All material found in the Press Releases section is provided by parties entirely independent of Musical America, which is not responsible for content.
Press Releases
Wet Ink Ensemble Announces Fall Season in NYC & Chicago and Launches Artist-in-Residence Program
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Katy Salomon | Morahan Arts & Media
katy@morahanartsandmedia.com | 863.660.2214
Wet Ink Announces Fall 2021 Season in NYC & Chicago,
Launches Artist-in-Residence Program,
and New Editions of the Wet Ink Archive
“Dense, wild, yet artfully controlled” – The New York Times
New York, NY (September 21, 2021) — The Wet Ink Ensemble announces its fall 2021 lineup of concerts and inaugural Artist-in-Residence Program, featuring composer-performers Nick Dunston and Katherine Young, as well as new editions of the Wet Ink Archive, the ensemble’s artist-curated online journal of adventurous music.
Wet Ink’s fall concerts kick off with an appearance at the Ear Taxi Festival on Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 7:30pm. Held at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts in Chicago, the Wet Ink octet will perform four premieres, presented by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition in partnership with UChicago Presents. The program features the Chicago premiere of Ben LaMar Gay’s Better Known. Still Lit, who joins Wet Ink on the cornet, the world premieres of new works by Ted Moore and Maria Kaoutzani, and the Chicago premiere of Alex Mincek’s So Many Ways.
On Wednesday, November 17 and Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 7:30pm, Wet Ink presents two evenings of new music as part of the ensemble’s AIR Concerts at Scholes Street Studio in Brooklyn. The concerts feature new collaborations with 2021-22 Artists-in-Residence bassist Nick Dunston and bassoonist Katherine Young, and a program including a new work for the Wet Ink band by violinist and Wet Ink Executive Director Josh Modney, plus a new iteration of Performance Practice, an evolving set of music developed collaboratively by members of Wet Ink. The concerts will be open to limited in-person attendance and will also be livestreamed.
On Sunday, December 19, 2021 at 8:00pm the Wet Ink Large Ensemble appears at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City for a concert of premieres. The program includes the world premiere of Kate Soper’s Missing Scenes and the NYC-premieres of point, point, point, point by Alex Mincek; Simple Fuel by Tonia Ko; and Actuate/Resonate by Sam Pluta.
Wet Ink’s new Artist-in-Residence program provides an open platform for two composer-performers who are invited to create new work for/with Wet Ink, perform with the ensemble, present their own solo projects and bands, and work with Wet Ink’s open, collaborative model in any way that they find meaningful. For the inaugural 2021-2022 season, Wet Ink welcomes two innovative, composer-improviser artists: bassist Nick Dunston and bassoonist Katherine Young. Dunston was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette Intermedium in 2019, which supported the premieres of The Floor is Lava! for double bass quintet and La Operación, a trans-media opera in progress. Young is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition, and her electroacoustic music and sonic art uses expressive noises, curious timbres, and kinetic structures. Listen to Young’s like a halo from Wet Ink’s album Wet Ink 20.
Wet Ink also presents new issues of the ensemble’s Wet Ink Archive, an artist-curated online journal of adventurous music. Archive 05, edited by Josh Modney and Eric Wubbels, releases September 30, 2021 with articles by Ingrid Laubrock and Ian Antonio, plus archival audio/video from 2021-2022 Artists-in-Residence Nick Dunston and Katherine Young. Archive 06, the “A.I. Issue,” edited by Sam Pluta, releases October 29, 2021 with articles by Beesting Labs (Norah Lorway, Edward Powley, Arthur Wilson), Ted Moore, and Max Ardito.
Concert Information
Ear Taxi Festival
Saturday, October 2, 2021 at 7:30pm
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, Performance Hall | 915 East 60th Street | Chicago, IL
Tickets: $20 general admission, students free with ID
Link: https://www.eartaxifestival.
BEN LAMAR GAY: Better Known. Still Lit (2021) [Chicago Premiere]
TED MOORE: new work [World Premiere]
MARIA KAOUTZANI: new work [World Premiere]
ALEX MINCEK: So Many Ways (2021) [Chicago Premiere]
Ben LaMar Gay, cornet
Wet Ink Ensemble:
Kate Soper, voice
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, tenor saxophone
Eric Wubbels, piano
Ian Antonio, percussion
Josh Modney, violin
Mariel Roberts, cello
Sam Pluta, electronics
AIR Concerts at Scholes Street Studio: Katherine Young and Nick Dunston
Wednesday, November 17, 2021 at 7:30pm
Thursday, November 18, 2021 at 7:30pm
Scholes Street Studio | 375 Lorimer St | Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $10 general admission, free for students
Links: www.wetink.org/events/season-
www.wetink.org/events/season-
New collaborations with KATHERINE YOUNG and NICK DUNSTON, plus a new work by JOSH MODNEY and a new iteration of Performance Practice by WET INK
Nick Dunston, bass
Katherine Young, bassoon
Wet Ink Ensemble:
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, tenor saxophone
Eric Wubbels, piano
Ian Antonio, percussion
Josh Modney, violin
Mariel Roberts, cello
Sam Pluta, electronics
Concerts will be open to limited in-person attendance and will be livestreamed.
Wet Ink Large Ensemble at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music
Sunday, December 19, 2021 at 8:00pm
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music | 450 W 37th St | New York, NY
Tickets: $10 general admission, free for students
Link: www.wetink.org/events/season-
KATE SOPER: Missing Scenes (2019-21) [World Premiere]
ALEX MINCEK: point, point, point, point (2020) [NYC Premiere]
TONIA KO: Simple Fuel (2018) [NYC Premiere]
SAM PLUTA: Actuate/Resonate (2019) [NYC Premiere]
Wet Ink Ensemble:
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, tenor saxophone
Eric Wubbels, piano
Ian Antonio, percussion
Josh Modney, violin
Mariel Roberts, cello
Sam Pluta, electronics
Wet Ink Archive Releases
Archive 05
September 30, 2021
Articles by Ingrid Laubrock and Ian Antonio, plus archival audio/video from Artists-in-Residence Nick Dunston and Katie Young
Editors: Josh Modney & Eric Wubbels
Archive 06
October 29, 2021
“A.I. Issue”
Articles by Beesting Labs (Norah Lorway, Edward Powley, Arthur Wilson), Ted Moore, and Max Ardito
Editor: Sam Pluta
About Nick Dunston
Nick Dunston is a Berlin-based acoustic and electroacoustic composer, improviser, and bassist. An “indispensable player on the New York avant-garde" (The New York Times), his professional appearances have also spanned a variety of venues and festivals across North America and Europe. He's performed with an array of artists such as Marc Ribot, Ches Smith, Imani Uzuri, Ingrid Laubrock, Tyshawn Sorey, Anna Webber, Amirtha Kidambi, and Vijay Iyer. As a recording artist, he's released 3 albums under his name to much critical acclaim from publications such as The Wire, Downbeat Magazine, and Rolling Stone. As a composer, he has been commissioned by artists such as Bang on a Can, Ex-Aequo, Johnny Gandelsman, T R O M P O, Joanna Mattrey, and Clifton Joey Guidry III. In 2019 he was awarded the Van Lier Fellowship by Roulette Intermedium, which supported the premieres of The Floor is Lava! for double bass quintet and La Operación, a trans-media opera in progress. Other notable projects of his include: Skultura, a Berlin-based electroacoustic quartet; banjer, a solo project for prepared banjo and electronics; and Atlantic Extraction, an internationally-based improvising quintet. www.nickdunston.org
About Katherine Young
Katherine Young’s electroacoustic music and sonic art uses expressive noises, curious timbres, and kinetic structures. Relationship building and collaboration is central to her practice. The LAPhil, Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s MusicNOW, Internationales Musikinstitut Darmstadt, Third Coast Percussion, Ensemble Dal Niente, Bludenzer Tage zeitgemäßer Musik, and others have commissioned her music. She has worked closely with Wet Ink, Ensemble Nikel, WasteLAnd, Linda Jankowska, Oliva DePrato, and Yarn/Wire. Her installation work has been commissioned by the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art. As a bassoonist and improviser, Katherine amplifies her instrument and employs a flexible electronics setup. She has documented her work on numerous recordings, including her debut with Sam Scranton as Beautifulish (out December 2020 on Shinkoyo) and a duo with Anthony Braxton. She teaches composition, improvisation, and electronic music at Emory University in Atlanta. Katherine is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow in Music Composition. katherineyoung.info
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 ensemble 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). In May 2020, the ensemble launched Wet Ink Archive, an online journal of adventurous music featuring writings and recordings by a wide range of artists (please visit at archive.wetink.org).
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.
# # #
WHO'S BLOGGING
Law and Disorder by GG Arts Law
Career Advice by Legendary Manager Edna Landau
An American in Paris by Frank Cadenhead
FEATURED JOBS
RENT A PHOTO
