The Interpretations Series 37th season opens Thursday October 22, 2026 with a split bill featuring solo pianist Ursel Schlicht, and the trio Critical Response comprised of Jason Kao Hwang, violin and viola, Anders Nilsson, guitar, and Michael TA Thompson, drums & percussion.
Splitting time between New York and Germany, and well-known in both for her creative and innovative playing, Ursel Schlicht will perform a rare solo set drawn from her first solo recording, Creeks and Stars released in 2025. Inspired by her extended encounter with the art of Documenta fifteen in Kassel in the summer of 2022, the album was included in the New York City Jazz Record‘s list of the best new releases of 2025.
Founded in 2018, Jason Kao Hwang’s Critical Response forges the kaleidoscopic timbres of electric violin, electric guitar, and drums into a universal being who journeys through the dream-like, transformational terrains of his compositions. Pursuing their unique synergy of composition, improvisation, and sonic processing through the practice of individual empowerment, mutual respect and empathy, the trio will perform music from their forthcoming CD Uprising, which will be released in early 2027.
The concert will take place at Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave., Brooklyn, NY. Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for students & seniors, available at Roulette.org.
About the artists:
Pianist-composer-improviser Ursel Schlicht was named the 2025 Jazz Prize winner for the state of Hesse, Germany, recognized for her innovative playing, intercultural projects, and commitment to gender equality in jazz. Her latest CD, Creeks and Stars, (Acheulian Handaxe) was included in the New York City Jazz Record‘s list of the best new releases of 2025. Schlicht is well-connected in the creative scenes in Germany and New York, and her current projects in the US include her quartet Dimensionality (with Andrea Wolper, Ken Filiano and Lou Grassi), SonicExchange Quintet (with Catherine Sikora, Stephanie Griffin, Hill Greene, and Andrew Drury), the trio Expanding Spaces(with Hans Tammen and Tanja Kurzenknabe), and her duo with Robert Dick. Her numerous recordings also include releases on Cadence, CIMP, Hybrid, Konnex, Leo, Muse-Eek and Nemu Records, and she has taught at Columbia University, Rutgers University, Ramapo College of NJ and the University of Kassel, Germany. Fostering intercultural collaboration, she has worked with refugees from countries from the Middle East while in Germany, and for many years has built musical connections with musicians from Afghanistan. In the late 1990s she interviewed Carline Ray, Marian McPartland, Barbara Carroll, Paula Hampton, Diedre Murray, Karen Borca, Joanne Brackeen, Geri Allen, Connie Crothers, Jane Ira Bloom, Michele Rosewoman and Myra Melford for her book “It’s Gotta Be Music First”: on the Impact, Perception and Working conditions of Women Jazz Instrumentalists (Coda, Germany 2000).
The music of Jason Kao Hwang (composer/electric) explores the vibrations of his history. His most recent releases are Second Life, Myths of Origin, and Soliloquies. Raised during the “melting pot” era of assimilation, Mr. Hwang did not learn Chinese from his immigrant parents, only English. When his parents spoke in Chinese to each other, he would listen intently to glean meaning from their inflection, rhythm, and timbre. Mr. Hwang imagines this musical experience of the Chinese language as the foundation of his creative instincts. In 2020, 2019, 2018, 2013 and 2012, the El Intruso International Critics Poll voted him #1 for Violin/Viola. The 2012 Downbeat Critics’ Poll voted Mr. Hwang as Rising Star for Violin. His chamber opera The Floating Box, A Story in Chinatown was one of the Top Ten Opera Recordings of 2005 by Opera News. Mr. Hwang has received support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, Chamber Music America, National Endowment for the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and others. As violinist, he has worked with William Parker, Henry Threadgill, Reggie Workman, Taylor Ho Bynum, Tomeka Reid, Anthony Braxton, Joëlle Leandre, Patrick Brennan, Steve Swell, Pauline Oliveros, Butch Morris, and many others.
Anders Nilsson is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, composer and teacher. He leads his band Hesa Gunand plays in several NYC-based configurations including The 49ers, a guitar duo with Ty Citerman, and Jason Hwang’sCritical Response, and he tours with artists such as singer/setar player Mohsen Namjoo & saxophonist Avram Fefer. He has recorded and/or performed with a wide array of composing and improvising visionaries across the genres and continents including guitarists Elliott Sharp and Raoul Björkenheim, vocalist Fay Victor, keyboardist Gordon Beeferman, Momenta Quartet, and the female-fronted metal band Under Satan’s Sun. He has performed throughout Europe, North America, Australia and appears on over 40 albums, many of which have received great critical and public acclaim.
Soundrhythium Michael T.A. Thompson (drums) is an anomaly. He has played, toured and/or recorded with a wide variety of musical artists, including Charles Gayle, Joe McPhee, Oliver Lake, Kidd Jordan, Alex Foster, Roy Campbell Jr., Dennis Gonzales, Matthew Shipp, Uri Caine, Henry Grimes, John Patitucci, Marc Ribot, William Parker, The Shadow, Becket, reggae artist Owen Gray, as well as artists from classical to rap and beyond. He has played on soundtracks for TV shows and radio commercials etc. Thompson’s palate encompasses an abundance of sound colors. He hears everything and plays with it in a way that’s ever inventive and perceptively responsive. Thompson plays as he breathes. You’ll always find him in the moment, inspired as well as inspiring.
UPCOMING:
THURSDAY DECEMBER 3: Hemingway-Andonovska-Howard / Motl-Wallace-Neuburg
