Dec 7 Symposium : The Art of Improvisation - Approaches for the Creative Musician

afternoon session 3.00pm-4.30pm

Saturday Dec 7th 3.00-4.30pm

Kenneth Myer Auditorium – Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Ian Potter Southbank Centre

Tickets free HERE - Bookings essential

Livestream link to watch here

The Art of Improvisation: Approaches for the Creative Musician

A panel of leading jazz improvisers discuss their processes and approaches to improvisation, practice, and career development and their application of these improvising skills and strategies to their work across a range of music industry sectors.

Leading Australian jazz artists reveal the secrets of their processes and approaches to all things improvised. Bringing their unique voices into the conversation, guitarist Jess Green (Syd), drummer Kyrie Anderson, trombonist Elliot Lamb, and vocalist Jenny Barnes will discuss a broad range of approaches to all aspects of their improvising pathway in the music industry. The insights provided by these leading musicians and improvisers might surprise you!

Moderated by Andrea Keller

Jess Green (AKA Pheno) is an Australian guitarist, and vocalist. In her twenty-year career she has established herself as a genre-defying performer and composer. Jess has performed with jazz and blues luminaries including, The Catholics, Jim Conway, and Renee Geyer, as well as contemporary artists Laura Jean and Katie Noonan. She has supported touring international pop icons including Joan as Policewoman (US) and The New Pornographers (CAN). Jess collaborates as an improviser across jazz, new music and contemporary classical, and has performed with Bree van Reyk, Nick Wales, and Ensemble Offspring.

Kyrie Anderson, hailed as “mesmerizing to watch” by Global Media Post, is a top Australian drummer renowned for her dynamic and versatile playing. She has collaborated with artists like Basia Bulat, Pussy Riot, Julia Jacklin, and Emma Donovan. Kyrie regularly performs with Sam Anning, the Australian Art Orchestra, Andrea Keller, and others, and co-leads ensembles Aura and ThenNowWhen. Her global tours include major festivals and roles as Musical Director for notable productions. A participant in the Banff International Jazz Workshop in 2019, Kyrie is a leading figure in the Australian jazz scene, earning a Freedman Fellowship nomination and performing at top jazz festivals. She is also committed to mentorship and education with organizations like Girl Rock! and Gender Defying Jazz.

Elliot (Ellie) Lamb is a trombonist, composer and arranger based in Naarm (Melbourne). Elliot was the Take Note leader for the 2021 Melbourne International Jazz Festival, for which they composed a suite for octet called Between Worlds. The work explores themes of belonging and identity as a nonbinary person and contemporary musician, and was released as a their debut album earlier 2024. Elliot's second octet album, In My Own Little World, was recently recorded at the ABC with the help of a commissioning fund. It will be released in 2025 as a follow up to Between Worlds, capturing moments of joy they experience in their everyday life as a trans person. Elliot is also a founding member of the Jazzlab Orchestra, who released their debut album Cloudgazing in 2023, and their trio Trip! with Ronny Ferella and Shaun Rammers, who also released their debut album Inter Dimensionality in 2024. 

Jenny Barnes is a vocalist interested in communication, flow and honouring each other and the unknown. Her performances are visceral experiences from an informed and deeply considered practice of care. Barnes has carved out a distinct musical identity that captivates audiences with its raw energy and depth of connection.

Andrea Keller is an Australian pianist, composer and improviser dedicated to the performance, creation and nurturing of contemporary jazz and improvised music. Over the past two-decades she has devised and produced a large and varied body of work that celebrates the wealth and diversity of Australian musicians.

With a propensity for the new, Andrea has devised and led over twenty projects centred on her original works and highly individual reworkings of a diverse list of 20th century artists from across the globe. In addition to her own projects, she contributes to numerous collaborations and ensembles within the jazz tradition and has worked beyond the jazz idiom with the likes of The Song Company, The Black Arm Band, Lano & Woodley, and Eddie Perfect. Highly lauded for her music, Andrea has received numerous awards over her career. In 2022 she received the Art Music Luminary (Victoria) Award and has previously been recognised with three ARIA awards, multiple Australian Jazz Bell awards, and more. A champion of Australian creative music and a nurturer of emerging musicians, Andrea runs the educational program Gender Defying Jazz and is Head of Jazz & Improvisation at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music, University of Melbourne.

Free (bookings essential)

Saturday Dec 7th 3.00-4.30pm

Prudence Myer Studio – Melbourne Conservatorium of Music

Ian Potter Southbank Centre

33-43 Sturt Street Southbank

Presented in collaboration with major partner The University of Melbourne