Past Events

  • Artists Studio

    AACM Listening Session

    February 18, 2023

    Hailed as “perhaps the most important jazz composer of his generation” by The New York Times, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Threadgill is joined by Artists Studio curator Jason Moran for an intimate discussion and listening session spotlighting the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians and their creative impact on American music. This insightful event explores the creative practice of some of the most forward-thinking composers and multi-instrumentalists who have been blending art forms and pushing boundaries since the collaborative’s inception more than 60 years ago.

  • Artists Studio

    Double Bill: Thurman Barker & The Colsons

    April 22, 2023

    A versatile drummer and percussionist, Thurman Barker has performed with countless singers and artists from the worlds of classical, pop, jazz, and those that defy categorization. His ensemble performs excerpts from three of his orchestral scores—South Side Suite, Pandemic Fever, and Mr. Speed-str—on a special double bill with “musical power couple” (The New York Times) Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson and their longtime collaborators Chico Freeman and Douglas R. Ewart. The Colsons’ vast body of work focuses on many facets of the human experience, illuminating social issues while taking listeners inside the aesthetics of art.

    Time Factor: Thurman Barker Quintet
    Adegoke Steve Colson and Iqua Colson’s Unity Troupe with Special Guests Chico Freeman and Douglas R. Ewart

  • Artists Studio

    The AACM: Power Stronger Than Itself

    November 18, 2023

    Founded on the virtually all-Black South Side of Chicago in 1965 and still active today, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians has played an unusually prominent role in the development of American experimental music, exploring an unprecedented range of methodologies, processes, and media. Scholar-composer George E. Lewis, Professor of Music at Columbia University and an AACM member since 1971, presents an historical overview of the works of the famed collective.

  • Artists Studio

    The Reggie Nicholson Percussion Concept

    November 18, 2023

    Reggie Nicholson‘s signature style and sound have made him one of the most inventive and inspirational drummer/percussionists of his generation, composing and improvising original music that showcases his formidable technique and considerable skill. He performs some of his recent works and world premieres for percussion ensemble, displaying his “exquisite splashes of color and unmetered cascades on the drums” (Chicago Tribune) with his ensemble, the Reggie Nicholson Percussion Concept.

  • Artists Studio

    Amina Claudine Myers Choral Workshop

    December 17, 2023

    Prodigious pianist, organist, vocalist, composer, and improvisationist Amina Claudine Myers is a visionary in the areas of composition for vocal choirs and instrumental ensembles, composing a wide range of works that distinctly blend traditional influences from spiritual, gospel, and jazz, to extended forms and improvisations. The multi-talented trailblazer leads a vocal workshop for aspiring singers and the general public to perform some of her original compositions.

  • Artists Studio

    Double Bill: George Lewis & Amina Claudine Myers

    December 18, 2023

    MacArthur fellow George Lewis is a composer, musicologist, and trombonist who serves as the Artistic Director of the International Contemporary Ensemble. On this concert, the US premiere of his Blombos Workshop (2020) for piano, which engages Sylvia Wynter’s celebration of the human, and Assemblage (2013) for nonet, which explores in musical form the practice of assemblage—artmaking that recombines and recontextualizes collections of natural and human-made objects—are performed by members of the Ensemble on a special double bill with Amina Claudine Myers. This multidimensional artist and creator is joined by her trio and actress, vocalist, and playwright Richarda Abrams to perform Stay in the Light, a partly notated, partly improvised composition that highlights her spiritual connection to the universe and reinforces positivity, faith, and love for all living things.