Upcoming Events

Artists-In-Residence 2026

rocío sánchez: Monarch Butterfly

22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn 11201

Monarch Butterfly by rocío sánchez (2026 AIR) features Melissa Almaguer (tap dance and percussion) and Kenneth Jiménez (double bass). Together, the trio explores the elusive monarch’s migratory journey through sound and movement, with each instrument articulating distinct states of motion.

Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellowship 2026

Jade Manns / Ella Dawn W-S

22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn 11201

Isabella Thorpe-Woods presents "Envelop/e," her second program as ISSUE’s 2026 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow. Bringing together choreographers Jade Manns and Ella Dawn W-S for site-specific duets, they navigate presence and absence, repetition and rupture, and the tension between inherited geometries and shifting landscapes.

Matana Roberts / Ben Vida with Sara Magenheimer

22 Boerum Place, Brooklyn 11201

ISSUE closes the summer season with the return of Matana Roberts (2009 AIR). Opening the evening, Ben Vida (2013 AIR) will perform music from his 2026 release, "Oblivion Seekers" with vocalist Sara Magenheimer.

Past Events

String Theories: Eli Keszler, Catherine Lamb, Zach Layton & Doron Sadja

Roulette: 509 Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn 11217

The String Orchestra of Brooklyn performs the World Premiere of four new works by young composers at the forefront of composition and improvisation: Eli Keszler, Catherine Lamb, Zach Layton, and Doron Sadja. Now in its third edition, this year's "String Theories" is presented in collaboration with Roulette.

Chris Brown, piano, Suzanne Thorpe, flute, and Nate Wooley, trumpet, perform improvised electroacoustic music using timbres and textures that emerge from extended instrumental techniques and live electronic transformation. Composer Alexandra Gardner presents two compositions for solo instruments and electronics.

An evening exploring relationships of wind and electronics: Chicago's Coppice uncover sonic textures and compositional ideas peculiar to their unique setup of bellows and electronics. They are joined by Anne Guthrie and Richard Kamerman, a compositional collaborative whose long-form works emerged recently via ErstAEU.

Charlemagne Palestine, solo organ

Plymouth Church: 75 Hicks St, Brooklyn 11201

ISSUE is pleased to present the inimitable Charlemagne Palestine in his first-ever NY organ performance. A self-described “maximalist composer”, Palestine originally developed his organ technique in 1964. Tonight he performs on one of NYC's most distinctive instruments: the Aeolian-Skinner organ at Plymouth Church.

MATA Interval

Moby Dick: Extracts on Death and Other Curiosities

Composers collective West 4th New Music and Contemporaneous join forces with MATA to create an evening-length oratorio inspired by Herman Melville’s classic Moby Dick. With a libretto adapted from the original text, the composers of W4 collectively explore Melville's literary themes. With visuals by artist Andy Cahill.