DESCRIPTION:
Ars Nova is a Japanese progressive rock band. Ars Nova's music features keyboards heavily—this was particularly true between 1998 and 2003 when the band had two keyboard players. Common sounds include the ubiquitous Hammond organ, as well as more recent digital sounds. Almost all of their music is instrumental.

The band's musical influences are ELP, Goblin, PFM, Rick Wakeman, Balletto di Bronzo and classical music. Kumagai, the keyboard player, writes all of the band's compositions. She has played on the Ayreon album Universal Migrator part two: Flight of the Migrator. For much of its history (until Hazime and more recently Handa joined), the band was all-female, unusual in the world of progressive rock.

Baja Prog is an annual progressive rock festival in Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico, held since 1997. It draws a number of well-known bands in the genre, and an average of 1500 attendees each day.