Ars Nova Workshop: An Introduction

"It is essential to distinguish between music the sole purpose of which is to produce a uniform and deliberate effect, thus simulating a collective action of an intended kind, and music whose meaning is, in itself, expressing feelings, ideas, sensations, or experiences, and which, far from welding people into a homogenous mass with identical reactions, allows free play to individual subjective associations." -Ernst Fischer

Mission and Philosophy
Founded in 2000, Ars Nova Workshop (ANW) is a Philadelphia non-profit jazz and experimental music presenting organization. ANW intentionally programs events and concerts in alternative spaces, showcasing divergent and challenging musical traditions and perspectives. ANW acts as an intermediary between musicians and composers and their audiences, while working to inform, inspire, and challenge listeners while elevating the role of jazz and experimental music in contemporary culture.

Fervently upholding the jazz/Free Jazz continuums by supporting its musicians, other 20th century composers and improvisers as well as the work of emerging artists, ANW events are a forum for discourse and new trends in contemporary music theories and practices.  ANW believes in the transformative power of challenging art and seeks to be a vital cultural resource for Philadelphia (and beyond) by providing the most engaging and appropriate environment for musicians and composers.

Overview
From the Philadelphia City Paper (November 2005): “Most mind-boggling music series. To mark the fifth birthday of Ars Nova Workshop, director Mark Christman brought a staggering selection of free jazz and improvised music to town, from Henry Grimes to Oliver Lake to Peter Brotzmann's Chicago Tentet. But his biggest coup is ongoing, a truly thrilling celebration of the AACM's 40th Anniversary, boasting rare Philly appearances by Roscoe Mitchell, Henry Threadgill, Leo Smith and Anthony Braxton.”

ANW has hosted the US debuts of ECM Records’ Tomasz Stanko Quartet, Dave Burrell‘s Full-Blown Trio with William Parker and Andrew Cyrille (their CD was subsequently voted Village Voice’s #2 Jazz Album of 2004), the Anthony Braxton Sextet, and ‘Interstellar Space is the Place’: Rashied Ali + Marshall Allen Duo, among many others.  In addition, ANW has presented the Philadelphia premiers of unique ensembles such as Dave Douglas’ Witness, Billy Martin and G. Calvin Weston Duo (live performance now on CD, Amulet Records), and Drew Gress’s Spin and Drift, as well as groups featuring some of the leading names in European improvised music such as Peter Brötzmann, Mats Gustafsson, Paal Nilssen-Love, and Miroslav Vitous.

ANW continues to be a driving force in bridging the gap between the Free Jazz  (and post-Bop) movement of the 1960s - presenting artists and ensembles such as Henry Grimes, Sunny Murray, Sun Ra Arkestra, Prince Lasha, Roscoe Mitchell, Joseph Jarman and John Tchicai, many of whom have not performed in Philadelphia in decades - and some of the most innovative musicians and ensembles emerging today such as Mat Maneri, Tim Berne’s Hard Cell and Big Satan, John Hollenbeck’s Claudia Quintet, Tony Malaby, MacArthur fellow Ken Vandermak, and Rob Mazurek.

ANW has presenting concerts at universities (University of Pennsylvania’s Philadelphia Jazz Legacy Series), art galleries (Slought Foundation), community centers (Community Education Center - CEC, The Rotunda), clubs (The Five Spot, Tritone), and theaters (Plays and Players Theatre, The Cinema), many of which are free or relatively cost-accessible.  ANW and Executive Director Mark Christman has also curated and sponsored exhibitions including, “Coltrane.”, which juxtaposed archival material (including August Blume's previously unreleased 1958 audio interview and listening stations featuring the live recordings, courtesy of Impulse Records) with work by contemporary visual artists that, since the 1970s, have executed homages to Coltrane’s oeuvre, and "Sun Ra meets Napoleon: Fragments of the Alter-Future", playfully juxtaposing historical materials pertaining to ancient Egypt and the continual inspiration and relevance of Egyptology from the time of Bonaparte to that of Sun Ra.  Both exhibits included historical materials - some on loan from Rutgers University’s Jazz Archive - such as original concert fliers, tickets and hand-crafted LP covers.

Ars Nova Workshop is the recipient of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming in Jazz, and four-time winner of the Philadelphia City Paper’s CP Choice Award for best jazz series in Philadelphia.  ANW performances have been previewed and reviewed in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Jazz Times, and The Wire.

ANW has enjoyed partnerships with International House Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, American Composers Forum, WRTI, Philadelphia City Paper, ECM Records, Pi Recordings, Delmark Records, African American Museum in Philadelphia, Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, and Peregrine Productions, among others.  Funding for ANW has been supplied by the Philadelphia Music Project, Meet the Composer’s Creative Connections, Chamber Music America, Argosy Foundation, The Philadelphia Cultural Fund and PA Presenters.

Ars Nova Workshop acknowledges the following the sponsors/partners for their support: