The Atlanta Improvisers Orchestra is a vital conglomeration of musicians united to explore the possibilities of large-group musical improvisation. The group spontaneously creates exquisite orchestral soundscapes and compositions using the concept of conduction, or conducted improvisation, that harnesses and encourages the unpredictable ideas, individual imaginations, and diverse approaches to music that each musician brings.  

AIO concerts typically feature an ensemble of 15-20 musicians led by three or four members of the ensemble in the role of conductor, each, in turn, guiding the group using specific hand signals and gestures to develop a unique, spur-of-the-moment composition. We are interested in exploring a variety of performance spaces and modes - collaborations with other artists, like dancers, painters or sculptors are common. We strive to communicate with the audience, and some pieces even involve audience participation.

AIO creates a forum for social action in music, where the inherent tension catalyzes the communication of complex ideas between musicians, conductors, and listeners. Individual musicians can take a variety of strategies to interact with the group, ranging from generously aligning with others to steadfastly exploring their own ideas.  The presence of a conductor is not intended to reinforce a framework in which that role is at the top of the hierarchy.  Rather, the conductor is an equal partner in the act of composing happening in real-time by all participants, operating as if they were a creative mixing board engineer. The combination of choices made by both the musicians and conductor creates new music -- a melody might emerge from the seething cacophony, a structural form is revealed from seemingly unrelated sound events, or a single pitch choice might set off a novel harmonic flow -- that is different every time we play.  While moments of pleasurable sonic unity occur, we embrace the clash of intentions that creates palpable tension in sound.  AIO has an elemental desire to investigate new sounds and musical concepts, and pursue innovative sonic situations and structures - our starting point is no expectation to make something recognizable.

Participation in an AIO performance is simultaneously an idiosyncratic music event and a potent experience of social action and music education, allowing musicians and listeners alike to engage in the complexity of the sound created through the multiplicity of musical thoughts, schemes, and feelings being expressed.  It is fundamentally a group effort, many times in collaboration with the audience as a choir.  AIO proposes this as an alternative mode of music education in our gatherings -- as an active participant, you are asked to hear your own voice among others around you. The act of creating together occurs as you communicate with others over immediate sound, bypassing the rational and incorporating the complexity instantly within the action itself.  Through empowering, nurturing and supporting the connection of each individual with their own musical thought and those of the other participants, AIO offers listeners, students, and musicians radical practices of communication and mobilization.