Ars Nova Workshop is thrilled to present Philadelphia-based trio led by vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco, Bark Culture at Solar Myth on Thursday, August 21, 2025. “Philly-based, and with roots in the São Paulo experimental music scene, vibraphonist Victor Vieira-Branco—along with bassist John Moran and drummer Joey Sullivan—serve up melodically rich music that feels like it’s in […]

A benefit for Gaza Soup Kitchen. About Gaza Soup Kitchen Chef Mahmoud, who always ended his videos by thanking his friends in the United States and signing off with the Arabic word “Mostamreen” (مستمرين) 💪, meaning “we will continue,” left a legacy of resilience and hope. His spirit lives on through our family and friends […]

Bowerbird is pleased to present Liminal States, an ongoing series of in-person performances designed for deep listening and relaxation. Intended to guide audiences to that magic space between wakefulness and sleep, these performances invite listeners to lie down, close their eyes, and immerse themselves in sound. Sink in, bliss out. This edition features C. Lavender […]

Earth Tongues: An ensemble dedicated to exploring the scope and scale of experimental improvised music, Earth Tongues approaches each performance as a chance to build new, challenging work that take silence and ambient sound into full account. Consisting of Carlo Costa on percussion, Joe Moffett on trumpet, and Dan Peck on tuba, the trio creates immersive pieces that weave through a […]

A fundraiser for Fire Museum Presents. Keir Neuringer: Keir Neuringer is a saxophonist, composer, and writer committed to emancipatory and interdisciplinary practices in his work, activism, and parenting. He co-founded the critically-acclaimed band Irreversible Entanglements and co-leads the improvisation trio Dromedaries. Traveling widely to present his work, he has appeared internationally on festival stages, in […]

Imal Gnawa stands at the intersection of traditions rooted in the deep spiritual and rhythmic legacy of Moroccan Gnawa music and bold futurism. Imal Gnawa seeks to weave together ritualistic trance acoustic elements with futuristic aesthetics, creating a soundscape that is as timeless as it is avant-garde. At the core of this music lies an […]

AIRLFT: Kevin Diehl, Elliott Levin, Matt Lavelle, DM Hotep, Joshua Marquez, Keith DeStefano, Tom Lowery – Philly’s deep rooted, multi-culti, inter-gen, sonic omnivores. .Look for our various LPs in 2025. Take SEPTA Rt. 23 bus; RR Chestnut Hill West to Carpenter; Carpool!. The AIRLFT series is EVERY 4th THURSDAY – PHOTO: @John Hubbard…#harmolodic#isthatjazz#LiveMusic#phillymusic#improv #experimental#vibemusic#jazz #phillyjazz#ornette#AEC#ayler#dudupakwana#afrofuturist

Bill Nace is an experimental musician based in Philadelphia, PA. While Nace maintains a robust career as a solo musician, he has become widely known for many of his collaborations including Michael Morley, Graham Lambkin, Sakina Abdou, John Truscinski, Thurston Moore, and Kim Gordon, with whom he regularly plays as one half of the experimental […]

Hope Vine Pathway by Aaron Pond (Trio for Improvisors in Urban Nature) Three performances at 11am, 1pm, and 3pm. Rain (indoors) or Shine. Free. Hope Vine Pathway by Aaron Pond Composition for Improvisors in Urban Nature Performers Aaron Pond- Quena, Courting Flute, Slide Whistle, Wagner Tuba, Percussion Hudson River- Vibraphone   Will Fredendaal- Flutes, Dizi   […]

Modular on the Spot (MOTS) is a recurring, free, outdoor picnic-style event for modular synthesizer enthusiasts in Philadelphia, similar to events in other cities like Los Angeles and globally. Performers using modular synths set up their gear in parks and outdoor locations, often with a generator and sound system, to create experimental electronic music for […]

Ars Nova Workshop presents one of creative music’s most prolific and wide-ranging musicians, guitar innovator Marc Ribot as he celebrates the release of his new album, Map of a Blue City, at Solar Myth on September 29-30, 2025. Revered guitarist Marc Ribot has released over 25 albums under his own name over a 40-year career, […]

Ars Nova Workshop presents one of creative music’s most prolific and wide-ranging musicians, guitar innovator Marc Ribot as he celebrates the release of his new album, Map of a Blue City, at Solar Myth on September 29-30, 2025. Revered guitarist Marc Ribot has released over 25 albums under his own name over a 40-year career, […]

Joe McPhee & Michael Foster’s The Ghost: Joe McPhee grew up in New York, is a multi-instrumentalist and plays since the late 60s within the creative and free jazz music world. His play is energetic, demanding and breathtaking sensitive – still with over 80 years! He learnt to play trumpet as a kid and – […]

  Camila Niebla is a Berlin-based saxophonist, composer, improviser, visual artist, and curator originally from Buenos Aires, hailed by Jazz.pt as “an essential saxophonist of our time.” Her multidisciplinary practice forms a powerful constellation of music, film, and performance that explores identity, migration, and the erasures and hauntings of memory. Through both composition and improvisation, […]

Some songs, some freaks, something we don’t know and your old friends.

Makaya McCraven can best be described as a beat scientist. The cutting-edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process and intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer” (thewordisbond.com), McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz […]

Bowerbird is pleased to present the New Thread Quartet performing their program Explorations. The ensemble invites the audience to a reception following the performance. New Thread Quartet presents Explorations, Vol. 8: Energy Flows, featuring music by Marilyn Shrude, Georg Friedrich Haas, Hannah Kendall, James Tenney, and a world premiere by Hong-Da Chin. The quartet’s annual […]

Neti-Neti (Amirtha Kidambi & Matt Evans) Neti-Neti is the lo-fi ritual music duo of Matt Evans (drums/electronics) and Amirtha Kidambi (vocals/electronics) that formed amidst their mutual experiences surrounding grief after the death of loved ones. Neti-Neti, translated as “It is not this, it is not that” from Sanskrit, is a contemplation on the nature of […]

Makaya McCraven can best be described as a beat scientist. The cutting-edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process and intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer” (thewordisbond.com), McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz […]

Makaya McCraven can best be described as a beat scientist. The cutting-edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process and intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer” (thewordisbond.com), McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz […]

Lucian Ban & Matt Maneri: Transylvanian Dance (A multimedia performance) Drawing from their acclaimed 2024 ECM Records duo release Transylvanian Dance, pianist Lucian Ban and violist Mat Maneri will re-imagine live through improvisation the Béla Bartók Field Recordings of early 20th Century folk songs from Transylvania bringing back to life century old songs using video […]

Kath Bloom is a quietly legendary artist: producing what are now thought of as forgotten masterpieces of folk since the late 70s. Her recent collaboration with David Shapiro (also known as Alexander) has brought her music to a wider audience – and now she’s back in Philly. Also up are local folk-rocker Cara Beth Satalino, […]

Makaya McCraven can best be described as a beat scientist. The cutting-edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is a multi-talented force whose inventive process and intuitive style of performance defy categorization. Called “a sound visionary” (jazzinchicago.org) who is “not your everyday jazz drummer” (thewordisbond.com), McCraven brilliantly moves between genres and pushes the boundaries of jazz […]

An original member of the award-winning ensemble Sons of Kemet, Skinner has long collaborated with bandleader Shabaka Hutchings, helping to define a new era of British jazz. He’s also one-third of The Smile, the critically acclaimed trio with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. In 2022, Skinner released his first solo album under his […]

JON MUELLER + TOM LECKY: ALL COLORS PRESENT A sound and visual meditation Jon Mueller’s singular performance idiom is an awe-inspiring display of elegant athleticism, preternatural focus, brute restraint, and ecstatic, monastic reverie. Paired with Tom Lecky’s photographs, it becomes a deliberate focus on form, shape and detail. It requires and demands a state of […]

The New York Times proclaims, “Rafiq Bhatia is writing his own musical language,” heralding him as “one of the most intriguing figures in music today.” A guitarist, producer, and Academy Award-nominated composer “who refuses to be pinned to one genre, culture or instrument,” Bhatia makes sculptural, meticulously crafted music that finds common ground among ecstatic […]

On October 10, the Coltrane family and Ars Nova Workshop, with support from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, will host a public celebration at the John Coltrane House at 1511 North 33rd Street in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. The event marks the launch of a long-awaited […]

Join Coltrane House Philadelphia & Ars Nova Workshop for an extraordinary evening as the Ravi Coltrane Trio honors the 99th birthday of saxophone giant John Coltrane. This performance is the centerpiece of a full-day celebration and serves as a benefit for the urgent preservation needs of the Coltrane House in Philadelphia’s Strawberry Mansion neighborhood. Located […]

Tonight is a celebration and a maze, density arrays, the goals are visual sonic navigations centered around the genius of John Levis. It is a showcase of improvisatory genius and the infinite joys of sound, a return to ritual truth. Dance, Music, You. Musicians John Levis- Synthesizers Julius Masri- Drums/Electronics Andy Thierauf- Percussion Tom Kraines- […]

Beyond Vision and Sound is a one-hour performance that begins with the act of leaving home and walks a path that imagines the experience of those who cannot see or hear. Moving beyond sight and sound, Jungwoong Kim explores alternative ways of sensing while confronting life as a journey of suffering and resilience. Through slow, […]

PRISM Quartet presents a far reaching concert of new music by several of America’s most revered composers. The program, named after Nina C. Young’s otherworldly composition, Tarnish, features a series of seminal works composed just for PRISM, including Yarn by Marcos Balter, Graffiti II by Roberto Sierra, Keen by Roshanne Etezady, and select movements from Fair […]

Natural Information Society (NIS) represents a convergence of musicians and artists to create sonic harbor, meditative space, and kinetic momentum music. Realizing compositions by composer Joshua Abrams, the group’s core quartet includes Abrams, Lisa Alvarado, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Jason Stein. Working the seams between minimalism, jazz, and experimental practice, the band has become a […]

  Natural Information Society (NIS) represents a convergence of musicians and artists to create sonic harbor, meditative space, and kinetic momentum music. Realizing compositions by composer Joshua Abrams, the group’s core quartet includes Abrams, Lisa Alvarado, Mikel Patrick Avery, and Jason Stein. Working the seams between minimalism, jazz, and experimental practice, the band has become […]

Marshall Allen trio with the Ade Ilu Ensemble: Marshall Allen Trio: Marshall Allen: Leader, EVI, Casio keyboard, alto saxophone, vibrations Dave Hotep: Guitar with effects & synths Elliot Levin: Tenor Saxophone & Flute Ade Ilu Ensemble: Kevin Diehl: Leader, Itotele bata, Lucumi chorus Joseph Toledo: Lead Lucumi vocals Sam Poplar: bata, Lucumi chorus Baba Joe […]

Deepak Kumar Pareek is a light classical singer and composer from the state of Rajasthan, India. His music covers a wide spectrum of styles: ghazals (romantic poetry), bhajans (devotional songs), kirtan and classic film songs. Deepak first studied with his father, Shri P.N. Vyas, and later with Ustad R.F. Dagar, Ustad Moinuddin Khan and Shri […]

Katalyst Conversation is a powerful new ensemble rooted in the visionary spirit of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), uniting four singular voices in exploratory jazz: saxophonists Ari Brown and Ed Wilkerson, percussionist Vincent Davis, and marimbist Preyas Roy. Steeped in the legacy of Chicago’s avant-garde, the group weaves a dynamic tapestry […]

SAVE THE DATE🔸WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 15, 8PM!@upstairsabyss solo sets by Kari Watson, Sam Wenc, Misses & Jason Calhoun. Philly friends get to this gig! ~About the artists~ Misses (Maya Weber) is a venture in resonance, picking up the lever harp to converse with God’s cantus firmus, reaching towards polyphony. Misses is a practice of receiving grace. […]

Chris Williams: Chris Williams is an interdisciplinary artist and musician based in Brooklyn, NY and is most at home collaborating with contemporary improvisers and experimentalists. He has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe. His work explores the dyad of ancestral trauma and power existing in all Black Americans. Williams has been commissioned by WasteLAnd […]

Trepanation series- 6 Thursdays of experimental jazz and chill vibes at the Century Bar.

All three members of the Artifacts Trio have long been recognized as torchbearers of Chicago’s innovative jazz scene, as well as the most prominent performer-educators in the third generation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM), the historically vital, leading-edge Chicago arts organization. Their music advances the organization’s motto, “Ancient to the […]

Don Slepian, a composer, performer, and music technologist, is celebrated as a pioneer in the ambient and new age music movement, blending classical influences with cutting-edge electronic techniques. From serving as artist-in-residence at Bell Laboratories and Synthesizer Soloist with the Honolulu Symphony to performing at esteemed venues like Lincoln Center, WNYC’s New Sounds, and the […]

Bowerbird is pleased to present Luke Fowler and David Grubbs in a duo performance featuring films about and sonic work by Brunhild Ferrari. PROGRAM: Two films by Luke Fowler:      N’Importe Quoi (for Brunhild) (2023, 9 min.)      N’Importe Quoi (Extérieur-Jour) (2024, 11 min.) Errant Ear, Brunhild Ferrari (fixed media) J’ai pensé sans […]

All three members of the Artifacts Trio have long been recognized as torchbearers of Chicago’s innovative jazz scene, as well as the most prominent performer-educators in the third generation of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Music (AACM), the historically vital, leading-edge Chicago arts organization. Their music advances the organization’s motto, “Ancient to the […]

Panama-born, Chicago-based drummer and DJ Daniel Villarreal is a widely known and beloved drummer, musician, and DJ rooted in the vibrant Chicago music scene, now based in Philadelphia. His dynamic energy and skillful versatility have made him a sought-after artist, with frequent performances alongside the renowned bands Dos Santos and Valebol, as well as being […]

The Electronic Music Ensemble performs in Rock Hall Auditorium. This event is free and open to the public.

Elliott Levin- words & reedsTom Rollison/ Rick Iannacone/ Dave Hotep- guitars & electronicsJan Jeffries// Tom Lowery/ Kevin Diehl- percussionplus special guests.2 sets of original compositions & improvisations.

Each month, we spotlight the music of one of our ensemble members for the first set. First up: the music Pete Dennis. AIRLFT: Kevin Diehl, Elliott Levin, Matt Lavelle, DM Hotep, Joshua Marquez, Pete Dennis – Philly’s deep rooted, multi-culti, inter-gen, sonic omnivores.

Co-presented with Clavius Productions Phipps Pt. Phipps Pt. is the sound project of Canadian conduit, Lovage Sharrock. What began as a series of one-off performances pairing her hypnotic fingerpicked guitar patterns and fragile vocals with a rotating roster of impressive collaborators, has evolved with the regular accompaniment of Jon Leidecker (Wobbly / Negativland / Thurston […]

Trepanation series- 6 Thursdays of experimental jazz and chill vibes at the Century Bar.

Ready yourselves for a deep exploration of extra-dimensional sounds with one of our most adventurous lineups in some time. Friday October 24th features four artists entangled with otherworldly powers beyond my humble comprehension and we are privileged to soon bear witness to their supreme divinations. Come be shattered, reconstituted, shattered, and reconstituted yet again.

Adam Rudolph has been hailed as “a pioneer in world music” by The New York Times, and “a master percussionist” by Musician magazine. He has released over 25 recordings under his own name, featuring his compositions and percussion work. Rudolph leads and composes for the ensembles Moving Pictures, Hu: Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, an […]

Bowerbird is pleased to present vocal sextet Variant 6 performing NEXUS, a program featuring a wide expanse of a capella repertoire for three treble voices, featuring Jessica Beebe, Rebecca Myers, and Elisa Sutherland. From rarely performed works of the Medieval era to contemporary works by some of our favorite composers, this concert will showcase a […]

Henry Allen/Jonah Gelbart – guitar and trumpet Philadelphia based musicians Henry Allen and Jonah Gelbart have been playing freely improvised music as a duo for the last several years. Henry Allen is a guitarist whose playing incorporates experimental punk ideas with rapidly evolving and abrasive harmonic textures. Jonah Gelbart plays various trumpets and shofar, combining […]

Trepanation series- 6 Thursdays of experimental jazz and chill vibes at the Century Bar.

Saxophonist, composer and improviser Cole Pulice traffics in shimmering, otherworldly beauty. On Land’s End Eternal, their first album for Leaving Records (releasing May 9th), the Oakland-based artist expands their compositional palette beyond signal-processed saxophone to include layers of electric guitar and lush choral arrangements.