Northern Michigan University's open mind improvisational ensemble, under the direction of Patrick Booth, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 16, in Reynolds Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.
The Open Mind Ensemble is a fully improvising creative orchestra that provides students and audiences with unique, experimental and non-traditional performance opportunities featuring interdisciplinary collaborations with visual artists, performance artists and poets, as well as unconventional composition techniques.
Instrumentation and focus of the music being created by the Open Mind Ensemble is constantly in flux, taking on a new appearance every semester. For the Winter 2024 semester, the ensemble has been working to prepare John Zorn's composition Cobra, which incorporates hand signs, cues, and game pieces, like a “big musical game of Mafia.” This piece will also benefit from active audience participation—everyone in attendance is invited to become a member of the performance, but the choice to sit back and enjoy the creativity remains.