About Wet Ink

The Wet Ink Ensemble is a New York-based new music collective. Our mission is to present innovative programs of contemporary music, with a focus on creating, promoting, and organizing adventurous American music.

Our artistic vision is to present a broad range of compelling contemporary music in the most direct and relevant manner possible, while in turn giving composers an open platform for their work that encourages artistic integrity and authenticity. To this end we strive to move fluently across a variety of contemporary aesthetics while maintaining the highest possible level of presentation and performance..

Founded in 1998, Wet Ink has presented over 80 concerts featuring a wide range of artists, both established and emerging. Now entering our 12th season, we have a reputation for exceptionally committed performances and for programming that is consistently diverse, fresh, and exciting. Our repertoire ranges from scores of rigorous notational complexity to indeterminate and improvisational music, from the American experimental tradition to the contemporary European avant-garde, and from acoustic to amplified to electronic works and works for homemade instruments.

As a consistent advocate for young composers, Wet Ink has commissioned, premiered and recorded works by emerging artists such as James Fei, Katharina Rosenberger, Seung-Ah Oh, Matthew Welch, Ben Hackbarth, Chiyoko Szlavnics, Randy Nordschow, Marianthi Papalexandri-Alexandri, and Charlie Wilmoth, among others. In addition, we have collaborated with a wide range of established artists, such as Peter Ablinger, Muhal Richard Abrams, Charles Gayle, The Knights, Bernhard Lang, George Lewis, Joe Maneri, David Shea, Timetable Percussion, Weasel Walter, Yarn/Wire, and Zs.

In 2008, Wet Ink began a series of residencies with various arts organizations. In the fall of 2008, Wet Ink was the featured ensemble at The Kitchen's retrospective of music by AACM composers, and was praised by New York Times for its "admirable precision". During the summer of 2009, the group was ensemble-in-residence at the Walden School, a summer music program for young composers ages 10-18. In the winter and spring of 2010, we were in residence at Amherst College and Northern Illinois University, where we presented workshops on contemporary music performance and performed concerts featuring new works by student composers as well as established composers. In the summer of 2010, Wet Ink was be the ensemble-in-residence at the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) Jazz Composer's Orchestra Institute at Miller Theater, where we lead instrumental workshops and presented a concert of Wet Ink's large ensemble repertoire.

Wet Ink recently released its debut CD on the Carrier Records label, including works by Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Jeff Snyder, Kate Soper, and Eric Wubbels. The ensemble is also featured on Quiet Design's compilation "The Language Of," a disc named one of 2008's 10 Best New CD's by NewMusicBox, and which Sequenza 21 called "an essential purchase." Upcoming releases include solo composition albums by George Lewis, to be released on Tzadik and Alex Mincek, to be released on Carrier Records.