. She has been an active member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and is the composer of Coin Coin, a musical work-in-progress exploring themes of history, memory, and ancestry. She served on the Center's music panel in 2012.