Bassist and composer James Ilgenfritz (2011 AIR) returns to ISSUE, joined by Joe McPhee and AC Diamond for their first performance as a trio. This event marks a new shared context for three artists deeply invested in improvisation as a mode of inquiry.
ISSUE presents the premiere of three audiovisual compositions by Matt Mottel (2010 AIR). These works bring Mottel’s distinct artistic sensibility into dialogue with formative figures in his life and in New York’s avant-garde, tracing a lineage that is both deeply personal and central to ISSUE’s history.
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.
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.
"Spiriting Off" is a new solo work by luthier Webb Crawford (2026 AIR) for electric guitar, tenor banjo, and five-string banjo.
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.
Suspended between storytelling and the magic of sound, ISSUE and Xing present the US premiere of Italian artist Francesco Cavaliere's Abyssal Creatures, a project in the form of blown glass sound sculptures.
Artists-In-Residence 2024
ISSUE is pleased to present Surge: Intricate Things and Dangerous Tools (previously "Performance #1"), the first commission from 2024 Artist-In-Residence Joni. The artist will present work-in-progress showings and new compositions of incredibly revealing, intimate and visceral sound work, alongside new ceramic pieces.
Experimental Nordic artists Avant Joik make their 2024 U.S. debut at ISSUE Project Room. Blending traditional joik language and vocal experimentation using electronic soundscapes, Indigenous Sámi singer Katarina Barruk (vocals/joik) and acclaimed experimentalist Maja Solveig Kjelstrup Ratkje (vocals and live electronics) perform with live visuals by Sámi artist Matti Aikio. Renowned experimental vocalist and composer Joan La Barbara will open the evening.
ISSUE celebrates legendary pianist and composer Christian Wolff’s 90th birthday at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. The event will feature performances of chamber works spanning from 1950 to present day, plus a new world premiere by Wolff himself.
ISSUE invites members, students, and special guests to experience an open rehearsal of the newly commissioned work “What If?” by String Noise Sounds composed by Christian Wolff.
2024 Artist-In-Residence Axine M presents her first commission Adriana, a multichannel piece for voice, sampled corpus, and machine.
Artists-In-Residence 2024
ISSUE is pleased to present Malosma / 18 Flowers in a Row, the first commission from 2024 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Katie Porter. The clarinetist and composer presents new chamber music works inspired by microcosms and macrocosms of change: both in our personal narratives and the world around us.
Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellowship 2024
Just a few days before Valentine’s Day, 2024 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow and interdisciplinary artist Lina Azalea Dahbour presents the first program in her “Blind Date” series—Tiny Conversation Hearts.