European Conference „Improvisation in Music“

Venue: Royal Conservatoire of Music in The Hague, The Netherlands

From 22 -24 October 2004 the conference “Improvisation in Music”, organized by the European Music Council (EMC) took place in The Hague, The Netherlands. Administrators, performing musicians, composers, students and teachers from all over Europe and abroad came together to discuss and reflect on improvisation in music throughout centuries.
Improvisation is a theme that concerns everyone who is active in music – be it as performer, teacher, musicologist or administrator. Nevertheless, there are many musical fields and genres that still neglect improvisation considerably. With this conference, the European Music Council intended to provide information about different types and aspects of improvisation.

On Friday evening, the conference was inaugurated by Walter Turkenburg, head of the jazz department of the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, and the EMC president Beata Schanda. Wolfram Knauer, leader of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt, delivered the keynote speech on the changing concept of improvisation in the history of Jazz.
On Saturday morning, three lectures were given, together providing an overview of improvisation in different musical genres.
The first lecturer was the Dutch saxophonist Rolf Delfos who exemplified the role of improvisation in Jazz, then the Czech composer Ivo Medek focused on the field of Contemporary Classical Music and after that, the president of the Azerbaijanian National Music Committee Nigar Akhundova took the participants to the field of Folk Music. After the various lectures, there was room for discussion.

In the afternoon session, workshops were held, to demonstrate improvisation in a practical way. The Spanish music therapist Patricia Sabbatella and the Dutch jazz pianist Marc van Roon invited the participants to take active part in improvisation whereas Rolf Delfos and the French oud-player Marc Loopuyt gave showcases of their way of improvisation, explaining their personal approach, the latter also with participation of the public.

The conference was framed by two public concerts. On Friday evening the Italian musician Francesco Turrisi showed at the harpsichord and at the piano how improvisation can link music from Jazz to Baroque. The Saturday evening concert was performed by students of the Royal Conservatoire of The Hague, and some of the participants were invited to join in.

For further information and registration please contact the
European Music Council,
Weberstr. 59a, 53113 Bonn,
Germany,
Tel: +49 228 966996-67
or visit: www.emc-imc.org
E-mail: info@emc-imc.org