The workshop is aimed at all musicians (instrumentalists and singers) interested in free improvisation, active in any musical field, of any technical, stylistic and idiomatic background, of any age and with any type of training, preferably with a good level of technical and instrumental skill.
The course will focus on the practice of free improvisation, exploring new sound possibilities, mainly in small chamber ensembles; under John Butcher’s guidance, participants will form small ensembles of varying sizes, whose improvisations will be the starting point for shared reflection. Among the various points of interest of the course will be finding and developing a personal language, discovering new ways of relating together as performers, instrumental techniques, understanding how improvisation creates its own forms and how relational dynamics used in improvisation reflect political and philosophical themes. Some time will be spent encouraging musicians interested in solo improvisation and, for mobile players, performing in unusual, non-concert acoustics.
The course is generally organised into study days of five/six hours of improvisation in small groups divided between morning and afternoon. In addition to the organised lessons, there will be convivial and informal moments in which to discuss the topics that emerge from the meetings in an atmosphere of sharing and mutual listening.
Born in Brighton (1954) and living in London, John Butcher is a saxophonist whose work ranges through improvisation, his own compositions, multitracked pieces and explorations with feedback, unusual acoustics and non-concert locations. He is well known as a solo performer who attempts to engage with a sense of place. Resonant Spaces, for example, is a collection of performances recorded during a tour of unusual locations in Scotland and the Orkney Islands.
Butcher originally studied Physics, but after publishing a PH.D (1982) on quantum chromodynamics he left academia and took off with music. He has since collaborated with hundreds of artists, some for many decades, including Derek Bailey, Eddie Prévost, John Stevens’ Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Okkyung Lee, Andy Moor, Sophie Agnel, Christian Marclay, Pat Thomas, Phil Minton, Rhodri Davies, Tony Buck, Magda Mayas, John Russell, Chris Corsano, Steve Beresford, Ståle Liavik Solberg, Angharad Davies and Matthew Shipp.
Additionally he values occasional encounters – ranging from the WDR Sinfonieorchester and EX Orkest to duos with Akio Suzuki, Liz Allbee, Keiji Haino, Isabelle Duthois, David Toop, Fred Frith and Joe McPhee.
Recent compositions include “Fluid Fixations” (an hcmf commission) “Penny Wands” for Futurist Intonarumori, “Good Liquor…” for the London Sinfonietta and “Tarab Cuts” (shortlisted for a British Composer’s Award).
Over 40 years of sustained performance and publishing, English saxophonist, improvisor and composer John Butcher has shaped much of what soprano and tenor saxophone can do, and what their roles and vocabulary in improvised music might be. There’s a situated purposefulness to Butcher’s music. It is always concerned with its context, flexibility, space and company.
I’ve always heard Butcher’s playing as a kind of nose to tail saxophony, where the whole instrument from reed-tip to brim of bell is available, accessible and articulate. Few other saxophonists slice as sharply back into the physical history, material (and physics) of the instrument, across its near 200 year history through jazz, particularly Lester Young’s infinite permutations, to its speculative, hybrid origins. When Hector Berlioz wrote of his friend Adolphe Sax’s then fresh invention, “the varied beauty of its accent, sometimes serious, sometimes calm, sometimes impassioned, dreamy or melancholic, or vague”, he could have been imagining Butcher’s distinctively clean but complex, enquiring soundworld.
WIRE – October 2024. The Primer by Seymour Wright
In the hands of London improvisor John Butcher, the saxophone can sound like anything, from a piece of hollowed out brass baubled with pads and valves to a hermetically sealed feedback system, a miniature sound environment teeming with ever-evolving note-forms, or a huge echo chamber inflicting dub scale damage on every breath.
His conceptions are invariably built around techniques designed to overcome more than a century of accrued musical and cultural baggage, utilising a variety of invasive and exploratory processes, including cranked amplification, close-miking and overdubbing, in a bid to rethink the instrument.
As a player he regularly draws on the saxophone’s most peripheral capabilities, recasting fingering patterns in terms of percussive codes, turning naturally occurring acoustic phenomena into virtual accompanists and making expressive use of ghost tones and accidentals.
The Wire – David Keenan
Extraordinarily powerful, Butcher’s saxophone may test the limits of one’s ear to make sense of the close and complex relationships that are put forth, but there’s an undeniable emotional depth and sheer beauty in his work that supersedes technicality and concept.
Tiny Mix Tapes.
John Butcher is without question the most jaw-dropping technician we’ve ever heard wielding a tenor, equally capable of brawny assault and textural meditations at the very edge of audibility. What makes him so compelling, though, is the taste and poetry behind everything he does.
Time Out – New York.
Attendance as a full-time student requires a course fee of €300.; free access for auditors (subject to availability). Lessons begin on 15/07/2026 and end on 19/07/2026 (total no. 5 effective days). The course will be held in English. Lessons will be held at CDM’s premises.
The cost of the course includes:
Deadline for registration is open (limited availability – until 1 July 2026).
A registration fee of €50 must be paid at the time of application.
Payment details:
Account holder: Associazione Montaldeo Musica
IBAN: IT02V0326848450052776248700
BIC/SWIFT: SELBIT2BXXX
Reason of payment: Name and Surname – Butcher improv workshop – Foresty International Music Festival 2026
By the 24th April you will be informed about the selection of the participants to the masterclass; in case of non-selection, the registration fee of €50 will be refunded. Payment of the course fee, amounting to €300, must be made by 30 April. The accommodation fee of €250 must be paid by bank transfer one week before the start of the course. Any payment and bank charges are the responsibility of the participant.
In the event of late payment, for which bank transfer date of sending is decisive, a late payment fee of €75 will be charged.
Casa San Michele offers accommodation in an affiliated facility, a large shared flat, for the duration of the course. The facility has 3 single rooms, 3 double rooms, 1 triple room, and 2 shared bathrooms. Preference for single rooms will be given in chronological order of registration (upon notification of preference). The organisation reserves the right to change the room allocation based on specific and particular needs, communicated in advance. If necessary, the flats are available to those who wish to stay the night before the start of the course (upon reservation) at an additional cost of €25. The night of the last day of the course is included in the price. The cost includes accommodation in a shared flat with a room equipped with bed linen (not towels), use of the SPA and CDM study areas, and 3 dinners during the course, served at the CDM facility. Water, fruit and snacks are always available in the CDM common area; other consumptions will be considered extras.
The remaining meals are at the discretion of the participants: the facility is equipped with a basic kitchen and a small pantry (coffee, pasta, oil, salt and other essentials). Two partner restaurants are located a short distance away (one within walking distance, the other 3.4 km away; if necessary, the organisation can offer a transfer service to and from the restaurant (included and upon reservation). Rubber slippers (non-slip), a towel and a swimsuit are required to use the SPA.
Any extras can also be paid for on site by bank transfer or cash. Please note that there are no tobacconists, pharmacies, grocery stores or ATMs in the village of Montaldeo; all necessary services are easily accessible by car or bicycle in the neighbouring villages.
Upon arrival, the transfer service from the stations can include a stop to purchase necessary items upon request.
For those who do not wish to use the accommodation service but prefer to find their own accommodation, the organisation still requires a contribution of €150 for the use of the facilities, spa, coffee, snacks and dinners.
The nearest railway stations are Ovada, Novi Ligure, Arquata Scrivia; a transfer service is available from the arrival station to Montaldeo at a cost of €15 per transfer (€30 round trip). The nearest airports are Turin, Milan, Genoa, with respective train connections. For those travelling by car, Google Maps shows the exact location by searching for “Casa San Michele Montaldeo”; the nearest motorway exits are Ovada (A26), Novi Ligure (A26/A7), Arquata Scrivia (A7).
In the event of cancellation of a course due to force majeure or failure to reach a minimum number of enrolments, both the enrolment fee and the course fee will be refunded.
The course fee, net of bank charges, will not be refundable in any other case.
The registration fee of €50 will be refunded only and exclusively in the event of non-selection or due to force majeure or failure to reach a minimum number of participants.
The accommodation fee will not be charged if the participant cancels (within one week of the start of the course).
Casa San Michele di Giulia Pastorino // Partita IVA: IT02568410068
