taoi '25 I

In the organizer's words:

impromptu.works ensemble meets Raymond Macdonald!

On this first evening in 2025, TAOI once again dedicates itself to improvisation in a larger line-up - as always with the young and brilliant impromptu.works ensemble under the direction of Vlatko Kučan and international guests who masterfully embody this special form of collective improvisation.

This time we welcome the great Scottish improviser and saxophonist Raymond MacDonald, who is not only the founder and long-time leader of the internationally renowned Glasgow Improvisers Orchstra, but also a composer, scholar, publicist and curator whose work explores the boundaries and ambivalences between what is conventionally considered improvisation and composition.

Recently, he has played primarily in collaborative contexts of free improvisation, but his roots in jazz and pop music are ever-present in his playing and compositions. MacDonald works extensively with visual artists, dancers, writers and filmmakers and has produced music for film, television, theater and the concert hall. MacDonald has collaborated internationally with many pioneers of avant-garde music, including US pianist Marilyn Crispell, German percussionist Günter "Baby" Sommer, David Byrne, Damo Suzuki of Can, Nurse with Wound, German trumpeter Axel Dörner, US trombonist and educator George Lewis, Japanese percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani, US percussionist Michael Zerang and US cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm.

The Glasgow Improvisers Orchstra's list of collaborations includes a number of names, such as Maya Homburger & Barry Guy, Satoko Fuji & Natsuki Tamura, who have also been guests at TAOI and have worked with the impromptu.works ensemble - which is of course less due to chance than to a vision of cross-genre improvisation shared by both ensembles, which extends beyond the field of artistic production into areas of social and political interaction and transcultural mediation. However, the focus always remains on direct artistic expression and the multi-layered experience of musical performance, ensuring exciting, intense and lasting concert experiences.