Our Picks Recommended

Wet Ink Ensemble 

We have the genre and term "New Music" because "experimental music" doesn't capture the technical mastery and dramatic flair of a collective like Wet Ink Ensemble. They have been on the A-list of groups presenting American and European avant-garde compositions since their founding in 1998. Based in Brooklyn, Wet Ink camps out in those spaces between classical, jazz and noise, in which visionary scores require idiosyncratic, handmade instruments out of a Dr. Seuss book to produce just the right minimalist drone or pneumatic bleat. At Duke for a residency with the music department, the ensemble plays works by Rick Burkhardt, George Lewis, Alex Mincek, Kate Soper, Eric Wubbels and Sam Pluta as part of the "Encounters: with music of our time" series. The next day, at 4 p.m. in the Ark on Duke's campus, Wet Ink will also premiere works by Duke music department composers Youngmi Cho, Vladimir Smirnov, Paul Leary and Paul Swartzel. —Chris Vitiello