Edgefest at Thirty

The thirtieth edition of Edgefest, the annual festival of new music, improvised and composed will take place October 7–10 at the Kerrytown Concert House. This year’s theme will be Freedom at the Edge, featuring artists from near and far, from New York, California, Michigan, Germany, and elsewhere. The artist featured throughout the festival will be Roscoe Mitchell.

A special pre-Edgefest evening will take place on Sunday, Sept. 27 at the Moondog Café in Detroit featuring cornetist/composer’s Taylor Ho Bynum’s SpiderMonkey Dreams, a new grouping of old friends and longtime collaborators that revisits materials from two early albums with his SpiderMonkey Strings ensemble including songs from his “Madeleine Dreams” suite with texts by the leader’s sister, acclaimed novelist Sarah Shun-lien Bynum. The collaborators will be Jason Kao Hwang, violin, Jeff Song, cello, Daniel Lin, cello, Deanna Relyea, voice, and Piotr Michalowski, contrabass clarinet.

Event Date/Time TBA

• A Conversation with Roscoe Mitchell – moderated by Marc Hannaford

Education & Outreach

• Two-day residency at Scarlett Middle School, Ann Arbor
• Edgefest Parade – Noon on Saturday

Wednesday, October 7

• Hannah Marks
• "Feed the Fire" Quartet
• Oluyemi Thomas Trio
• Northwoods Improvisers
• Damon Smith / Ursel Schlicht / Roscoe Mitchell

Thursday, October 8

• Creative Arts Orchestra – featuring Roscoe Mitchell, with a world premiere by Michael Malis • at Ann Arbor Community High School
• Ken Kozora - Birds of a Feather
• Andrea Wolper’s Dimensionality
• Teiku
• Michael TA Thompson Quintet

Friday, October 9

• Andrew Bishop, solo saxophone
• William Hooker Quartet
• New Origins Trio
• Stein / Smith / Shead Trio
• Fay Victor's Herbie Nichols SUNG

Saturday, October 10

• Amir ElSaffar's New Quartet
• Junk Jazz
• Vinny Golia / Ken Filiano / Michael TA Thompson
• Craig Taborn, solo piano
• Roscoe Mitchell – with featured Detroit-area artists and guest Tani Tabbal, percussion