Wet Ink Ensemble Announces Spring 2019 Concerts, Part Of 20th Anniversary Celebration

Wet Ink Ensemble announces its spring 2019 concerts, continuing the group's 20th anniversary season as a collective of composers, improvisers, and interpreters at the forefront of the performance and presentation of adventurous music. Named The New York Times's "Best Ensemble of 2018," Wet Ink Ensemble's spring 2019 season includes the debut of Wet Ink: Piano Trios at the DiMenna Center in NYC, a residency at the Boston Conservatory, a performance of Kate Soper's lauded IPSA DIXIT at the University of Northern Colorado, a 20th Anniversary Bash at Roulette in NYC, and performances at Stetson University and New Music New College in Florida.

Wet Ink's season begins on Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 8:00pm at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music with the ensemble's debut program of works for piano trio. The program features the world premiere of if and only if, a new set-length trio by Eric Wubbels (piano) written over an extended period of close collaboration for Josh Modney (violin) and Mariel Roberts (cello). if and only if combines a microscopic attention to tuning with the austerity and simplicity of Medieval music, following complexes of resonant, beating sound as they accumulate, breathe, and dissipate over the course of 45 minutes. The program also includes the US premiere of Toronto-based composer Linda Catlin Smith's Dreamer Murmuring (2014), a contemplative work evocative of Medieval chant and Messiaen-esque harmony, as well as Vicente Hansen Atria's dynamic trio Speleology (2016).

On Tuesday, February 19th, 2019 at 9:00pm at NYC's Areté Venue and Gallery, Wet Ink's Josh Modney (violin) and Eric Wubbels (piano) perform an evening-length rendition of Anthony Braxton's Composition No. 222 for violin and piano, from Braxton's Ghost Trance Music series. Wet Ink has become a champion of Braxton's music, from the ensemble's critically acclaimed portrait concert in celebration of Braxton's 70th birthday in 2016, praised by The New York Times as "dense, wild, yet artfully controlled," to Modney's solo violin recording of Composition No. 222 on his album Engage (New Focus Recordings, 2018), lauded by Seth Colter Walls as "both respectful in its intentions and radical in its execution" (The New York Times), and the Wet Ink Large Ensemble's 2018 recording of Composition No. 56 on Wet Ink: 20 (Carrier Records). Having performed as a duo for nearly a decade, this will be Wubbels and Modney's first performance of Composition No. 222.

Part of a multi-day residency, Wet Ink brings a program of chamber music to Boston Conservatory on Sunday, February 24th, 2019 in a performance alongside students enrolled in the contemporary performance program.

Wet Ink presents a concert version of Kate Soper's highly praised IPSA DIXIT at the University of Northern Colorado on Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 7:00pm, as well as a chamber concert of new works as part of UNC's Open Space Festival of New Music on Friday, March 8, 2019 at 5:00pm. Composer/performer/writer Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT is a genre-defying work of chamber music theatre that explores music, language, and meaning through blistering ensemble virtuosity and extended vocal technique. Developed over six years of collaboration with the Wet Ink Ensemble, IPSA DIXIT uses elements of monodrama, Greek tragedy, and performance art to skewer the treachery of language and the questionable authenticity of artistic expression. IPSA DIXIT was a finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in music.

On Monday, April 1st, 2019 at 8:00pm at Roulette Intermedium, Wet Ink Ensemble celebrates 20 years of adventurous music making in NYC and around the world with a concert celebrating the work of the ensemble's four acclaimed composer members - Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels. The concert will feature a retrospective look at "classics" of Wet Ink's repertoire, including Alex Mincek's From Nowhere to Nowhere and Kate Soper's Door, and new sounds including Sam Pluta's binary/momentary iii for solo cello featuring Mariel Roberts and the world premiere of a new work for Wet Ink's core septet of composer-performers by Eric Wubbels.

Wet Ink heads to Florida in April for a multi-day residency at Stetson University. On Wednesday, April 25th at 8:00pm, Wet Ink gives a concert of chamber music including Sam Pluta's Lines on Black and a world premiere by Stetson composition faculty Charles Underriner, written for Wet Ink.

On Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 8:00pm, Wet Ink returns to New Music New College for a program featuring Kate Soper's Voices from the Killing Jar and a new septet by Eric Wubbels. Soper's work from 2010-2012 depicts a series of female protagonists caught up in "hopeless situations, inescapable fates, impossible fantasies, and unlucky circumstances." Soper writes, "The women in Voices are bound together by their pain, their silence, their anger, their perception, connected not just via juxtaposition, but through their communal duress. As the narrator of their stories, I empower them by resurrecting their voices, which echo and forge connections across the movements, and by bringing them to life before an audience. I inhabit these voices in part by recalling the emotions and mental states which are the catalysts for their speech and song." Wet Ink hosts a free artist conversation on Thursday, April 25th at 5:00pm.

Program Information
Wet Ink: Piano Trios
Saturday, February 2, 2019 at 8:00pm
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, Benzaquen Hall | 450 W 37th St, New York, NY
Tickets: $10 general admission, free for students (no pre-order, cash only at the door)
Link: http://www.wetink.org/events.html

Program:
Vicente Hansen Atria: Speleology [2016]
Linda Catlin Smith: Dreamer Murmuring (2014) [US Premiere]
Eric Wubbels: if and only if (2018-19) [World Premiere]

Performers:
Wet Ink Piano Trio
Josh Modney, violin
Mariel Roberts, cello
Eric Wubbels, piano

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Modney and Wubbels Perform Braxton's Composition No. 222
Tuesday, February 19, 2019 at 9:00pm
Areté Venue and Gallery | 67 West St, Brooklyn, NY
Tickets: $15 general (no pre-order, cash only at the door)
Link: http://www.wetink.org/events.html

Program:
Anthony Braxton: Composition No. 222, for violin and piano (1998)

Performers:
Josh Modney, violin
Eric Wubbels, piano

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Residency at Boston Conservatory
Sunday, February 24, 2019

Performers:
Josh Modney, violin
Eric Wubbels, piano
Kate Soper, voice
Ian Antonio, percussion

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University of Northern Colorado Open Space Festival of New Music
Kate Soper's IPSA DIXIT - Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 7:00pm
Call for Scores Concert - Friday, March 8, 2019 at 5:00pm
University of Northern Colorado, Campus Commons Concert Hall | 1051 22nd Street. Greeley, Colorado
Link: https://arts.unco.edu/music/festivals-workshops/open-space/

Repertoire:
Kate Soper: IPSA DIXIT (2016), for soprano, flute, percussion and violin

Performers:
Kate Soper, voice
Erin Lesser, flutes
Josh Modney, violin
Ian Antonio, percussion

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Wet Ink: 20th Anniversary Bash
Monday, April 1st, 2019 at 8:00pm
Roulette | 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tickets: $10 general admission, free for students
Link: http://roulette.org/event/wet-ink-20th-anniversary-bash/

Repertoire:
Alex Mincek: From Nowhere To Nowhere, for ensemble
Kate Soper: Door, for voice and ensemble
Sam Pluta: binary/momentary iii for solo cello, for Mariel Roberts
Eric Wubbels: New Work for Wet Ink Septet

Performers:
Wet Ink Ensemble
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, saxophone
Ian Antonio, percussion
Eric Wubbels, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Sam Pluta, electronics
Kate Soper, voice
Mariel Roberts, cello

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Wet Ink Residency at Stetson University
Wednesday, April 25, 2019 at 8:00pm

Repertoire:
Sam Pluta: Lines on Black (2018)
Charles Underriner: New Work (2019)

Performers:
Wet Ink Ensemble
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, saxophone
Eric Wubbels, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Sam Pluta, electronics

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Wet Ink Residency at New Music New College
Free Artist Conversation on Thursday, April 25, 2019 5:00pm
Concert on Saturday, April 27, 2019 at 8:00pm (Pre-Concert talk: 7:30pm)
Harry Sudakoff Conference Center | 5845 General Dougher Place, Sarasota, Florida
Concert Tickets: $15 single event / $60 full season package / free for New College students, faculty, and staff
Link: https://newmusicnewcollege.org/killing-jar.html

Repertoire:
Kate Soper: Voices from the Killing Jar (2010-12)
Eric Wubbels: New Work for Septet (2019)

Performers:
Wet Ink Ensemble
Erin Lesser, flutes
Alex Mincek, saxophone
Ian Antonio, percussion
Eric Wubbels, piano
Josh Modney, violin
Sam Pluta, electronics
Kate Soper, voice

About Wet Ink Ensemble
The Wet Ink Ensemble, a "sublimely exploratory" (The Chicago Reader) collective of composers, improvisers and interpreters hailed for "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" (Steve Smith, The New Yorker), is proud to celebrate 20 years of adventurous music-making in NYC and around the world with the 2018-19 concert season. The 20th Anniversary Season highlights the ethos of innovation through collaboration that has guided the work of Wet Ink throughout the ensemble's history, celebrating the music and the unique performance practice developed in the "band" atmosphere of Wet Ink's core septet of composer-performers, and presenting exciting new projects with emerging and underrepresented artists and longtime collaborators.

Since the group's first concerts in 1998, Wet Ink has moved fluently along a continuum of composition, improvisation, and interpretation, from early collaborations with Christian Wolff, George Lewis, and ZS to pioneering portrait concerts of Peter Ablinger, Mathias Spahlinger, Anthony Braxton, and the AACM composers, and deep, long-term creative work by members of Wet Ink.

In that same spirit, Season 20 showcases the many facets of the group's work - highlights include a retrospective look at "classics" of Wet Ink's repertoire and new projects by Sky Macklay, Rick Burkhardt, Catherine Lamb, and Wet Ink's four acclaimed composer-members (Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels); the release of Wet Ink: 20 on Carrier Records, the debut album featuring the 28 musicians of the Wet Ink Large Ensemble; the release of Josh Modney's Engage on New Focus Recordings, "one of the most intriguing programs of the year" (The New York Times); the release of Kate Soper's IPSA DIXITon New World Records; and new collaborations with renowned creative musicians Darius Jones, Peter Evans (Being & Becoming), Charmaine Lee, Cory Smythe, and many others.

Wet Ink is co-directed by a core septet 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), 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 http://www.wetink.org/.