News

CMS Concerts in Woodstock; Scholarships Available for Fall Workshop

CMS Ensembles To Perform at Woodstock’s Maverick Concerts (September 2) and at the Drum Boogie Festival (September 9); Scholarships Now Available for the CMS Fall Workshop with Billy Martin, Mary Halvorson, Omar Tekbilek and Others The revamped Creative Music Studio™ will present “in the Spirit of Don Cherry’ at Woodstock’s legendary Maverick Concerts, Saturday, September 2, at 8:00. Performed by the all-star CMS™ Improvisers Octet led by Karl Berger, ‘In the Spirit of Don Cherry’ Read more…

CMS Returns To Maverick Concerts on September 2

“In The Spirit of Don Cherry” to be Performed by the CMS Improvisers Octet Led by Karl Berger Saturday, September 2, 2017, 8:00pm at Maverick Concerts, Woodstock, NY   The revamped Creative Music Studio™ will present In the Spirit of Don Cherry at Woodstock’s legendary Maverick Concerts, Saturday, September 2, 2017, at 8:00. Performed by the all-star CMS™ Improvisers Octet led by Karl Berger, ‘In the Spirit of Don Cherry’ will explore Cherry’s compositions as Read more…

Woodstock Times Profiles CMS’ Future

New Blood Revitalizes Creative Music Studio It hardly seems possible but Woodstock’s own Creative Music Studio, that ethereal prodigy of a golden era, has been sent to the gym and returned rippling with muscle. Like the town’s original experiment in freedom (known since 1905 simply as “The Maverick”) CMS remains, first and foremost, a forever tolerant state of mind. So how do “forever tolerant” and “rippling with muscle” coexist? This is how: with a kick-ass Read more…

CMS and its artistic team in residence at The Stone

CMS and its artistic team of Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, Steven Bernstein, Billy Martin and Peter Apfelbaum will be in residence this week (June 27 – July 2) at The Stone, John Zorn’s performance space on 2nd Street and Avenue C in NYC. Performances begin at 8:30pm in concerts featuring a wide variety of ensembles and musicians. The schedule is: June 27: “Vibes, Voice & Bass” (Ken Filiano, bass; Ingrid Sertso, vocals, poetry; and Karl Read more…

New York Times Profiles CMS and Its Future

Creative Music Studio Changes Hands at a Critical Moment in Jazz CMS Spring 2017 Workshop. photo by karin wolfe New York Times music critic Giovanni Russonello profiles CMS in a feature article,  ‘Creative Music Studio Changes Hands at a Critical Moment in Jazz‘, which was published today. The article was based on months of research, including several days at the CMS Summer Workshop two weeks ago. Read the full story.      

Spring 2017 Workshop Journal

By Martin Longley, a music critic who writes for The Guardian, Downbeat, All About Jazz, Songlines and Jazzwise, among others. video: geoff baer Video: Joseph boulet Opening Concert, Monday 12th June The opening Monday night concert of the CMS spring workshop displayed the talents of its guiding artists, playing together in various permutations. It’s an initial demonstration of where each player stands, musically, prior to the masterclasses and collective tuition that will follow over the Read more…

CMS Fall Workshop Oct 2 – 6

Mary Halvorson, Billy Martin and Omar Faruk Tekbilek To Lead Creative Music Studio Fall Workshop OCTOBER  2 – 6, 2017 WORKSHOP FEATURES INTENSIVE MASTER CLASSES, JAM SESSIONS AND INTIMATE CONCERTS WITH GUIDING ARTISTS IN A SPECTACULAR MOUNTAINSIDE SETTING IN UPSTATE NEW YORK Guitarist, composer and bandleader Mary Halvorson, Creative Music Studio (CMS) associate artistic director and percussionist Billy Martin, and Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar Tekbilek join CMS co-founders Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso as Guiding Artists Read more…

The Creative Music Studio’s Enduring Spirit Showcased in Twelve June Performances

Series Features Small Ensembles to Orchestras, From NYC to the Catskills Karl Berger and Ingrid Sertso May 30, 2017, Woodstock, NY – The enduring spirit if the Creative Music Studio™, nearing its fifty-year anniversary, will be showcased in a month-long series of concerts from New York City to the organization’s home base in upstate New York. The twelve June performances will feature CMS artistic directors – Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, Steven Bernstein,  Billy Martin and Read more…

CMS Improvisers Orchestra Special Performance Saturday, May 27 at the El Taller Cultural Community Center, NYC

Soloists Include Peter Apfelbaum, Graham Haynes, Jason Hwang, Warren Smith and Steve Swell; Concert Features Latino Poet Jesús Papoleto Meléndez And Songwriter Bernardo Palombo Woodstock, NY, May 16, 2017 — The Creative Music Studio™ Improvisers Orchestra, conducted by Karl Berger, will perform Saturday night, May 27 at the El Taller Cultural Community Center at 215, East 99th Street in Manhattan. This performance features multi-instrumentalist and CMS™ associate artistic director Peter Apfelbaum, cornetist Graham Haynes, violin/viola virtuoso Jason Hwang, Read more…

Spring 2017 NYC Workshop Journal

CMS NYC Workshop ChroniclesBy Michael Shore FRIDAY MARCH 31: WHY IS THIS WORKSHOP DIFFERENT FROM ALL OTHER WORKSHOPS? I’ve only ever been to one CMS Workshop, June 2015 at Full Moon resort in Big Indian, NY. when I was mainly there to chronicle it for the CMS twitter feed and website, while lurking on the outside of the participants’ circle with a bag of small percussion devices…so I would say I was maybe a quarter Read more…