The Karl Berger Improvisers Orchestra will perform their 75th concert tonight at Shapeshifter Lab as their fall season opener.
A mere three years old, the orchestra consists of more than 30 string, horn, reed and percussion soloists who take improvisational ideas developed in workshops and rehearsals into fully formed performances.
With conduction by Karl Berger and a style developed at the Creative Music Studio, the Karl Berger Improvisers Orchestra perform original compositions by Berger as well as works by Don Cherry or Ornette Coleman. Ingrid Sertso's vocalizations and poetry remain one of the orchestra's trademarks.
The KBIO performances benefit the Creative Music Studio Archive Project, which aims at preserving, digitizing and re-mastering more than 400 historic CMS concert recordings from the 1970s and '80s.
These recordings include the famed Dave Holland, Don Cherry, Jimmy Giuffre, Wadada Leo Smith, The Art Ensemble of Chicago, George Lewis, Carla Bley, Nana Vasconcelos, Trilok Gurtu, Collin Walcott, Kalaparusha, Oliver Lake, Ismet Siral, Ed Blackwell and Cecil Taylor. For now, the CMS Archive lives in the Columbia University Library and receives support from the Grammy Foundation.
The CMS programs focus on the common elements of all music, such as awareness, personal expression, intensive listening and cross-cultural communication. The experience provides a unique opportunity for musicians, students and listeners from different backgrounds and traditions to explore music through workshops, residencies, coaching, concerts, recordings and archival projects.
The orchestra's fall schedule is as follows:
• Wednesday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m. at Shapeshifter Lab (75th KBIO performance)
• Saturday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m. at El Taller (final concert there)
• Thursday, Oct. 9, 7 p.m. at Shapeshifter Lab
• Thursday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m. at Shapeshifter Lab
