Who we are

Founded by artistic director and soprano Katy Avery, Bombe Fits was created to expand opportunities for musicians and audiences drawn to nontraditional instrumentation and genre-defying work. Equally fluent in classical, jazz, and contemporary commercial styles, Katy is dedicated to commissioning new vocal repertoire—both to highlight her versatility and to enrich the broader vocal canon. Comprised of classically trained musicians of exceptional skill, the ensemble shares a deep enthusiasm for engaging with diverse musical genres. Through its bold and imaginative programming, Bombe Fits redefines the chamber music experience, offering performances that are as provocative as they are exhilarating.

Bombe Fits draws on the traditional instrumentation of rock bands to push into bold, unconventional sonic territory rarely encountered in classical contexts. By integrating electronics and fixed media with amplified instruments and vocals, the ensemble engages a rapidly evolving performance practice—one that is becoming increasingly vital and expressive within contemporary classical music.

Katy Avery

Founder, Artistic Director

Soprano

Known for her extraordinary versatility and expressive singing, multiple Grammy Award–winning soprano Katy Avery has been praised for her “beautifully pure tone” (Classical Voice of North Carolina). Based in Philadelphia, she appears regularly on stages across the United States and abroad and was a core member of the four-time Grammy Award–winning new music choir, The Crossing, for nearly a decade.

Katy has also performed with leading ensembles including Roomful of Teeth, Conspirare, The Mendelssohn Chorus of Philadelphia, Choral Arts Philadelphia, Variant 6, The Thirteen, and Opera Philadelphia, among many others. Her recordings can be heard on the ECM, Parma, Innova, Albany, and Deathbomb Arc labels. As a concert soloist, her repertoire spans a wide range—from Monteverdi and Bach to Saariaho and Scott Wheeler—reflecting her deep commitment to both early and contemporary music.

Katy Avery earned her Bachelor of Music from East Carolina University, studying both jazz and classical vocal performance, and holds a Master of Music in Vocal Pedagogy and Performance from Westminster Choir College, where she studied under Dr. Christopher Arneson. Katy currently serves on the voice faculty at Saint Joseph’s University, maintains a private voice studio, and is the artistic director of the Katy Avery Commissioning Projects.

Outside of her performing and teaching life, Katy enjoys sewing her own couture, cooking inventive meals, and spending time with her cat, Momo.

Dr. Daniel Spratlan

Operations

Bass voice, guitar, auxiliary percussion

Conductor

Dan is a conductor, singer, professor, and multi-instrumentalist based in Philadelphia. He is currently in his fifth year as Director of Choral Activities at Drexel University, and this also marks his 14th season as Director of Music at the Presbyterian Church of Chestnut Hill. Previously, he has served on the conducting faculties at Haverford College, Temple University, and Rutgers University. He earned his DMA in Choral Conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, his MM in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College, and BA in Music from Earlham College.

An active professional singer, he is in his 19th season singing with the four-time Grammy Award-winning choir The Crossing with whom he has recorded more than thirty albums. He has performed as a soloist and professional chorister with ensembles such as the New York Choral Artists, Clarion Choir, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Concert Chorale of New York, Opera Philadelphia, Piffaro, Tempesta di Mare, San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic in venues such as Carnegie Hall, David Geffen Hall, the Kimmel Center, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Thomas Schuttenhelm

Guitar

Thomas is a composer and performer working at the intersection of experimental music and contemporary composition. His projects, including the video series Fretting the Future, treat the guitar as an object of exploration rather than an instrument of tradition. He serves as Guitar Ambassador at the Free Library of Philadelphia and as Artistic Director of Network for New Music, while pursuing creative work that moves fluidly across genres and forms.

Bass

Pat Nugent is a double bass and electric bass player based in the Philadelphia area. He is a member of the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra and the alt-bluegrass band Box of Books. While maintaining a busy freelance career, Pat is also equally as passionate about music education. He teaches two public school string orchestra programs in Bucks County, PA as well as his own double bass studio.

Pat received his BM in Music Education and MM in Double Bass Performance from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. His teachers include Peter Paulsen and John Hood. He loves to explore new genres of music and continues to find new roles for the bass in modern music.

When Pat is not practicing, performing, or teaching, he enjoys reading, cooking and hiking with his dog.

Patrick Nugent

Evan Monroe-Chapman

Percussion
Evan Chapman has carved a unique and multifaceted path for himself in both the film and music industries, most prominently as a founding member of instrumental percussion-driven trio Square Peg Round Hole and of film production company Four/Ten Media.
Both solo and alongside Square Peg Round Hole and indie-pop band Lydia, Evan has toured and recorded extensively, performing at some of the country’s most esteemed venues including NYC’s National Sawdust, Webster Hall, and Brooklyn Bowl, LA’s Fonda Theater, House of Blues in Dallas, Houston, Orlando, San Diego, and Chicago, and festivals such as SXSW (Austin, TX), Treefort (Boise, ID), and Bunbury (Cincinnati, OH). He has also performed on concert stages such as the Lincoln Center, playing “Clapping Music” alongside its legendary composer Steve Reich, among countless others.
Evan’s compositional contributions spanning four full-length albums with Square Peg Round Hole have been dubbed a “creative adventure” by Bob Boilen of NPR, and his 2024 debut solo full-length album of original music, Reveries, is the culmination of a vast musical background paired with ambitious originality. The percussion-driven collection of compositions draws elements from contemporary-classical, post-rock, electronic, post-minimalist, ambient, and pop in ways that are genre-defying and adventurous, yet emotive and lyrical. The unexpected combinations of instruments and sonic palettes throughout the record blur the lines of recognizability between acoustic and electric timbres to create an expansive sound world that becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Evan is sponsored by Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Drumsticks, and Evans Drumheads.