Improv Spaces

Counting down — Just 12 more days until the Improv Spaces Music Festival — get your tickets today! #improvspacesmusicfestival @roundlakeauditorium @Saratogaarts #charlesrwoodfoundation @stewartsshops @timesunion @wextradio @thespot518 @stinkyscoffeeco @vashtiskitchendelights @taptrucksaratoga #capitalregionfestival #capitalregionmusic #improvisedmusic #roundlakevillage #experimentalmusic

Ellie Irons is an interdisciplinary artist based in current-day Troy, New York, where the Mahicannituck and Mohawk Rivers converge. She received an MFA from Hunter College and PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute focused on ecosocial art. She is the Co-Director of NATURE Lab at the Sanctuary for Independent Media. Her book Feral Hues was published in 2023 by PS Hudson. Join us tonight as Irons leads us for a workshop and talks about her work at Saratoga Arts. Her talk and workshop will open an evening of thinking about our environment along with percussionist Curt Newton who will follow with a performance of his A Climate Meditation for Solo Drumset. Materials and music provided. See you there! 🌱 Tuesday, March 31, 2026 🌱 Improv Spaces presents Artist Ellie Irons & Percussionist Curt Newton Feral Hues Artist/Workshop + A Climate Meditation for Solo Drumset. At Saratoga Arts 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 7-9PM ET Tickets available now! For more information see link /event-6562743

Thursday April 2nd! ⚡Improv Spaces Ensemble⚡ Performance at Saratoga Arts Thursday, April 2, 2026 | 7–9 PM 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY RSVP: /event-6614306 or QR code The Improv Spaces Ensemble will present a new original improvisation with live analog visuals by Derick Noetzel, inviting audiences into a space of immersive sound and interactive projection. Ensemble members: Brian Brancato Alex Chang Christian Cocco Karen Dazzler Jason Handron Derek Noetzel Jeffrey Schanzer Bernadette Speach djdrummernk Chuck Ver Straeten Dominique Vuvan The Improv Spaces Ensemble brings together Capital Region improvising musicians working across a wide range of instrumentation, textures, and forms. We invite you to experience this live performance in the newly renovated Saratoga Arts Theater. Experience connection through music. Special thanks to Stewart’s Shops for their support. (Photo by Kylie Spinelli @growingobserver of the Improv Spaces Ensemble) @saratogaarts @stewartsshops #brianbrancatohorn @alexachang2000 @hour__logic @karendazzler #jasonhandronbass @derick_noetzel @jeffrey_schanzer @bernadettespeach8 @djdrummernk #chuckverstraeten #dominiquevuvan #improvisationalmusic #experimentalmusic #saratogaevents #capitalregionmusic

Boston-based percussionist Curt Newton coaxes whispers from drumsets and resonance from stacks of rattly stuff, weaving varied musical traditions in the spirit of dedicated playfulness. Over four decades, Curt has performed across North America and around the world and appears on scores of recordings with some of improvised music’s leading figures, including Ken Vandermark, Joe Morris, Nate McBride, Pandelis Karayorgis, Charlie Kohlhase, Eric Hofbauer, and Dave Bryant. About one live performance, the Chicago Reader’s Peter Margasak wrote “Newton dazzles…He exhibited breathtaking restraint, breaking down time with a subtle hand, tapping out painterly splashes of sound.” Curt studied privately with Bob Gullotti, has a Master’s in Jazz Performance from New England Conservatory. Complementing and spurring his music, Curt is also an active climate change community builder through volunteer work as an En-ROADS Climate Ambassador, a national convener for the Council on the Uncertain Human Future, and the leadership team of the Boston Green New Deal Coaltion. 🔥Tuesday, March 31, 2026 🔥 Improv Spaces presents Artist Ellie Irons & Percussionist Curt Newton Feral Hues Artist/Workshop + A Climate Meditation for Solo Drumset. At Saratoga Arts 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 7-9PM ET Tickets available now! For more information see link /event-6562743 and QR code

Tuesday, March 31, 2026 🔥 Improv Spaces presents Artist Ellie Irons & Percussionist Curt Newton Feral Hues Artist/Workshop + A Climate Meditation for Solo Drumset. At Saratoga Arts 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs 7-9PM ET Tickets available now! For more information see link /event-6562743 and QR code

SAVE THE DATE — Thursday April 2nd! Improv Spaces Ensemble Performance at Saratoga Arts Thursday, April 2, 2026 | 7–9 PM 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY $20 suggested donation The Improv Spaces Ensemble will present a new original improvisation with live analog visuals by Derick Noetzel, inviting audiences into a space of immersive sound and interactive projection. Ensemble members: Brian Brancato Alex Chang Christian Cocco Karen Dazzler Jason Handron Derek Noetzel Jeffrey Schanzer Bernadette Speach djdrummernk Chuck Ver Straeten Dominique Vuvan The Improv Spaces Ensemble brings together Capital Region improvising musicians working across a wide range of instrumentation, textures, and forms. We invite you to experience this live performance in the newly renovated Saratoga Arts Theater. Experience connection through music. Special thanks to Stewart’s Shops for their support. (Photo by Kylie Spinelli @growingobserver of the Improv Spaces Ensemble)

🔥Tomorrow! MONDAY FEB 9th. 7-9pm🔥 Improv Spaces presents JAAP BLONK live @saratogaarts Dutch self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist JAAP BLONK will be performing his project Dr Voxoid‘s Next Move. The improvised voice and electronics performance ranges from sound poetry, invented languages to other unexpected soundscapes. Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Netherlands) is a self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist. His unfinished studies in mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems. In the early 1980s he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice, and set out on a long-term research of phonetics and the possibilities of the human voice. At present, he has developed into a specialist in the creation and performance of sound poetry and a unique vocal improviser, supported by a powerful and uninhibited stage presence. He has performed and taught around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics and sometimes projection of visuals the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension. Blonk’s recorded / published output comprises some 75 titles: CDs, vinyl, cassettes and books. From his sound poetry scores he developed an independent body of visual work, also supported by his renewed interest in mathematical procedures. It has been exhibited in various countries, and selections have been collected in books by publishers in Germany, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Sweden and Brazil. Improv Spaces presents JAAP BLONK & The Schanzer/Speach Duo An Evening of Improvisations, Experimental Sounds and Collaborations Voice . Electronics . Guitar . Piano MONDAY, February 9, 2026 TIME 7-9PM EST LOCATION Saratoga Arts Theater at 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY ADMISSION Tickets $20

Jeffrey Schanzer is part of The Schanzer/Speach Duo who will be performing at Saratoga Arts Theater on February 9th. He also appears with his group The Jeffrey Schanzer Ensemble, which has brought together musicians such as Leroy Jenkins, Bobby Previte and Ned Rothenberg. His No More In Thrall, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald where his father was a prisoner, performed by the Sirius String Quartet with percussionist Kevin Norton, was released on the Composers Recording Inc. (CRI) label. Schanzer/Speach Duo consists of Jeffrey Schanzer, composer/guitarist and Bernadette Speach, composer/pianist. Their collaborative works combine the intuition and spontaneity of improvisation with the structure of formal composition. The Duo had its premiere performance in October 1986 at Experimental Intermedia Foundation, New York City. Since that time, they have performed in New York at Roulette, St. Ann’s Church, the Knitting Factory, The Stone and Dia Center for the Arts, and in Newark, Hartford, Buffalo, Chicago, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, Puerto Rico, Gent and Liege, Belgium, and Cologne and Herne, Germany. Artists who have performed with the Duo include Lester Bowie, Thomas Buckner, Michael Colquhoun, Barbara Held, Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Joelle Leandre, Fred Ho, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Myra Melford, David Pleasant, Bobby Previte, Alva Rogers, Ned Rothenberg, Wadada Leo Smith, Warren Smith, Libby Van Cleve and Jack Vees. IMPROV SPACES presents Jaap Blonk and The Schanzer/Speach Duo Feb 9th at 7-9PM, $20 tickets @saratogaarts

Bernadette Speach is part of The Schanzer/Speach Duo who will be performing at Saratoga Arts Theater on February 9th. Schanzer/Speach Duo consists of Jeffrey Schanzer, composer/guitarist and Bernadette Speach, composer/pianist. Their collaborative works combine the intuition and spontaneity of improvisation with the structure of formal composition. The Duo had its premiere performance in October 1986 at Experimental Intermedia Foundation, New York City. Since that time, they have performed in New York at Roulette, St. Ann’s Church, the Knitting Factory, The Stone and Dia Center for the Arts, and in Newark, Hartford, Buffalo, Chicago, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, Puerto Rico, Gent and Liege, Belgium, and Cologne and Herne, Germany. Artists who have performed with the Duo include Lester Bowie, Thomas Buckner, Michael Colquhoun, Barbara Held, Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Joelle Leandre, Fred Ho, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Myra Melford, David Pleasant, Bobby Previte, Alva Rogers, Ned Rothenberg, Wadada Leo Smith, Warren Smith, Libby Van Cleve and Jack Vees. Speach’s activities as a composer have included performances of Within, for piano and orchestra, by Ursula Oppens and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Les Ondes pour Quartre, premiered by the Arditti String Quartet in Darmstadt, Germany. In and Out of Love – after Liaisons and Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, was premiered by Anthony de Mare, pianist and Artistic Director of “Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano”, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which commissioned the work. More recently Embrace the Universe (2001) for Orchestra, Chorus (SATB) and soloists: Mezzo-Soprano, Viola, Piano, with text: “Hymn to Matter” from The Divine Milieu by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was premiered in 2016 at the Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari, Italy. Her latest project, the opera The Little Rock Nine, a collaboration with librettist Thulani Davis, tells the story of nine students, ages 14 and 15, who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957-58. IMPROV SPACES presents Jaap Blonk and The Schanzer/Speach Duo Feb 9th at 7-9PM, $20 tickets @saratogaarts

IMPROV SPACES PRESENTS: THE WINTER/SPRING 2026 SEASON! GET TICKETS NOW!🔥 February 9, 2026 JAAP BLONK & The Schanzer/Speach Duo An Evening of Improvisations, Experimental Sounds and Collaborations Voice . Electronics . Guitar . Piano Join us for an evening celebrating experimental sounds, improvisation, and collaborations. The program will feature Dutch self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist Jaap Blonk performing his project Dr Voxoid‘s Next Move. The improvised voice and electronics performance ranges from sound poetry, invented languages to other unexpected soundscapes. The Schanzer/Speach Duo is comprised of Upstate New York-based composer/guitarist Jeffrey Schanzer and pianist/composer Bernadette Speach, who have been working together in the experimental music scene with new music, improvisation and performance since the mid-1980s NYC. The pair have composed and performed their commissioned works across the US and internationally. The performers will each present solo sets and join together in an original improvisation for this special program. MONDAY, February 9, 2026 TIME 7-9PM EST LOCATION Saratoga Arts Theater at 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY ADMISSION Tickets $20 — QR code or link: /event-6533415 @saratogaarts @blonkjaap @bernadettespeach8 @jeffrey_schanzer #improvisationalmusic #upstatenyimprovisation #saratogaevents #saratogaspringsmusic #saratogasprings #upstatenyevents #upstatenymusic #experimentalmusic #improvspaces

As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for being part of the Improv Spaces community. This year has been one of listening, experimentation, and continued commitment to artist-led work. Since our founding, Improv Spaces has presented live performances by more than 96 artists, supporting experimental and improvised music through concerts, ensemble work, exchanges, and interdisciplinary projects. We are grateful this year to all those who attended and were a part of Improv Spaces programming and look forward to continue to build spaces where artists can take risks, collaborate, and work with care and intention. We are deeply thankful for the many forms of support we’ve received — through attendance, conversation, collaboration, and generosity. Each gesture helps sustain the work and affirms the value of artists working in improvisation. There is still time to participate in our holiday drive [/ImprovSpacesHoliday2025] if you’d like to support this work as we move into the new year. Your involvement, in any form, helps make non-profit artist-led space-making for live performance possible. Thank you for being with us. We wish you a restorative end of the year and a new one filled with curiosity, care, and possibilities. We look forward to seeing you in 2026! With gratitude, Alex and Adam ✨ Photos by @growingobserver #improvisation #experimentalmusic #interdisciplinaryart #artistcollaboration #upstatenymusic #nysmusic

Thank you for your support throughout the year! We’re excited to share that Improv Spaces is now officially a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. This means your support can directly sustain performances, workshops, and artist collaborations — and your donation is tax-deductible. To say thank you, we’re offering a few ways to give, including limited-edition festival prints and Improv Spaces merchandise. Donate via the QR code or at givebutter.com/ImprovSpacesHoliday2025 Happy holidays, and thank you for being part of our community.