METRIC (Modernizing European Higher Music Education through Improvisation) is a cooperative network of several leading European conservatoires and the AEC – Association of European Conservatories, with the aim to focus on the modernisation of higher music education through intensive international cooperation in the field of improvisation.
The METRIC network has been organising a series of free online sessions about improvisation delivered by experts from the network’s partner institutions.
The first guest speakers of METRIC Online Improvisation Sessions of this year were Richard Barrett and Ensemble+.
Richard Barrett (Swansea, 1959) is an internationally active composer and performer, and teaches at the Institute of Sonology in The Hague and the University of Leiden. His work spans improvisation, chamber music, and innovative digital compositions
The online session was held on 29th January under the theme of “Seeded Improvisation: interweaving intricate notation with spontaneous creation”. In this session, he explored his concept of “seeded improvisation,” examining how structure and freedom intersected in contemporary music.
Ensemble+ is a UK-based, award-winning quartet of classical musicians and improvisers, formed in 2022 at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. They reimagine classical performance through interactive improvisation, storytelling, and audience collaboration, and have performed at venues including the Royal Opera House and Kings Place.
The theme of their session on 23rd February was “No risk, no reward – a demonstration of ensemble improvisation informed by the western classical tradition”.
Blending short talks with live performance, this session explored the historical role of improvisation in Western classical music through the lens of group improvisation. Suggestions from the livestream chat and the live audience became creative prompts, sparking the spontaneous creation of entirely new improvised pieces.
