Isabel Anders & Julia Bilat – two solo projects that explore the intersection of improvisation with classical and contemporary musical traditions

The project brings improvisation—once a central part of classical performance—back into today’s concert practice. It places it at the center of a format connecting classical tradition with contemporary performance. Supported by the GEMA Foundation.

„Improvisation in the context of a contemporary XX and XXI classical Cello repertoire“

Julia Bilat moves with the cello at the intersection of improvisation, composition, and performance. In her solo work, she expands the instrument through voice and movement, developing intense musical forms, in which sound and performative presence become inseparable. In this new project, she combines her work with the 20th-century cello repertoire, building a bridge between improvisation, performance and the tradition of european classical music. The improvisational language of this project is inspired by composers such as Penderecki, Dutilleux, Cassadó, and Lutoslawski. By uniting her various influences, the project not only revives a fading tradition but also contributes to the ongoing renaissance of the cello as an instrument open to new approaches, techniques, and styles—positioning improvisation as an essential and living part of its repertoire.

„24 IMRPOVISED PRÉLUDES“

Isabel Anders is a pianist, composer, and improviser who presents a new cycle consisting of 24 Improvised Préludes for solo piano. Marked by a distinctly composed character, the music moves between classical avant-garde, late Romanticism, and Impressionism. It evokes harmonic tension and expressive intensity through ambiguity, color, and inherent tension. Pages in different colors create a framework that mirrors the character of each section. The cycle unfolds in three parts: an opening, a central section, and a final group of preludes. From the central section onward, the atmosphere becomes increasingly intense. Rhythmic pulse and sharp accentuation emerge—urgent, vivid, and dramatically expressive. The Project is strongly inspired by the composer Alexander Scriabin.

Julia Bilat is a Berlin-based classically trained cellist, improviser, and composer working across jazz, classical, performance and experimental scenes. She performs with Stegreif.Orchester, Camila Nebbia’s The Hanged One and Fabiana Striffler’s Archiotic Quintet among others. Commissioned by Stegreif.Orchester, Bilat has composed music for several productions, including a recomposition of Hildegard Von Bingen's “Ordo Virtutum” performed at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in 2022. Her solo work integrates improvisation, composition, and performance using cello, body and extended voice techniques. Performances include Butohpolis Festival (Warsaw), Into The Open (Berlin), Intermittenze (Catania), Artacts (St.Johann, Austria). Julia Bilat is currently working on a new solo album, to be released in September 2026 by 'Relative Pitch Records' label.

Isabel Omara E. Anders (born in 2001) is a German/Cuban pianist, composer, and improviser based in Berlin. She started to improvise at an early age and began studying classical piano at the age of six. She later studied with Prodromos Symeonidis and Vladimir Tropp, focusing on Scriabin alongside works by Schönberg, Messiaen, and Debussy. She shifted her focus to composition and improvisation, studying with Sascha Dragicevic and Stefan Streich. Since 2022, she has been involved in residencies and concert tours and has worked with groups and musicians across Europe and Asia, including The London Improvisers Orchestra, Christian Lillinger, Ignaz Schick, Tobias Delius, Biliana Voutchkova, Yuko Kaseki, or Marc Schmolling. Performances include Leoš Janácek Memorial Museum (Brno), St. Mary’s Church (London), Roxy Theatre (Basel), and Kunitachi Community Arts Center (Tokyo)...