IMPROV SPACES PRESENTS: THE WINTER/SPRING 2026 SEASON!
FEBRUARY
GET TICKETS NOW!
February 9, 2026
JAAP BLONK
&
The Schanzer/Speach Duo
An Evening of Improvisations, Experimental Sounds and Collaborations
Voice . Electronics . Guitar . Piano
Join us for an evening celebrating experimental sounds, improvisation, and collaborations. The program will feature Dutch self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist Jaap Blonk performing his project Dr Voxoid‘s Next Move. The improvised voice and electronics performance ranges from sound poetry, invented languages to other unexpected soundscapes.
The Schanzer/Speach Duo is comprised of Upstate New York-based composer/guitarist Jeffrey Schanzer and pianist/composer Bernadette Speach, who have been working together in the experimental music scene with new music, improvisation and performance since the mid-1980s NYC. The pair have composed and performed their commissioned works across the US and internationally.
The performers will each present solo sets and join together in an original improvisation for this special program.
About the performers:
Jaap Blonk (born 1953 in Woerden, Netherlands) is a self-taught composer, performer, poet and visual artist. His unfinished studies in mathematics and musicology mainly created a penchant for activities in a Dada vein, as did several unsuccessful jobs in offices and other well-organized systems. In the early 1980s he discovered the power and flexibility of his voice, and set out on a long-term research of phonetics and the possibilities of the human voice.
At present, he has developed into a specialist in the creation and performance of sound poetry and a unique vocal improviser, supported by a powerful and uninhibited stage presence. He has performed and taught around the world, on all continents. With the use of live electronics and sometimes projection of visuals the scope and range of his concerts has acquired a considerable extension.
Blonk’s recorded / published output comprises some 75 titles: CDs, vinyl, cassettes and books. From his sound poetry scores he developed an independent body of visual work, also supported by his renewed interest in mathematical procedures. It has been exhibited in various countries, and selections have been collected in books by publishers in Germany, Ireland, Canada, the United States, Sweden and Brazil.
Schanzer/Speach Duo consists of Jeffrey Schanzer, composer/guitarist and Bernadette Speach, composer/pianist. Their collaborative works combine the intuition and spontaneity of improvisation with the structure of formal composition. The Duo had its premiere performance in October 1986 at Experimental Intermedia Foundation, New York City. Since that time, they have performed in New York at Roulette, St. Ann’s Church, the Knitting Factory, The Stone and Dia Center for the Arts, and in Newark, Hartford, Buffalo, Chicago, Boulder, San Francisco, Seattle, Puerto Rico, Gent and Liege, Belgium, and Cologne and Herne, Germany. Dualities, the Duo’s first CD, was released on the Mode/Avant label in January 1992 and was picked as one of the top 10 recordings of 1992 by Robert Hicks in Jazziz magazine. The Duo has had works written for it by Lester Bowie, Kitty Brazelton, Michael Colquhoun, Fred Ho, Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Tania León, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Betsy McClelland, William Ortiz, Wadada Leo Smith and Steven Swartz. Artists who have performed with the Duo include Lester Bowie, Thomas Buckner, Michael Colquhoun, Barbara Held, Joseph Jarman, Oliver Lake, Joelle Leandre, Fred Ho, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Myra Melford, David Pleasant, Bobby Previte, Alva Rogers, Ned Rothenberg, Wadada Leo Smith, Warren Smith, Libby Van Cleve and Jack Vees.
Schanzer also appears with his group The Jeffrey Schanzer Ensemble, which has brought together musicians such as Leroy Jenkins, Bobby Previte and Ned Rothenberg. His No More In Thrall, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald where his father was a prisoner, performed by the Sirius String Quartet with percussionist Kevin Norton, was released on the Composers Recording Inc. (CRI) label. Speach’s activities as a composer have included performances of Within, for piano and orchestra, by Ursula Oppens and the Brooklyn Philharmonic, and Les Ondes pour Quartre, premiered by the Arditti String Quartet in Darmstadt, Germany. In and Out of Love – after Liaisons and Send in the Clowns from A Little Night Music, was premiered by Anthony de Mare, pianist and Artistic Director of “Liaisons: Re-imagining Sondheim from the Piano”, at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, which commissioned the work. More recently Embrace the Universe (2001) for Orchestra, Chorus (SATB) and soloists: Mezzo-Soprano, Viola, Piano, with text: “Hymn to Matter” from The Divine Milieu by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was premiered in 2016 at the Teatro Petruzzelli, Bari, Italy. Her latest project, the opera The Little Rock Nine, a collaboration with librettist Thulani Davis, tells the story of nine students, ages 14 and 15, who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957-58.
MONDAY, February 9, 2026
TIME 7-9PM EST
LOCATION Saratoga Arts Theater at 320 Broadway, Saratoga Springs, NY
ADMISSION Tickets $20
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Please Consider to Donate to Improv Spaces in 2025!
This year Improv Spaces has been able to:
Support 7 Live Performances at Local Performance Venues
Run the Improv Sessions for Improvising Musicians and Collaborators
Debut the Improv Spaces Ensemble
Present the 2nd annual Improv Spaces Music Festival
Supporting more than 96 artists for Live Performances since we started
in Saratoga and the Greater Capital Region!
Donate Now
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Thanks for attending the 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival!
The 2025 IMPROV SPACES MUSIC FESTIVAL
took place on June 7th, 2025 —
at the Round Lake Auditorium
We are so happy to have been able to host more than 30 musicians as a part of the 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival
that took place at the Round Lake Auditorium on Saturday, June 7th, 2025
with festival highlights that featured new work from the Human Rites Trio with renown musicians
Jason Kao Hwang (composer, violin, viola), Andrew Drury (drum set), Ken Filiano (string bass);
the premiere of Sonic Explorations in Troy, an incubator project with the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall
with the Rock City Falls Trio and Manuel J. Perez III; and the debut of the Improv Spaces Ensemble;
along with an impressive roster of additional talented improvisers
hailing from the Capital Region and beyond!
Thanks to our sponsors!
Media Sponsors
Email improvspaces@gmail.com about sponsorship and volunteer opportunities for 2025 Improv Spaces Music Festival
Please watch this video on our 2024 Improv Spaces Music Festival and
Considering Supporting Improv Spaces for More Great Programs in 2025
For information about donating to Improv Spaces or sponsoring the 2025 festival, please visit us here.
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It was great to see you at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Febrary 25th for this special performance and discussion for
SONIC EXPLORATIONS IN TROY!
Photos by Kylie Spinelli Photography
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our mission
IMPROV SPACES is based in Saratoga County in upstate NY and provides space and opportunities for performance, practice and workshops for musicians involved in improvisation. We support work with artists in interdisciplinary improvisation including with music, performance, poetry, and visual arts, among them.
IMPROV SPACES introduces the public to the broad range of improvised music including folk, jazz, classical, and pop music and through sounds and textures, expanding beyond traditional musical concepts like harmony and form.
Improvisation allows for open dialogue through practice and audience interaction and feeling beyond the self. Improv Spaces invites collaborators and the public to be a part of the embodied performances and artsmaking process through the practice and tenets of improvisation.
ALEX CHANG
Co-Director
Joseph Bruchac
Board Member
ADAM FORMAN
Co-Director
JONATHAN LO
Board Member
MARK MCBRIDE
Board Member
- A New Season: Feb. 9th with Jaap Blonk and the Schanzer/Speach Duo at Saratoga ArtsWelcome to a new year and new season of programs with Improv Spaces! We’re so excited to be back in the Saratoga Arts space for our first performances of the year, bringing you a range of improvisation and interdisciplinary programs. Join us for an evening celebrating experimental sounds, improvisation, and collaborations on Monday, February 9th… Read more: A New Season: Feb. 9th with Jaap Blonk and the Schanzer/Speach Duo at Saratoga Arts
- With gratitude, and looking ahead to the new yearDear friends, As the year comes to a close, we wanted to take a moment to thank you for being part of the Improv Spaces community. This year has been one of listening, experimentation, and continued commitment to artist-led work. Since our founding, Improv Spaces has presented live performances by more than 96 artists, supporting… Read more: With gratitude, and looking ahead to the new year
- We’re official and we’re inviting you in…We’re official — and we’re inviting you in… This year, Improv Spaces gathered artists and audiences in living rooms, galleries, and concert halls — listening closely, taking risks, and creating space for improvisation and collaboration. We’re excited to share that Improv Spaces is now an official 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. This means your support can directly… Read more: We’re official and we’re inviting you in…
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