Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival

The Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival is a two-day grassroots gathering of artists and music lovers, inviting all to engage with musical improvisation through live performances, workshops and a listening/interview session. Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival was conceived in 2024 by Artistic Director Mara Rosenbloom with support from Melanie Dyer and Kyoko Kitamura, the three members of the collective improvising trio Siren Xypher. The festival aims to strengthen community through conversations, at a time when in-person communication feels especially important.

July 12th & 13th 2025 at IBEAM BROOKLYN 168 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 $20 Admission / day | cash or Venmo. Daily Admission includes access to all daytime and evening events. Light food and beverages provided.

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The Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival is a two-day grassroots gathering of artists and music lovers, inviting all to engage with musical improvisation through live performances, workshops and a listening/interview session. Brooklyn Free Spirit Festival was conceived in 2024 by Artistic Director Mara Rosenbloom with support from Melanie Dyer and Kyoko Kitamura, the three members of the collective improvising trio Siren Xypher. The festival aims to strengthen community through conversations, at a time when in-person communication feels especially important.

July 12th & 13th 2025 at IBEAM BROOKLYN 168 7th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215 $20 Admission / day | cash or Venmo. Daily Admission includes access to all daytime and evening events. Light food and beverages provided.

Saturday, July 12

5:00pm Improviser’s Workshop (open to all) Lifelong ecstatic improvising pianist & 40-year Qigong Practitioner Kazzrie Jaxen offers a qigong workshop for creative improvisers. Wuji Gong: Skill of Entering the Supreme Unknown (comfortable clothes suggested)

7:30pm Siren Xypher Melanie Dyer – Viola / Kyoko Kitamura – Voice / Mara Rosenbloom – Piano & Voice

8:30pm Kazzrie Jaxen SOLO Piano

Sunday, July 13

3:00pm Improvisation Workshop (open to all) Anthony Braxton collaborators Kyoko Kitamura and Chris DiMeglio guide participants through Anthony Braxton’s Musical Systems and beyond. 90-minute workshop in two parts. For inquiries about this workshop, email contact at kyokokitamura.com Part I 3 PM to 3:45 PM: text and graphic scores by various composers including Anthony Braxton, open to all including non-musicians. Part II 3:45 PM to 4:30 PM: musical improvisation based on Anthony Braxton’s concepts including Ghost Trance Music, open to all. Ability to read music recommended for Part II but not required. Score excerpts provided. Instruments welcome but not required.

5:00pm Listening Session & In-Person Interview: AMINA CLAUDINE MYERS 90-minutes of immersion into the luminary pianist/composer’s multi-decade body of work. Conversation moderated by W.S. Tkweme, Pan-African Studies Professor at University of Louisville & 25 year radio programmer at stations across the US. Archival support from Ras Moshe Burnett. (Curated by Melanie Dyer)

7:30pm DoYeon Kim / Cooper-Moore / Satoshi Takeishi DoYeon Kim – Gayageum & Voice / Cooper-Moore – Homemade Instruments / Satoshi Takeishi – Drums & Percussion

8:30pm Mazz Swift & Ana Luisa Díaz de Cossío Violin + Violin

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