The New Improvisers Studio

Jun 24 — 27, 2025

Field:

Workshop

Location:

Grand Luxe Hall, Western Front

Time:

11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Description:

Western Front, in partnership with Coastal Jazz, presented The New Improvisers Studio—a free, weeklong educational program for emerging musicians aged 17 to 24, offered as part of the 2025 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. The New Improvisers Studio supported collaborative exploration in musical improvisation, guided by a leading international artist featured in the festival.

For the second year of the program, participants worked closely with acclaimed Filipinx-American composer, percussionist, and sound artist Susie Ibarra, with invited guests Giorgio Magnanensi and Jen Yakamovich. The Studio members were Dae-Lillee Baillie, Ben Cai, Jaiden Christie, Olivier Hart, Sadie Koshan, Allison Lee, Jack Lee, Milan Stanga, Cindy Xu, and Annie Zeng.

Through daily three-hour workshops focused on listening practices, field recording, spatial mapping, ensemble playing, and alternative forms of musical notation, Ibarra led participants on a creative journey rooted in the rhythms and patterns of the natural world. In addition to workshop sessions hosted in the Grand Luxe Hall, participants also conducted research in Stanley Park to collect field recordings of water, plant life, and animal calls. The workshop culminated in a public performance in the Grand Luxe Hall on Saturday, June 28, 2025.

Several youth stand on a forest path with sound equipment, staring into a bush. Two wear headphones while others look at their phones in the background. The foreground shows one person with long hair listening and another with dark hair holding up a microphone with a wind muff.

A person with headphones and a sound mixer holds up a small microphone to a tree branch. They sport braids, a navy cap and grey sweater. In the background two other people hold up their own sound equipment to different parts of the tree.

A crowd of young adults with headphones and sound mixers hold up their microphones to a tree in the forest.

A person kneels next to a large tree holding up a small microphone to their bark, listening. In the foreground, in the right corner, a person with headphones leans over.

Two people kneel next to a large tree in the forest. One touches and listens to their headphones as another holds up a small microphone to the bark.

Two people wearing jackets and jeans stand holding bamboo buzzers. Their background is filled with forest greenery and their heads are cut off by the frame.

A line of young adults standing on a forest path play the slit drum. An instructor walks away from them on the right corner of the frame.

A line of young adults on a forest path play slit drums while walking. Their background is filled with greenery and their foreground shows parts of a wooden deck.

Seen in a wide shot, a line of young adults walk down a forest path while playing slit drums. The sky is cloudy but the setting is vibrant with green foliage.

Seen from the front, a line of young adults walk down a forest path while playing slit drums. An instructor guides them in the foreground and their heads peak behind her.

An overgrown pond reflects the deep greens of pine trees as a line of young adults playing slit drums walk down a path to the right. A bridge crossing the pond and a bench can be seen behind them.

Related Events

2025

Concert by The New Improvisers Studio

Captions:

The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.
The New Improvisers Studio at Stanley Park, photo documentation, Jun 25, 2025. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography.

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.