Buffalo, NY – Saturday, May 9, at 8 pm, the acclaimed Instant Composers Pool Orchestra will perform a special musical event in the AK Auditorium. The ICP Orchestra, a group known for their extraordinary musicianship, inspired improvisations, and entertaining onstage antics, will be performing as part of their final North American tour, giving Western New Yorkers their last opportunity to see the ensemble in person. Tickets are currently on sale and can be purchased for $10 by phone or in person at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery. Tickets are $5 for AK Members. Please call the AK Admissions Desk at 716.882.8700 to reserve your tickets.
Formed in the late 1960s, the Amsterdam-based ICP Orchestra has toured and recorded extensively. The group has undergone changes in both members and arrangements throughout the years while staying true to the spirit that spurred the ensemble’s creation—a love and respect for musical improvisation. Set lists are often written minutes before live performances with the intention of keeping both audience and performers on their toes. The end result is a dynamic live presentation that has garnered much critical acclaim.
The New York Times has said, “That nine-piece ensemble, a dynastic family going back to the late 1960s, has some idiosyncratic and brilliant soloists, including the drummer Han Bennink, the saxophonist Michael Moore and the cellist Tristan Honsinger; they are scholars and physical comedians, critics and joy-spreaders.”
Bruce Lee Gallanter of the Downtown Music Gallery in New York said, “There is something magical and distinctive about this ensemble. They seem to have their hands in a wide variety of influences or genres: cartoon or circus music, traditional Dutch melodies, old school swing/jazz, modern classical arrangements, with lots of unexpected twists and turns and solos or small subgroup sections and free eruptions when you least expect them. . . . There is only one ICP Orchestra . . . each and every release is a treasure.”
The orchestra consists of world-class improvisers Han Bennink on drums, Guus Janssen on piano, Tristan Honsinger on cello, Mary Oliver on viola, Ernst Glerum on bass, Thomas Heberer on trumpet, Wolter Wierbos on trombone, and Ab Baars, Michael Moore, and Tobias Delius on reeds.