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Contact: Katlyn Morahan | Morahan Arts & Media
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Wet Ink Ensemble Presents
AIR Concerts 04: Nick Dunston / Mosaic Orchestra
at Abrons Arts Center on June 22

Featuring the Premiere of a New Work by Artist-in-Residence Nick Dunston,
Alongside the Debut of The Mosaic Orchestra, and Including Artist-In-Residence
Katherine Young, Chairmaine Lee, and Weston Olencki

www.wetink.org

New York, NY (May 24, 2022) — Wet Ink Ensemble appears at the Playhouse Theater at Abrons Arts Center for AIR Concerts 04 on Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at 7:30pm. The Wet Ink band is joined by innovative improvisers that include bassoonist Katherine Young (also a 2021-22 Artist-In-Residence), vocalist Charmaine Lee, and trombonist Weston Olencki.

The program features the premiere of a new work, “Reverse Broadcast”, by 2021-22 Artist-In-Residence and bassist Nick Dunston, commissioned by Wet Ink Ensemble as part of Dunston’s residency.

“Reverse Broadcast begins with an exploration of radio—its origins, its technology, and most importantly, its cultural and psychological consequences—and then immediately reverse engineers these consequences into a potent musical embodiment,” explains Dunston. 

The evening also includes the debut of The Mosaic Orchestra, a collective project that brings Wet Ink together with acclaimed creative musicians to make a new, large-scale, non-hierarchical work. Co-composed over several days of workshops, Mosaic Orchestra will combine structure and openness while providing a forum for the genesis of shared performance practice. 

Wet Ink’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence (AIR) program provides an open platform for 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.

Concert Information
Wet Ink AIR Concerts 04: Nick Dunston / Mosaic Orchestra
Wednesday, June 22, 2022 at 7:30pm
Playhouse Theater at the Abrons Arts Center | 466 Grand St (at Pitt St) | NY, NY 10002
Tickets: $10 general admission, free for students
https://ci.ovationtix.com/209/performance/11092319?performanceId=11092319

Link: https://www.abronsartscenter.org/program/wet-ink-air-concerts-04-nick-dunston-mosaic-orchestra/

Wet Ink Ensemble with Guest Artists

     Nick Dunston, bass (2021-22 Artist-In-Residence)
     Katherine Young, bassoon (2021-22 Artist-In-Residence)
     Weston Olencki, trombone
     Nina Guo, voice
     Charmaine Lee, voice
     Kate Soper, voice
     Erin Lesser, flutes
     Alex Mincek, saxophone
     Eric Wubbels, piano
     Ian Antonio, percussion
     Josh Modney, violin
     Lester St. Louis, cello
     Sam Pluta, electronics
     Mette Rasmussen, alto saxophone

Program:

Nick Dunston: Reverse Broadcast
Mosaic Orchestra

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.

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" (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. Learn more at www.nickdunston.org.

Wet Ink Ensemble’s 23rd concert season is supported in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, The Fritz Reiner Fund of Columbia University, The Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, BMI Foundation General Grants Program, and The Amphion Foundation. This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

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