Our Artists
We empower future leaders—delivering the stage, the studio, and the creative pathway that launches careers.
As a GRAMMY-nominated orchestral collective, we function as a production house for new music—uniting exceptional artists with marquee presenters. The result: bespoke ensembles and premieres positioned at world-class venues across the cultural landscape.
Who we select and how
-
High-potential recent graduates and emerging performers—often prizewinners and alumni of Juilliard, Yale, Curtis, NEC, MSM, and Eastman—poised for major debuts, leadership roles, and recorded milestones.
-
Invitation-only, driven by project fit. We identify talent through Metropolis productions, trusted referrals, and relationships that grow from workshops into premieres and definitive recordings.
-
Ideation → Workshops → residencies → concerts and premieres → definitive recordings. Each step is resourced (rehearsal time, producing/engineering, artistic planning), keeping the composer’s language at the center.
-
Our roster reflects the next leaders of the field:
Performer alumni now lead on top stages: concertmasters include Frank Huang (NY Phi), Erin Keefe (Minnesota Orchestra), Andrew Wan (OSM), Noah Geller (Seattle Symphony), and Josef Špaček (Czech Philharmonic) and win major competitions and prizes. Early investments in our composers have translated into Pulitzer-prizes, Guggenheims, Grammy Awards, and Rome Prizes for our artists.
Our roster is continually evolving as we support the next generation of musical leaders.
Select Collaborators
-
Timo Andres
COMPOSER • PIANO
Blind Banister album with Metropolis; commissions and premieres across venues. Best-of-Year (New York Times, NPR, Gramophone); 2025 GRAMMY nomination (Best Engineered Album).
-
Ricardo Romaneiro
COMPOSER • ELECTRONICS
SoundGarden at Brooklyn Botanic Garden (all seven conservatories); LIQUIDVERSE at COSM domes.
Long-form Metropolis collaborator across labs to arena-scale immersion. -
Immanuel Wilkins
SAXOPHONE • COMPOSER
Co-commission with DACAMERA; cross-genre projects with Metropolis. Leads the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet; national appearances.
-
Kristin Lee
VIOLIN
Founder of Seattle’s acclaimed Emerald City Music. Winner: Avery Fisher Career Grant; chamber and concerto leader.
-
Vivian Fung
COMPOSER
Winner: Canada’s JUNO Award for Best Composition. Deep Metropolis collaborator.
-
Henry Wang
VIOLIN • LEADER
Metropolis sessions mainstay—precision and fire; leads bespoke string ensembles in premieres and studio dates. Recent: Chamber lead on new commissions; featured concertmaster for project-driven orchestras.
-
Erika Dohi
PIANO • COMPOSER • SERIES LEAD
Launches Shinboku at Rivington—process-as-performance with vintage analogue instruments (Forgotten Futures). Recent: Myth of Tomorrow album celebration; Fairlight-driven live set; artist talks + works-in-progress.
-
Emi Ferguson
FLUTE • VOICE
Genre-bridging soloist bringing lyricism to Metropolis’s cross-scene concerts and studio work. Recent: Featured in DACAMERA collaboration alongside Roscoe Mitchell; Metropolis residencies & premieres.
-
Erik Hall
COMPOSER • ARRANGER • MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST
Metropolis collaborator reimagining icons for large forces with electric guitars, keys, and voices. Recent: World-premiere Canto Ostinato (50 percussionists with Sandbox) and Music for 18 Musicians (sunset Solstice).
-
Nicky Sohn
COMPOSER
Fresh, kinetic orchestral voice; writes with rhythmic bite and cinematic color for Metropolis bespoke ensembles. Recent: New Metropolis commissions in development; workshop-to-stage path slated for season reveal.
Andrew Cyr
Grammy-nominated conductor — our visionary Founder & Artistic Director. Creative catalyst for new music—conductor, producer, and builder of platforms where breakthrough work happens.
“A prominent influence in the world of newly emerging music.” —The Washington Post
-
Andrew founded Metropolis Ensemble in 2006 and pairs creative direction with hands-on producing: spotting consequential voices early, assembling bespoke ensembles, and engineering the pathway from ideas to major stages.
“I founded Metropolis to renew what, for me, is the heart of the classical music tradition: a true sense of occasion—expert players assembled, a living composer at the center, and audiences poised to share musical creativity in its most vital forms.” —Andrew Cyr, 2025
Creative process
-
Artist-first scaffolding: composer’s language at the center; studio as a second stage.
Bespoke ensembles and places: assemble the right players in the right room; intentional team-building and site-matching that sparks artistic alchemy
Cross-genre fluency: classical, jazz, indie/electronic; projects designed to travel—from site-specific spaces to headline venues.
-
GRAMMY®: 2025 nomination (Best Engineered Album, Classical) — Timo Andres: The Blind Banister; 2010 nomination — Avner Dorman: Mandolin Concerto (Avi Avital).
Year-end best lists: NYT, NPR Music, Gramophone for The Blind Banister (2024).
NYT Best Classical Recordings (2023): In a Grove (Cerrone/Fleischmann); NYT Best Classical Music of 2025, So Far: Prototype production citing Metropolis’s “shimmering performance.”
JUNO Award: Vivian Fung’s Violin Concerto (commissioned/recorded by Metropolis).
450+ commissions under his leadership; alumni now concertmasters at NY Phil, Minnesota, OSM, Seattle, Czech Phil.
-
BAM Next Wave: Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia (music director/producer; multi-org, international tour).
Questlove & The Roots: Shuffle Culture, Electronium: The Future Was Then; Metropolis on Undun and …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin; appearance on The Tonight Show.
Major stages: Hollywood Bowl (with Bon Iver), Radio City Music Hall, The Met Museum, Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn, Prototype Festival, Brooklyn Steel, National Sawdust, (Le) Poisson Rouge, Cité de la Musique (Paris), Place des Arts (Montréal), Hamer Hall (Melbourne), The Public Theater, Colorado Symphony.
-
For artists
Have a project that needs the right ensemble and production partner? We invite through existing relationships and referrals. Share your work and what you want to make next.For presenters/partners
We co-develop premieres, site-specific projects, and studio recordings that meet your audience where they are—on stage, outdoors, and on record.
“What a pleasure it is to hear new music (especially one’s own, I might add) played with the same kind of panache and bravura we usually experience only in performances of the standard repertoire. Metropolis Ensemble is a great addition to the music scene.”
— Esa-Pekka Salonen
Our artist alumni were amazing at Metropolis, and went onto something more.
-
Soprano Kiera Duffy performs with a veritable who’s-who of the classical world, including world premiere works by fellow Metropolis alumni Caroline Shaw and Nicholas Brittelle.
-
Since 2015, violinist Frank Huang has served as concertmaster at the New York Philharmonic after collaborating on multiple early Metropolis concerts and recordings.
-
Avi Avital received the first Grammy for mandolin soloist on Metropolis’ debut album and has since skyrocketed to global superstar, commissioning over 100 works for mandolin.
-
Pulitzer and Grammy winning composer Caroline Shaw has written for iconic artists across the spectrum: from Yo-Yo Ma and Roomful of Teeth to Nas and Metropolis.
-
Clarinetist Mark Dover has received Grammy wins and nominations as both performer and producer for Imani Winds including works by fellow Metropolis alumni, Andy Akiho.
-
Violinist Andrew Wan is concertmaster at Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and has recorded Grammy-nominated and Juno, Felix and Opus award-winning releases.
-
Grace Park is an acclaimed soloist and winner of the Naumburg International Violin Competition. She recorded her 2025 debut album with Prague Philharmonia.
Artistic snapshot
-
GRAMMY-nominated orchestral collective + nonprofit production house (NYC).
We build the ensemble around the idea and make the work travel: workshops → premieres → definitive studio recordings → major stages.
Cross-genre by design (classical/jazz/indie/electronic), treating the studio as a second stage.
-
Albums crafted for spatial/Atmos listening
Recent project: Sarah Kirkland Snider album—8 months of tracking/editing led by a multiple Grammy-winning engineer Silas Brown to achieve clarity/transparency aligned with the composer’s orchestration.
-
Timo Andres — The Blind Banister: GRAMMY nomination (Best Engineered Album, Classical; 2025). Year-end “Best of” lists (NYT, NPR, Gramophone).
Christopher Cerrone/Stephanie Fleischmann — In a Grove: decade-long development (workshops, 1 Rivington, residencies), Metropolis recording named NYT Best Classical Recordings of 2023; Prototype production cited in NYT Best Classical Music of 2025, So Far with praise for Metropolis’s “shimmering performance.”
Roscoe Mitchell — Metropolis Trilogy: co-commission/premiere at DACAMERA with Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Ruckus, Emi Ferguson.
Questlove & The Roots: Shuffle Culture and Electronium: The Future Was Then (BAM Next Wave); Metropolis on Undun and …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin; appearance on The Tonight Show.
Ricardo Romaneiro — LIQUIDVERSE: immersive A/V symphony premiered at COSM (Los Angeles & Dallas; 87-ft 12K LED domes).
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (2024–25, Solstice):
Sunrise: Matthew Evan Taylor — Afropneuma (guided breathwork/communal drones).
Sunset: Erik Hall — Music for 18 Musicians (Reich) reimagined for guitars, keys, voices + ensemble; and earlier Hall — Canto Ostinato for 50 percussionists with Sandbox Percussion.
Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia (Him Sophy/Rithy Panh/Cambodian Living Arts): premiered BAM Next Wave; toured Paris, Melbourne, Phnom Penh, Taipei, Boston, Montreal.
Site-specific: Ragnar Kjartansson — SS Hangover (Central Park’s Harlem Meer with Creative Time & Central Park Conservancy); Jakub Ciupiński — Brownstone (The Phillips Collection, DC).
Caroline Rose @ Brooklyn Steel: orchestral re-imagining of indie repertoire.
-
Hollywood Bowl (with Bon Iver)
BAM
The Met Museum
Lincoln Center
Celebrate Brooklyn
Brooklyn Steel
New Victory Theater
Prototype Festival
Cité de la Musique
Place des Arts
Hamer Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Le Poisson Rouge
National Sawdust
-
Biophony (with NYC DOT): month-long, free, citywide festival; 55 commissions, 650+ NYC musicians, 125+ performances, 30k+ listeners since 2021.
BBG collaboration (2021–25; 40k+ visitors):
Biophony Festival (’21–’22): 25 pods, 95+ performers, 15 world premieres across 52 acres.
Biophony: SoundGarden (’23): all 7 indoor conservatories turned into sensor-driven, binaural soundbathwith live ensemble (co-devised with BBG horticulture).
Solstice (’24–’25): sunrise/sunset programs (see above).
-
Our pop-up lab for fast-turnaround projects (2017–20): 100+ nearly sold-out shows, immersive concerts, open rehearsals, interactive formats; pay-what-you-wish access; returns Fall 2025.
Artist-in-Residence strand launches with Erika Dohi’s Shinboku (with Forgotten Futures’ vintage instruments; features Fairlight CMI), plus album-release performances (Myth of Tomorrow).
-
Youth Works (since 2006): tuition-free composition program for under-resourced NYC students
Noteflight curriculum, composer mentoring, live reads with Metropolis players, high-quality recordings
Showcases at LPR, Symphony Space, The Players Theater
Press from NYT, WNYC, WQXR/Q2, Time Out.
-
Supported hundreds of weekly new digital commissions (House Music), Metropolis Radio playlists, Flame Keepers perpetual web installation (52 composers/year)
Free Assembly virtual festival
The Met Museum IGTV: Life Returns (Matthew Evan Taylor; ~242k viewers)
Kennedy Center short film—A Christmas Story (Edison) with score by Ricardo Romaneiro.
-
Labels: Nonesuch, New Amsterdam, Merge, Naxos.
JUNO Award (Vivian Fung, Violin Concerto).
GRAMMY history: Avner Dorman: Mandolin Concerto (2010 nom); contribution to David Frost’s Producer of the Year (2014, Home Stretch); The Blind Banister (2025 nom).
Cross-genre features: The Roots, Emily Wells, Wye Oak.
By the Numbers:
450+ commissions
2 GRAMMY nominations
Best-of-Year (New York Times, NPR, Gramophone)
Season Focus:
Prototype
Solstice
Biophony
Recordings
Rivington
Bring beauty into the world with us!
Your support creates opportunities, launches careers, and brings bold new music to life. Thank you for making it possible.