Wet Ink Ensemble Announces New Monthly Journal, Wet Ink Archive

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts and Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214 

Wet Ink Ensemble Announces New Monthly Journal
Wet Ink Archive 

April 2020 Issue Out Today Featuring:

A  Conversation Between Alex Mincek and Sam Pluta About New Album
Glossolalia/Lines on Black, Out May 1 on Carrier Records 

Cellist Mariel Roberts on Her Own Compositional and Improvisational Work 
and Longtime Relationship with Wet Ink, Plus Two Video Premieres 

Vocalist Charmaine Lee on Building a Personal Language with Newly Released Videos
of Recent Work with Sam Pluta and Chris Goudreau

www.wetink.org 
 

New York, NY (May 1, 2020) — Today, the “sublimely exploratory” (The Chicago Reader) Wet Ink Ensemble releases the first issue of its new, monthly online journal of adventurous music and conversation, the Wet Ink Archive. The mission of Wet Ink Archive parallels that of the Ensemble: sharing the body of work generated within the group, celebrating the music of longtime collaborators, and providing a platform for emerging and underrepresented artists. Each issue will include three articles ranging from personal reflection to detailed musical analysis, accompanied by newly released music and archival documentation. Sign Up to Receive the Wet Ink Archive Here.

Violinist and Executive Director Josh Modney says, “Initially conceived as a project to make Wet Ink’s 20-plus years of concert documentation and studio recordings publicly available, the Wet Ink Archive has evolved into a platform for artists to share and write about their work without restrictions, and is also part of Wet Ink’s response to the urgent questions currently being faced by all arts organizations: ‘As live artists, how can we continue to present our programming amidst a national lockdown? And as community members, how can we continue to provide opportunities for freelance artists to work in their field?’ Thanks for reading, and we look forward to continuing to share adventurous art with you in the coming months.” 

The first issue of Wet Ink Archive opens with Topographies of Interaction, an in-depth discussion between Wet Ink Ensemble members and composers Alex Mincek and Sam Pluta about their works featured on Wet Ink’s new album, Glossolalia/Lines on Black, out today on Carrier Records, and the relationship of this music to Wet Ink’s practice. The release features two extended works: Mincek’s Glossolalia, inspired by the language concept of the same name but broadened to include modes of musical expression beyond linguistics, and Pluta’s Lines on Black, a love letter to the members of Wet Ink Ensemble which engages the musicianship and personality of individual members or small subsets of the group. All proceeds from album sales will be donated to Wet Ink’s extended network of freelance musicians. Listen and Order the Album from Carrier Records.

Wet Ink’s newest band member/co-director, cellist Mariel Roberts, contributes an article about her own compositional and improvisational work, and her years of collaboration with Wet Ink Ensemble. Roberts reflects on her aesthetic interest in monolithic structures through the lens of three deeply personal works that each represent different dynamics of collaboration and authorship: Roberts’ Cara II for solo cello, Sam Pluta and Roberts’ binary/momentary III, and Roberts’ Duo for violin and cello. The article includes the video premieres of binary/momentary III and Duo.

The April 2020 issue also includes Reflections on Building a Personal Language by NYC-based voice phenom Charmaine Lee, a piece that traces the development of her creative practice and her relationship to improvisation. The article is accompanied by video documentation spanning Lee’s career, from her first solo improvised set in Brooklyn, live streamed performances aired just weeks ago from her home in isolation, and previously unreleased duo performances with Chris Goudreau and Sam Pluta. 

Further spring/summer editions of Wet Ink Archive will include writing by Kate Soper, Eric Wubbels, Weston Olencki, Alice Teyssier, Ian Antonio, and more.

About Wet Ink Ensemble
The Wet Ink Ensemble is a collective of composers, performers and improvisers dedicated to adventurous music-making. Named “The Best Classical Music Ensemble of 2018” by The New York Times, Wet Ink’s work is rooted in an ethos of innovation through collaboration, extending from the music and the unique performance practice developed in the “band” atmosphere of Wet Ink’s core octet of composer-performers, to projects with a broad range of renowned creators, from Evan Parker to George Lewis to Peter Ablinger, and committed performances of music by young and underrepresented composers, from today’s most promising emerging voices to the next generation of artists.

Hailed for “sublimely exploratory” (The Chicago Reader) and “dense, wild, yet artfully controlled” (The New York Times) performances and “uncompromisingly original music by its members, and unflagging belief in the power of collaboration” (The New Yorker), Wet Ink has been presenting concerts of new music at the highest level in New York City and around the world for over 20 years. Wet Ink’s programming celebrates the nexus of composition, improvisation and interpretation, from early collaborations with Christian Wolff and ZS to pioneering portrait concerts of Peter Ablinger, Mathias Spahlinger, Anthony Braxton, and the AACM composers, work with renowned creative musicians such as Ingrid Laubrock, Peter Evans, Darius Jones, and Katherine Young, and long-term collaborative projects with Wet Ink’s four acclaimed composer-members (Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels).

Wet Ink has been in residence at institutions including Duke University, EMPAC (Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center), Columbia University, the Royal Academy of Music (UK), and The Walden School, among many others, and has been featured on numerous recordings. Highlights include Katharina Rosenberger’s TEXTUREN, which was awarded a German Record Critics Prize, and solo records by Alex Mincek (Torrent), Kate Soper (IPSA DIXIT), Sam Pluta (Broken Symmetries), Eric Wubbels (Duos with Piano, Book 1), and Josh Modney (Engage), all of which were celebrated on various “Best of” lists by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bandcamp Daily, Sequenza 21, and The Nation. Wet Ink has released four acclaimed solo albums (Wet Ink Ensemble; Relay; Wet Ink: 20, which features the Wet Ink Large Ensemble; and Glossolalia/Lines on Black).

Wet Ink is co-directed by an octet of world class composers, improvisers, and interpreters that collaborate in band-like fashion, writing, improvising, preparing, and touring pieces together over long stretches of time. These directors are Erin Lesser (flutes), Alex Mincek (saxophone), Ian Antonio (percussion), Eric Wubbels (piano), Josh Modney (violin), Mariel Roberts (cello), Kate Soper (voice), and Sam Pluta (electronics). The Wet Ink Large Ensemble is a group of extraordinary New York City musicians that come together to play the world's most exciting and innovative music. Learn more at www.wetink.org. 

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