Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra Mondays At The Stone

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On Monday, September 12, 2011, Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra began a new season at The Stone - the John Zorn-founded downtown performance space for avant-garde and experimental music ( corner of Ave C and East 2nd Street ). Themes by the likes of Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, original compositions, and melodies from the inexhaustible bounty of non-Western music are being explored and conducted by Karl Berger in his inimitable style, developed over many years at the legendary Creative Music Studio . The ensemble aims at the highest levels of harmonizing improvised sound in orchestral expressions and contrasting solo/duo/trio flights.

The new season is prompted by the success of this popular Monday night series, where captivated audiences delight in watching the 18+-piece improvisers' orchestra turn themes and concepts, developed in the 7:15pm rehearsal, into a fully formed 9:00 p.m. performance

Performers include: Art Bailey (accordion), Frederika Krier, David Bakriges (violin), Sylvain Leroux (flutes), David Schnug, Mercedes Figuera (alto sax), Darryl Foster, Stephen Gauci, Yoni Kretzmer (tenor sax), Afram Fever (soprano sax), Thomas Heberer, Herb Robertson, Brian Groder (trumpet), Steve Swell (trombone), John Ehlis, (mandolin), Kenny Wessel, Adam Caine, Harvey Valdes (guitar) Dominic Lash, David Perrott, Ken Filiano, Michael Bisio (bass), Lou Grassi, Harvey Sorgen (drums), Mossa Bildner (vocals), John Pietaro (xylophone, percussion), Philip Foster (odds and ends), and surprise guests.

One of the trademarks of Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra is Ingrid Sertso's uncanny vocalizations and poetry.

Karl Berger plays and conducts from the piano and occasionally picks up the melodica. The list of professional players participating in Karl Berger's Stone Workshop Orchestra has been growing steadily.

The Stone is located on the northwest corner of Avenue C and East 2nd Street.

All proceeds support the CMS Archive Project, the preservation and re-mastering of over 400 historic CMS recordings by some of the finest innovators in music, in collaboration with Columbia University.

Karl Berger is an award-winning composer/arranger, winner of six Downbeat Critics Polls as a jazz soloist, the mastermind behind the legendary Creative Music Studio and the emergence of spontaneously arranged confluences of individual improvisational expressions and world musical traditions that is the CMS trademark. His recordings and world-wide performances included musicians from the jazz tradition such as Dave Holland, Ed Blackwell, Graham Haynes, Bob Stewart, Kenny Wessel, and from world musical backgrounds such as Steve Gorn, Nana Vasconcelos, Ismet Siral, Hozan Yamamoto. He collaborated with Don Cherry, Gunter Schuller, the Mingus Epitaph Orchestra, just to name a few.

Karl Berger now records for the Tzadik label.His writing credits include orchestral arrangements for recordings by Jeff Buckley, Angela Kidjo, Better Than Ezra, The Cardigans, many collaborations with producer Bill Laswell and the groundbreaking orchestral composition "No Man Is An Island". Karl Berger and Friends continue to present residencies world-wide, notably in Italy, Germany, Istanbul and Brazil.

During the '70- and '80's, the Woodstock-based Creative Music Studio was considered the premier study center for contemporary creative music. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman, CMS brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world music communities. Unprecedented in its range and diversity, CMS was an acknowledged phenomenon in the international music world, providing participants with the rare opportunity to interact personally with the musical giants of improvisation and musical thought on a daily basis.

CMS is credited as the birthplace of Worldjazz - the improvisational and compositional expansion of the world's musical traditions. Now one of the main driving forces in many styles of music, this concept was pioneered very early at CMS, guided by authentic leaders. Hundreds of live concerts were recorded, many heralded as landmark performances. Thousands of workshops, master classes, concerts and colloquia inspired a generation of musicians who took with them the ideas, concepts and practices developed at CMS. The CMS community still exists in a remarkable network of creative musicians, many of whom came to CMS from Asia, Europe and South America.

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