NEWSLETTER
At Roulette on June 10
New York, NY (May 26, 2025) — New York City-based new music collective Wet Ink Ensemble concludes their 27th concert season with the world premiere of an octet by Aurora Nealand (commissioned through Wet Ink’s Artist-In-Residence program), the world premiere of a trio for flute, percussion, and piano written for Wet Ink by Jo Kondo, the NYC premiere of the dectet Assemblage: Trace/Mobile by Wet Ink founding member Alex Mincek, and a performance of Jürg Frey’s luminous trio Paysage pour Gustave Roud for clarinet, cello, and piano on Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. at Roulette.
Both world premieres were commissioned by Wet Ink: a trio by Jo Kondo featuring Erin Lesser (flute), Ian Antonio (percussion), and Eric Wubbels (piano); and an octet by Aurora Nealand featuring Nealand as a performer with the Wet Ink Band, representing the culmination of her yearlong artist residency with the ensemble.
Mincek’s title provides an intriguing cipher for the intricacy of his 20-minute dectet — Assemblage: a collection of objects made from odds and ends; Trace - to discover by going backward over the evidence step by step; Mobile - changeable in appearance, mood, or purpose. Mincek writes, “The piece is about mobility, malleability, and flexible perspectives. It begins with an austere collection of rhythmic objects, assembled from various combinations of sound and action. The structures, actions, and sounds are then continually recombined, rearranged, and reimagined.”
Alex Ross writes, “[Jürg] Frey has created a body of music that is as daring as it is beautiful. Spare to the point of vanishing, his works suspend fragile harmonies above stretches of percussive rustling and spells of silence.” The gorgeous, meditative trio presented on tonight’s program features Madison Greenstone (clarinet), Mariel Roberts Musa (cello), and Laura Barger (piano).
Wet Ink’s 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 however they find meaningful. Past participants in the AIR program have included Ingrid Laubrock, Ben LaMar Gay, Carolyn Chen, Gelsey Bell, Vicente Atria, Rick Burkhardt, Katherine Young, Nick Dunston, and Charmaine Lee.
Performance Details:
Wet Ink Ensemble: New Works by Aurora Nealand, Alex Mincek, Jo Kondo, and Jürg Frey
Wednesday, June 10, 2026 at 8:00 p.m. (doors 7:00 p.m.)
Roulette | 509 Atlantic Ave | Brooklyn, NY 11217
Tickets: $25 advance / $30 doors / $20 student/senior
Link: https://roulette.org/
Program:
Aurora Nealand - New Work (World Premiere)
Alex Mincek - Assemblage: Trace/Mobile (NYC Premiere)
Jo Kondo - New Work for flute, percussion, and piano (World Premiere)
Jürg Frey - Paysage pour Gustave Roud, for clarinet, cello, and piano
Artists:
Aurora Nealand, saxophone (2025-26 Artist-In-Residence)
Erin Lesser, flute
Madison Greenstone, clarinet
Alex Mincek, saxophone
Gareth Flowers, trumpet
Ian Antonio, percussion
Laura Barger, piano
Eric Wubbels, piano/conductor
Modney, violin
Johnna Wu, violin
Mario Gotoh, viola
Mariel Roberts Musa, cello
Sam Pluta, electronics
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.
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Image of Wet Ink by Alexander Perrelli