Project in Development

Weaving together modern jazz quartet and baroque instruments

This large-scale work with avant-garde jazz icon, Roscoe Mitchell, includes combined baroque instruments (continuo group, plus solo winds) and jazz quartet. World Premiere dates to be announced soon.

Metropolis Trilogy* is a newly commissioned three-movement work by creative music icon Roscoe Mitchell for combined forces of baroque instruments and modern jazz quartet featuring the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Ruckus, and Emi Ferguson (solo flute). The full trilogy takes the listener on a journey from the gentle and mysterious world of Lady Moon (baroque instruments), to the hard-edged O’Cayz Corral (jazz quartet), culminating in the epic combined forces of Oakwood Drive. The full trilogy is performed by all nine players in three parts; while the first two parts may be performed separately.

*Metropolis Trilogy is a 2020–22 co-commission by Metropolis Ensemble, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, and Ruckus.

Behind the Scenes: Metropolis, Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, and Ruckus workshopped the new work with Roscoe Mitchell in Fall 2022 at Carrolls Studios Manhattan.

Roscoe Mitchell

Master saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell (b.1940 in Chicago) is one of the great innovators in creative music of the post-Coltrane, post-Ayler era. He has for over 40 years been a restless explorer of new forms, ideas and concepts. In 1967 he founded the Art Ensemble of Chicago (originally the Roscoe Mitchell Art Ensemble). Its motto – “Great Black Music, Ancient to the Future” –  is vividly demonstrated on their ECM legacy, including the widely praised albums Nice Guys, Full Force, Urban Bushmen and Tribute To Lester.

Roscoe is considered one of the key figures in avant-garde jazz, integrating influences from everywhere—world music, funk, rock, classical—to create music that is at once beautiful and complex. He has performed on more than 85 recordings and written in excess of 250 compositions in the jazz and classical realms. He continues to pass down his musical knowledge of composition and improvisation, both in educational and performance settings. More »

Immanuel Wilkins Quartet

The music of saxophonist and composer Immanuel Wilkins is filled with empathy and conviction, bonding arcs of melody and lamentation to pluming gestures of space and breath. Listeners were introduced to this riveting sound with his acclaimed debut album Omega, which was named the #1 Jazz Album of 2020 by The New York Times. The album also introduced his remarkable quartet with Micah Thomas on piano, Daryl Johns on bass, and Kweku Sumbry on drums, a tight-knit unit that Wilkins features once again on his stunning sophomore album The 7th Hand.

Immanuel has collaborated with Metropolis on multiple projects, including Free Assembly, The Meta Simulacrum, House Music, Fritz Lang: Metropolis, Grief, Regrowth, and Biophony. More »

Ruckus

Ruckus is a shapeshifting, collaborative baroque band with a visceral and playful approach to early music. The ensemble debuted in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in a production directed by Christopher Alden featuring Anthony Roth Costanzo, Ambur Braid and Davóne Tines at National Sawdust. The band’s playing earned widespread critical acclaim: “achingly delicate one moment, incisive and punchy the next” (New York Times); “superb” (Opera News).

Ruckus’s core is a continuo group, the baroque equivalent of a jazz rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon and bass. Other members include soloists of the violin, flute and oboe. Its members are assembled from among the most creative and virtuosic performers in North American early music, and is based in New York City. More »

Emi Ferguson

Hailed by critics for her “tonal bloom” and “hauntingly beautiful performances,” English-American performer and composer Emi Ferguson stretches the boundaries of what is expected of modern-day musicians. Emi’s unique approach to the flute can be heard in performances that alternate between the Silver Flute, Historical Flutes, and Auxilary Flutes, playing repertoire that stretches from the Renaissance to today.

Emi Ferguson can be heard live in concerts and festivals with groups including Metropolis, Handel and Haydn Society, AMOC*, New York New Music Ensemble, and Manhattan Chamber Players. More »