Jonathan Stallings
ADJUNCTSAdjunct
Music
Email: jstallings@westminsteru.edu
About
Jonny Stallings Cárdenas is a composer, keyboardist, and improviser who has premiered compositions in Amsterdam, Salamanca, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tijuana, Salt Lake City, and Provo. Interfacing with the improvisatory expansiveness of jazz and improvisation as well as the experimental range of new music composition, Jonny's music explores a variety of textures, moods, rhythmic structures, and melodic formations. A professional performer-improviser, Jonny has appeared at Sons d'Hiver (Paris), The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA (Los Angeles), Zebulon (LA), Future is Color Studios (San Diego), and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, sharing stages with artists including King Britt, Tyshawn Corey, China Moses, Eddie Chacon, and Logan Hone. His work as a producer-keyboardist is featured on the 2025 album "Old Quarters" by Pigimichi, an experimental synth-pop project he shares with singer-songwriter Kiki LaPomme. Jonny's current musical project, the Jonny Arturo Trio, engages with improvisation, looping, motivic layering, and groove in an electronically expanded conception of the standard jazz piano trio. As he completes a PhD in music composition at UC San Diego, Jonny's dissertation research focuses on creative music networks and experimental techniques in Black contemporary opera.
