IF (Improvisers Forum) Concert Series

Frederick Experimental Music Association, Inc. (FEMA) announces its first concert series – IF: Improvisers Forum – beginning October 15th at the Frederick YMCA Arts Center in Frederick, Maryland. Funded by a grant from the FAC/National Endowment for the Arts Create and Activate Now (CAN) program – and curated by author, critic, and Frederick resident, Bill Shoemaker – IF features internationally renowned improvising musicians performing as duos.

The concerts are scheduled for the following Saturday evenings:

  • October 15th: Susan Alcorn, pedal steel guitar, and Robert Dick, flutes
  • November 5th: Michael Formanek, double bass and Brian Settles, tenor saxophone
  • March 18th, 2023: Taylor Ho Bynum, cornet, and Jacqueline Kerrod, harp
  • April 1st, 2023: Ingrid Laubrock, saxophones, and Tom Rainey, drums

Concerts will begin at 8pm at the Frederick Y Arts Center, located at 115 East Church Street, with doors opening at 7:30. Suggested donations are $10, with free admission to children and students with ID.

Pending future mandates in Frederick, wearing masks is recommended but not mandatory. Seating will be arranged to facilitate distancing without diminishing the concert experience.

IF: Improvisers Forum seeks to introduce and familiarize audiences with improvised music. Improvisation is the world’s most widely practiced music activity, a prominent feature of such diverse genres as jazz and North Indian classical music. The term “improvised music” denotes music created without the use of formal templates like blues or ragas. Improvised music is spontaneously generated, its form and substance solely dependent on the real-time abilities of musicians to listen and respond to each other – it is often likened to tightrope walkers working without a net. Improvised music is as diverse as the musicians who practice it. Some improvisers have backgrounds in jazz and other forms of popular music; others have backgrounds in classical music. 

The musicians participating in IF are internationally renowned for their virtuosity and creativity. Each concert will present musicians who have demonstrated fluency in various idioms, and the ability to bring a diversity of musical and life experiences to the unique, unfolding musical moment.