What’s Next? Ensemble is a new music group based in Los Angeles, California created in the spring of 2008 with the single mission of bringing together talented young musicians to perform exciting new music from Los Angeles and abroad. Formed by two friends who met while studying at the University of Southern California, John Stulz and Vimbayi Kaziboni, What’s Next? Ensemble has steadily grown over the years from its modest beginnings of presenting guerilla performances on the campus of USC.

What’s Next? Ensemble has presented concerts around Los Angeles, including a new music and poetry reading at the Annenberg Community Beach House, performances at the Fake Gallery in Hollywood, Royal-T Café, Gallery and Artspace in Culver City, as well as the South Pasadena Public Library.

In addition to concerts and performances What’s Next? Ensemble is committed to education and outreach. As ambassadors for their art, What’s Next? Ensemble has presented lectures and outreach events at Cal State Long Beach, Eagle Rock Performing Arts Center, and Renaissance Arts Academy, an LA Unified School District 6-12 Charter School.

The group has collaborated with Red Hen Press, the Los Angeles chapter of the American Composers Forum, The Los Angeles Percussion Quartet, and was the recipient of a Subito! grant from the Bay Area chapter of the American Composers Forum. Their recent collaboration with LA Sonic Odyssey resulted in the joint release of Now and Then: Music of the Great Depression(s), featuring music by Patricio Da silva and Grammy Award winning entertainer Ian Whitcomb.

In 2009 What’s Next? Ensemble joined forces with percussionist and composer Ben Phelps to launch its signature program The Los Angeles Composers Project, an endeavor to bring talented young musicians from across the country together in a festival setting with Los Angeles based composers. In three years the project has brought over 100 student musicians together to perform the work of 34 Los Angeles composers in seven concerts to date. Performance venues have included USC’s Alfred Newman and Macdonald halls and, most recently, Royal-T Café, Gallery and Art-Space in Culver City.

In the fall of 2011, What’s Next? Ensemble will be presenting two concerts in collaboration with Royal-T, continuing their trailblazing presentations of new music into their fourth year.