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.
Thursday, June 15th, ISSUE presents a rare evening with James Fei (analog electronics) and Kato Hideki (bass, electronics) in duo performance. The evening also sees the debut trio performance between Fei, Kato and and veteran NYC percussionist Sean Meehan.
ISSUE presents Peter Brötzmann and Heather Leigh -- two fearless musicians capable of extreme dynamics and subtleties. Together they bring countless decades of experience at the cutting edge of speed-of-thought improvisation and deep lyrical soul, furthering their work into an "unrelenting, caterwauling hate-bomb."
Friday, June 2nd, ISSUE presents two generations of artists working between the boundaries of improvisation and composition: saxophonist, composer and improviser Chris Pitsiokos and celebrated musician, composer and installation artist Miya Masaoka. The two artists present new work in solo and duo performance.
Thursday, May 25th, Antenes opens her 2017 residency with new work incorporating research on the unique audio terrain of early, analog telephone pioneers and hackers. The performance features found field recordings threaded into the electro-acoustic qualities and electronic signals from her handmade switchboard synths.
Jazz leaders Ken Vandermark & Nate Wooley perform in duo, returning to 22 Boerum for the first time since ISSUE’s 10 Years Alive On The Infinite Plane. Their music combines composition and improvisation, and explores the potential of modern melody and rhythm posited against abstract sound and texture.
For her ISSUE debut, vocalist Ka Baird presents Espylacopa (A Reversal In Three Acts), an interdisciplinary collaborative work with Camilla Padgitt-Coles (light design/synthesizer), Muyassar Kurdi (movement), Chris Penalosa (modular synthesis), Roshni Samlal (tabla) and Sandy Gordon (vibraphone).
Artists-In-Residence 2017
Artist, designer and composer Jeremy Toussaint-Baptiste opens his ISSUE residency with a collaboration with LaMont Hamilton on Friday, May 5 and Saturday, May 6, 2017. The performance is the collaborative duo’s fourth performance around Julius Eastman’s 1979 composition, “Evil Nigger."
ISSUE co-presents the opening performance of Ende Tymes VII on Thursday, April 27th featuring performances from Joe Colley, Jenny Gräf, TRNSGNDR/VHS, and a duo between Denis Rollet and Francisco Meirino. The festival is well-known for balancing cutting-edge avant-garde music traditions and DIY gear manipulations.