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.
Artists-In-Residence 2021
For his third commissioned work as a 2021 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence, sound/visual artist, improviser, and performer Austin Sley Julian presents “Corrosiv is Complete,” a collaboration with percussionist, vocalist, and composer Andrya Ambro and cellist, composer, and 2016 ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Leila Bordreuil.
ISSUE is pleased to stream new work from Nairobi-born, Berlin-based sound artist KMRU. Known for entwining his compositions with field recordings from his native Kenya and the surrounding countries of East Africa, KMRU produces work uniquely positioned between the cultures of ambient and African musics.
Artists-In-Residence 2021
ISSUE and The Poetry Project present the official launch for composer and poet JJJJJerome Ellis' The Clearing. The piece asks how stuttering, blackness, and music can be practices of refusal against hegemonic governance of time, speech, and encounter.
Artists-In-Residence 2021
For the third and final program of her ISSUE Project Room Residency, violist Joanna Mattrey presents an evening of World Premieres written for Mattrey by Leila Bordreuil, Nick Dunston, Weasel Walter, and Lucie Vitkova.
ISSUE is pleased to present an evening of recent electroacoustic works from visionary composer, trombonist, and scholar George Lewis. At ISSUE, Lewis presents a “portrait concert” of four recent works performed by musicians Laura Cocks, Seth Parker Woods, Dana Jessen, Conrad Harris & Pauline Kim.
With Womens Work
ISSUE is pleased to stream With Inner Sound, Truth, a new work by drummer and composer Savannah Harris. The piece, curated by Sami Hopkins (ISSUE’s 2021 Suzanne Fiol Curatorial Fellow), is a continuation of the With Womens Work series and responds to Ruth Anderson’s composition Silent sound.
ISSUE presents a free online program of renowned composer Annea Lockwood’s iconic Piano Transplants works: Piano Burning (1968), Piano Garden (1969-70), and Piano Drowning (1972). This streamed event features expansive documentation from three presented iterations of each piece.
ISSUE is pleased to present acclaimed poet Anne Waldman joined by bassist William Parker and saxophonist James Brandon Lewis as part of the 2021 Brooklyn Book Festival. The program also features sound and visual artist Caroline Partamian.