Application Deadline: April 15th, 2026
Ensemble Ipse invites up to 25 composers to participate in a "Siteworks: Composer Soup Throwdown” event on 5/24/26, at Herbert Von King Park, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn AND at CultureLab LIC in Long Island City, Queens. The total engagement will last from 12-4:30pm on 5/24/26 and includes travel between the two performance locations.
Ensemble Ipse has gotten a significant NYC Cultural Development Funding grant to stimulate neighborhood engagement. It is our hope that this event will encourage community and levity in contemporary music.
Selected Participants will receive a $100 honorarium for participation in the following:
-1 hour zoom meeting on 4/29/26 at 7pm EST, where guidance and resources will be shared about participating in the project.
-Each composer will send 1-16 short (3-30 second) audio files to be set up by Ensemble Ipse into midi instruments for our Soup Throwdown event (more details below). Sound files must be submitted by 5/10/26 to be included in the event.
-When submitting, composers will aesthetically categorize their sounds as one of the five components of soup: “Base”, “Main”, “Aromatics”, “Acid”, and “Garnish”. Composers can use their imagination to interpret these soup components as being related to their sound files! Sound files may be snippets of a single audio file, or of completely different files. Here are some videos about the theory of soup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBMz62wdbUs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I4i0pgQoQc
-The plan on 5/24/26 12-4:30pm:
-12:00-12:30pm call, setup at Herbert Von King Park (670 Lafayette Brooklyn, NY 11216; outdoors; not covered)
-12:30-1:45pm Siteworks event
-1:45-2:30pm teardown; transfer to CultureLab LIC (5-25 46th Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101). The G train will take you nearly door to door from Herbert Von King Park to CultureLab LIC, and it’s about a 30-minute train ride.
-2:30-3:00pm call, setup at CultureLab LIC
-3:00-4:15pm Siteworks event repeat (indoors)
-If it rains on 5/24/26, we’ll cancel the outdoor Herbert Von King event and just do the indoor CultureLab LIC event. If it is not raining, we will do BOTH events.
-Composers’ audio files will have been loaded into midi triggering webcam stations which will be placed in a spatial arrangement around the amphitheater (see layout here). Composers (and any viewers or park goers) can wander around the stations throughout the event, triggering sounds as they like with their movements. Composers will hear their own sounds and the sounds of the other participating composers as the midi instruments cycle through the sounds periodically (and anonymously) Additionally, four Ensemble Ipse musicians will wander among the stations and improvise with the sounds. Participating composers/park/gallery goers can “cook” with the musicians!
-Participants can be paid via check or electronic payment (no cash). Prior arrangements should be made before the event, and payments will happen after the event. Travel will be at the participants’ expense.
-Participants must be able to commit to both events on 5/24/26.
About Ensemble Ipse:
Ensemble Ipse is a dynamic contemporary music ensemble dedicated to presenting recent music that transcends aesthetic categorization while striving to create a forum for composers and sound artists that celebrates stylistic diversity. Ensemble Ipse is also dedicated to performing music of composers who have traditionally been overlooked, and may not have had the same opportunities others have been given.
Ensemble Ipse’s "Siteworks" series of events offers free concerts in unusual spaces around New York City, often in locations where passers-by can experience sounds with dispersed placement. This series brings contemporary music to audiences which might not otherwise have access. Ensemble Ipse has been very pleased to receive funding from the NYC Cultural Development Fund, whose mission includes supporting “neighborhood-based groups that represent New York's extraordinary cultural breadth.”
ELIGIBILITY:
• All composers are eligible regardless of sex, color, creed, sexual orientation, nationality, marital status, age, disability, or veteran status.
TO APPLY:
• Fill in this google form. This serves as your agreement to participate.
• As part of their application, participants must provide a link to examples of their compositions. MIDI mockups are acceptable.
• Ensemble Ipse may not accept all applicants. The first 25 qualified applicants will be accepted.
• There is no submission fee to participate.
DEADLINES:
All applications must be received by April 15th, 2026. Confirmed participants will be notified by April 22nd, 2026 with further information and Zoom link for the April 29th Zoom meeting.
CONTACT:
For questions, contact Max Giteck Duykers and Joseph Di Ponio at ipsemusic@gmail.com.
For more information on Ensemble Ipse, visit: