Wet Ink Ensemble To Present The Sam Pluta Big Band At DiMenna Center
The concert will include the world premiere of Oracle Machines and mark the release of Pluta’s new album.
By: A.A. Cristi Jan. 15, 2026
Wet Ink Ensemble will present The Sam Pluta Big Band on Thursday, February 12 at 8:00 p.m. at Mary Flagler Cary Hall at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music in New York City.
The performance will center on Oracle Machines, a new composition by Wet Ink member Sam Pluta, receiving its world premiere. The work combines composition, improvisation, and live electronics, moving between orchestrated instrumental textures and electronically generated sound. Designed as an extended, immersive piece, Oracle Machines draws on the collaborative strengths of the ensemble and its guest performers.
The Sam Pluta Big Band brings together members of Wet Ink Ensemble with an expanded roster of guest artists, including Ben Lamar Gay, Peter Evans, Bonnie Lander, Madison Greenstone, John Dierker, and Ingrid Laubrock. The concert format emphasizes performer-driven interaction through a series of duo and trio configurations, allowing the music to shift between structured passages and improvisational exchanges, with Pluta’s electronics responding to and reshaping the acoustic material in real time.
In addition to the premiere, the event will mark the release of Pluta’s new album, Slays Well with Others, issued by Carrier Records. The album features a series of duo and trio performances with collaborators including Bonnie Lander, Ingrid Laubrock, Tom Rainey, Modney, Mariel Roberts Musa, Peter Evans, Laura Cocks, Dana Jessen, George Lewis’s Voyager, Anna Webber, and John Dierker, documenting Pluta’s work as an improvising electronic musician in collaboration with acoustic performers.
The February 12 program will feature performances by Ingrid Laubrock on saxophone, Bonnie Lander on vocals, John Dierker on saxophone and bass clarinet, Madison Greenstone on bass and contrabass clarinets, Peter Evans on trumpet, Ben Lamar Gay on cornet, Erin Lesser on flute, Alex Mincek on saxophone, Ian Antonio on percussion, Eric Wubbels on piano, Josh Modney on violin, Mariel Roberts Musa on cello, and Sam Pluta on electronics.
Tickets are offered at a $20 suggested price with a pay-what-you-can option. The concert will take place at Mary Flagler Cary Hall, DiMenna Center for Classical Music, located at 450 West 37th Street in Manhattan.
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