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.
ISSUE presents the NY premiere of Always Already a new commissioned work by Ben Vida performed by renowned quartet Yarn/Wire, vocalist Nina Dante, and Vida himself. The evening also features the ISSUE debut of composer Aaron David Ross (ADR), presenting new compositions from his unreleased Filter Failure.
Curatorial Fellow Leyya Tawil presents her first program in the NOMADIC SIGNALS series, featuring the NYC debuts of music & performance outlet Porest & feminist noise reggaeton duo Las Sucias. NOMADIC SIGNALS is a vessel for sonic performance operating in what Tawil refers to as the “diasporic imaginary."
ISSUE Artist-In-Residence Holland Andrews presents Onè, a long-form vocal & clarinet performance focused on ancestral trauma, cathartic experience, and, ultimately, healing. With emotionality at the core of their compositional style, Andrews is known for expansive works which create massive cathedrals of sound.
ISSUE is pleased to premiere Orpheus Variations, a new composition by revolutionary American composer Alvin Lucier for solo cello, seven wind instruments & seven dancers. Written for and performed by cellist Charles Curtis and wind ensemble, the piece is staged featuring new choreography from Abigail Levine.
Marcia Bassett presents a new sound + light performance featuring projections sourced from digitized super 8mm film, liquid light experiments, and video feedback + color gel slide projections by Barry Weisblat. Kyle Eyre Clyd, the moniker of Alabama-based, interdisciplinary artist Kyle Kessler, also presents new work.
John McCowen presents compositions for solo contrabass clarinet for his inaugural performance as an Artist-In-Residence. These works present the concept of the instrument as an acoustic synthesizer. By sustaining multiple sounds simultaneously, the clarinet becomes a harmonic tube where sounds create beating harmonics.
ISSUE presents an audio/visual collaboration with interdisciplinary artists & curators Funneled Smoke, prolific composer Vito Ricci & vocalist Lise Vachon, and Philadelphia-based duo Pontiac Streator & Ulla Straus, with immersive 3-channel rear projection rig, live visuals & large-scale painting.
Just The Right Height, the music project of interdisciplinary artist Keke Hunt, and Drumloop, the recent moniker of artist and musician Daffy Scanlan, each present new solo work. Both artists chart critical new contexts at the intersection of fragmented narrative, sound design, pop music and experimental composition.