Improvisation is a fundamental aspect of human experience, from the individual to the building of nations. This international conference brings together distinguished international scholars, musicians, and artists in workshops, panel discussions, and concerts that provide a unique opportunity to learn more about improvisation and creativity—and about ourselves. The renowned International Contemporary Ensemble from New York will be in residence, collaborating musically with members of the Rome-based Nuova Consonanza, one of the most important ensembles in the world for improvised and experimental music. 

Highlights at Villa Aurelia at the American Academy on 23 and 24 November include a conversation on sound and space with an international panel of urban studies scholars, visual artists, and architects, including David P. Brown, Gascia Ouzounian, Christopher Dell, Morgan O'Hara, and Taji Ra’oof Nahl, a current American Academy Fellow in Visual Arts; philosophical discussions on experimental improvisation by leading Italian and international philosophers and musicologists, including Laura Cremonesi, Alessandro Bertinetto, Vincenzo Caporaletti, Fumi Okiji, Harald Kisiedu, and Alessandro Sbordoni; and Suono e spazio, a concert of improvised music by the International Contemporary Ensemble. 

The concluding day of the conference, on 25 November at Rome’s Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone, features a keynote conversation with Alvin Curran, Giancarlo Schiaffini, Alessandro Sbordoni, Tomeka Reid, and Miya Masaoka, all major figures in experimental music, followed by D’Improvviso, an exceptional concert that brings together eighteen musicians from International Contemporary Ensemble, Nuova Consonanza, and other international artists, performing together for the very first time. 

Join us for three exciting days of sound, space, feeling, and thought, as musicians, artists, and scholars listen and respond to one another. In improvisation, as in other aspects of life, the only possible mistake is missing this chance to experience something new.

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 – 17.40 · 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

17.40 – 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; Alessandro Sbordoni, bandoneon. 

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. 

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

George Lewis (2010 Resident), Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble, is an American composer, musicologist, trombonist, and Professor of American Music at Columbia University. Lewis has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Doris Duke Artist Award. He is a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Akademie der Künste Berlin, as well as an International Fellow of the British Academy and an Honorary Member of the American Musicological Society, its highest honor for its members. Lewis is widely regarded as a pioneer in the development of improvising artificial intelligence programs, and his opera The Comet (2024) was a finalist for the 2025 Pulitzer Prize. A Trustee of the American Academy in Rome, Lewis holds honorary doctorates from the University of Edinburgh, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, and others.

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.