Improbable Sessions
Part gig, part theatre, all experiment. A thrilling evening of music and ideas like no other.
Sit in on the Session, as incredible musicians improvise music just for you. By turns rousing, melancholic, lyrical and funky, an evening of glorious music created before your very ears.
“The ease in which the music flowed is magnificent and exciting to watch created before you. A unique one-off performance delivered by world-class talents." - FIVE STARS Beyond The Curtain on the Improbaband performing as part of An Improbable Musical
Part gig, part Ted Talk, all experiment. A thrilling evening of music and ideas like no other.
Leading the band is composer, musical director and master musical improviser Chris Ash on keys, with Ben Lewis on percussion, Juliet Colyer on cello and electric cello and Max Gittings on woodwind instruments from around the world. Their music takes them from the National Theatre to one-to-one work with patients in hospitals, to the London Jazz Festival, Shakespeare’s Globe, and around the world on tour. Between them they’ve done everything from founding and leading Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, to performing with leading UK classical groups including Bournemouth Symphony and London Contemporary Orchestra.
Brought to you by award-winning theatre company Improbable, directed by Lee Simpson.
The Team
Director: Lee Simpson
Musical Director and keys: Chris Ash
Percussion: Joley Cragg and Ben Lewis
Cello: Juliet Colyer
Woodwind: Max Gittings
Each performance the band are joined by special guests
The Sessions
Each Session is different, made in the moment for the time and place it’s in and the people there. Each Session features special guests to inspire the music. Some are performers, some people local to the area, some with special knowledge based around the theme of the evening. From poets to orchid experts, singers to ecologists expert in soil, puppeteers and museum directors each Session is unique.
So far….
Session 1: Pilot, Gulbenkian Theatre
Session 2: Orchids and Improv, Gulbenkian Theatre
Session 3: Poetry and Dance, Gulbenkian Theatre
Session 4: Stories of Soil and Sea, Salt and Earth Festival, Folkestone
Session 5: Mummies, Dinosaurs and Dipping, Tunbridge Wells Puppetry Festival.
Upcoming - Session 6: AI and Consciousness, Oxford Playhouse
Upcoming Gigs
Session 6: AI & Consciousness
23 September 2025, Oxford Playhouse
