This three day event brings together workshops, panel discussions, a keynote conversation and two concerts of improvised music: a unique opportunity to learn about, observe and celebrate spontaneity as it happens. At a time when so much is rationalized, collective improvisation reminds us of the extraordinariness of play, human creativity, and non-verbal understanding.

Join us for three days of feeling and thought, as musicians listen and respond to one another. Music will be created in the moment over two evenings: first at Villa Aurelia at the American Academy in Rome, and the following night at the Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, where the International Contemporary Ensemble and Nuova Consonanza will perform together.

Highlights include Sonic Architecture, a conversation on sound and space with architect and vibraphonist Christopher Dell, artist Taji Nahl and sound studies scholar Gascia Ouzounian, musicians include Miya Masaoka, Tomeka Reid, Alvin Curran and Giancarlo Schiaffini, four leading figures in experimental music.

Music will be created in the moment twice: on 24th November at Villa Aurelia, where the International Contemporary Ensemble performs Suono e Spazio, and on 25th November at the Auditorium Parco della Musica for D’Improvviso, where the Ensemble and Nuova Consonanza are joined by composers, musicians and musicologists; Dell, Masaoka, Reid, Curran and Schiaffini.

All events are free and open to the public, with the exception of the concert on Wednesday, 25 November, which is ticketed.

Monday, 23 November 2026

16.30 – 18.00 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Critical Perspectives on Improvisation: Philosophical and Musicological Reflections (I)

• 16.30 – 16.40 Alessandro Bertinetto, Università di Torino
• 16.40 – 16.50 Laura Cremonesi, Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa
• 16.50 – 17.05 Vincenzo Caporaletti, Università di Macerata
• 17.05 – 17.20 Discussion moderated by Alessandro Sbordoni
• 17.20 – 18.00 Questions

In Italian with simultaneous on-screen AI translation.

18.00 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Reception and Welcome

Tuesday, 24 November 2026

14.00 – 15.45 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Sonic Architecture: Perspectives from Sound Art, Visual Art, Music, Architecture, Urban Planning

• 14.00 – 14.10 David P. Brown, University of Illinois Chicago “Resonation”
• 14.10 – 14.20 Gascia Ouzounian, University of Oxford “The City of Waves: Energetic and Vibrational Architectures”
• 14.20 – 14.40 Christopher Dell, Bergen School of Architecture, “The Improvisation of Space”
• 14.40 – 14.50 Taji Nahl, FAAR ‘26, “Video Almanac: Abstract Dynamics”
• 14.50 – 15.00 Morgan O'Hara, artist, “LIVE TRANSMISSION: Movement of the hands of musicians in performance”
• 15.00 – 15.35 Discussion moderated by George Lewis, Columbia University
• 15.35 – 15.45 Audience Q&A

In English with simultaneous on-screen AI translation

• 15.45 – 16.30 Coffee Break

16.30 – 17.30 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Inside Improvised Music

Members of International Contemporary Ensemble and Nuova Consonanza discuss their creative processes.

Nuova Consonanza: Virginia Guidi, voice; Gianni Trovalusci, flute; Paolo Ravaglia, clarinet; Simone Alessandrini, saxophone.

International Contemporary Ensemble: Fay Victor, voice; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute; Joshua Rubin, clarinet; Rebekah Heller, bassoon; Darius Jones, saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Cory Smythe, piano; Kyle Armbrust, viola.

Moderated by Christopher Dell, Bergen School of Architecture

In Italian and English with simultaneous on-screen AI translation

• 17.30 – 18.00 Coffee Break

18.00 – 19.20 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Critical Perspectives on Improvisation: Philosophical and Musicological Reflections (II)

• 18.00 – 18.10 Fumi Okiji, University of California, Berkeley, “Nihilism of the Line”
• 18.10 – 18.25 Harald Kisiedu, Institut für Musik, Hochschule Osnabrück,"More Kinds of Improvisation: Alvin Singleton’s Improvisational Pieces."
• 18.25 – 18.55 Alessandro Sbordoni, Ensemble Exàifnes, “Exàifnes: a landing point”
• 18.55 – 19.10 Discussion moderated by Gascia Ouzounian, University of Oxford
• 19.20 – 19.50 Break

20.00 – 21.15 · Villa Aurelia, AAR

Suono e Spazio: A Concert of Improvised Music

International Contemporary Ensemble: Fay Victor, voice; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute; Joshua Rubin, clarinet; Rebekah Heller, bassoon; Darius Jones, saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Cory Smythe, piano; Kyle Armbrust, viola.

Wednesday, 25 November 2026

17.30 – 19.40 · Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna

Histories and Futures: Keynote Conversation

Moderated by George E. Lewis, Columbia University

• 17.30 Moderator's introduction
• 18.05 – 18.20 Alvin Curran, composer/sound artist
• 18.25 – 18.40 Giancarlo Schiaffini, trombonist/composer, Nuova Consonanza
• 18.40 – 18.55 Alessandro Sbordoni, Ensemble Exàifnes
• 18.55 – 19.10 Tomeka Reid, cellist/composer
• 19.10 – 19.25 Miya Masaoka, composer/sound artist, Columbia University
• 19.25 – 19.40 Discussion

In English and Italian with simultaneous on-screen AI translation.

20.00 – 21.15 · Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, Teatro Studio Gianni Borgna

D’Improvviso: International Contemporary Ensemble e Nuova Consonanza In Concert

Nuova Consonanza: Virginia Guidi, voice; Gianni Trovalusci, flute; Paolo Ravaglia, clarinet; Simone Alessandrini, saxophone.

International Contemporary Ensemble: Fay Victor, voice; Isabel Lepanto Gleicher, flute; Joshua Rubin, clarinet; Rebekah Heller, bassoon; Darius Jones, saxophone; Jonathan Finlayson, trumpet; Cory Smythe, piano; Kyle Armbrust, viola.

Christopher Dell, vibraphone; Miya Masaoka, koto; Tomeka Reid, cello; Alvin Curran, electronics; Giancarlo Schiaffini, trombone.

George Lewis (2010 Resident) is an American composer, musicologist, trombonist, and the Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble. He is the Edwin H. Case Professor of American Music and Area Chair in Composition at Columbia University. He has been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Doris Duke Artist Award. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Letters, a Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, an Honorary Member of the American Musicological Society, a Member of the Akademie der Künste Berlin, and a Trustee of the American Academy in Rome.

Nuova Consonanza is a non-profit cultural association dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Italian and international music, and one of Italy's most important organizations dedicated to experimental improvised music. It was founded in the late 1950s by composers Mario Bertoncini, Mauro Bortolotti, Aldo Clementi, Antonio De Blasio, Franco Evangelisti, Domenico Guaccero, Egisto Macchi, Daniele Paris, Francesco Pennisi and since 1963 it has organized an annual festival.

The International Contemporary Ensemble, now in its third decade, is a collective of musicians, media artists, and educators committed to reimagining contemporary music and sound by commissioning, developing, recording, and performing the works of living artists. The Ensemble has premiered over 1,000 works, and many of its collaborators have developed highly influential careers, including Du Yun, who won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for her opera Angel's Bone, which the Ensemble developed and premiered; and MacArthur "genius" Fellows Tyshawn Sorey and Courtney Bryan. Notable presenting partners include Lincoln Center (New York), Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, TIME:SPANS Festival, Roulette, Miller Theatre, Warsaw Autumn, Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Park Avenue Armory, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ojai Music Festival, Big Ears Festival, Dutch National Opera, Carnegie Hall, and Walt Disney Concert Hall.