Guildhall Improvisers' Workshop
- 7.30pm
About this event:
- Category:
- Jazz
- Event type:
- Free | In-person
- Admission:
- Free No tickets required
- Location:
- Milton Court Studio Theatre
Event information
Guildhall Improvisers' Workshop, directed by saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes, presents a performance exploring the process and practice of the improvising musician featuring piano polymath and giant of the UK improvising scene Robert Mitchell. The Improvisers’ Workshop is a Guildhall School group focusing on creative jazz improvisation, approaching the jazz ensemble as a malleable vehicle for contemporary composition.
Performers
Trish Clowes director
Saxophonist and composer Trish Clowes has been described as “an improviser to be reckoned with” (Downbeat Magazine) and “one of the most agile and original jugglers of improv and adventurous composition to have appeared in the UK in recent times” (John Fordham, the Guardian). A BASCA British Composer Award winner and former BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, Clowes works in a variety of settings, and has received critical acclaim for all of her album releases.
Clowes’s band MY IRIS - with Chris Montague, Ross Stanley and James Maddren - has toured worldwide and been hailed as “the jazz of the future” (Augsburger Allgemeine). Her performances (either with her band or as a soloist) include the Barbican, Toronto Jazz Festival, Rochester International Jazz Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, Celtic Connections (with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Women in (e)motion Festival (Germany), National Opera House (Ireland), and making broadcasts for BBC 2 Proms Extra, BBC Radio 3 and Radio Bremen. In 2019 Clowes premiered Joe Cutler’s saxophone concerto ‘Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii’ with the BBC Concert Orchestra. Recent commissions include writing for the London Sinfonietta (a Sinfonietta Short for solo bass, and their Sound Out projects), BBC Radio 3 (BBC Postcards from Composers, and BBC Concert Orchestra) and Onyx Brass. Alongside her work as a performer and composer Clowes has been curating her own new music project Emulsion since 2012, through which she has commissioned seventeen new works.
Robert Mitchell pianist
Over his 30 plus years entrenched in the art of music, Robert Mitchell has released 13 albums of his own projects, participated in over 100 projects as a sideman, has performed/toured in 40 countries and is achieving a growing reputation as an inspirational educator. Robert was conferred the title of professor in June 2022 (from Guildhall School of Music/Drama). He has been a Steinway Artist since 2009. These days his primary focal points include his long-running ensemble Panacea; his trio Epiphany 3, electronic/song ensemble TRUE THINK (Truth Inc./Truth Ink), solo performance (including a fascination with one-handed works, which produced one solo album and festival - Leftitude - in 2013); and his duos with cellist Shirley Smart (Professor Of Musicianship and Improvisation - RCM), Ashley Henry, and dancer Masumi Endo. He has released two collections of poetry. The most recent - City Of Sanctuary was released in 2023 (Common Tone Press).
Venue information
Milton Court, based across the road from our Silk Street building, provides the School with world-class performance and training spaces, including a state of the art concert hall, a lyric theatre, a studio theatre and several major rehearsal rooms.
- Milton Court, 1 Milton Street, London, EC2Y 9BH
