New Music in New Places

Metropolis Ensemble’s Biophony is expanding community access to the arts through innovative collaborations with Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NYC Department of Transportation, and Make Music New York.

Composing Infinite Colors

Our composers are creating flexible new works suitable for any combination and number of instruments, enabling performances to sound different each time. 

We encourage musical artists to invent their own novel systems — from creative prompts, loops, graphic scores, cells, and games — to achieve unending varieties of sound.

Our artist roster for Biophony reflects the community in which we live and serve. Metropolis invites and equips each artist to bring their distinct and passionate voice to the project, nurturing both careers and lives.

Biophony’s 2022 Festival is made in collaboration with Brooklyn Botanic Garden with support from the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Cultural Affairs, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and a constellation of generous donors and foundations, with additional support from Make Music New York and NYC DOT.

*2022 Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Metropolis Ensemble co-commission

Photos by Michael Stewart, courtesy of Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

2022 Festival:
An Outdoor Musical Adventure

Saturday, May 14, 2022
12–4pm
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
990 Washington Avenue Brooklyn

Join our annual festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, featuring 95+ musicians performing the World Premiere of 15 newly commissioned works*, and celebrating the kick-off of Biophony Pop-Up NYC.

You’re invited to explore the stunning 52-acre gardens and discover 25 musician pods for an outdoor musical adventure. Each listener’s experience will be unique, determined by the wide range of instrumentations, the topography of the site, and the freedom given to participants to explore and discover.

This year’s festival is inspired by nature’s first musicians — birds. Biophony takes place on World Migratory Bird Day 2022, an annual event raising awareness about the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

Free with Garden admission.

Biophony 2021 was made possible in part by Brooklyn Botanic Garden, The New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Cultural Affairs, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and a constellation of generous donors and foundations, with additional support from Make Music New York.

2021 Festival:
Our Inaugural Celebration

Saturday, September 18, 2021
1-4pm
Brooklyn Botanic Garden
990 Washington Avenue Brooklyn

Last year’s inaugural “pandemic proof” festival featured 90 musicians located in 22 pods sited throughout the Garden to perform newly commissioned, open-score acoustic works from 77 composers commissioned for the occasion. Nearly 4,000 audience participants were given agency to interact and explore each work performed in a variety of lush topographies.

Biophony Pop-Up NYC 2022 is presented by Metropolis Ensemble in collaboration with NYC Department of Transportation, with additional support from Make Music New York. Biophony is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Cultural Affairs, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and a constellation of generous donors and foundations.

2022 Pop-Up NYC:
Expanding Community Access

May 15—June 21, 2022
Locations across New York City

You’re invited to discover our collective’s musicians and composers as they are dispatched to dozens of pedetrian plazas, open-streets, public parks, and community squares for free pop-up concerts across New York City.

We are proud to partner with NYC Department of Transportation to bring Biophony to areas in the city that are rarely offered new music, uniting neighbors and artists together at locally-relevant locations.

Biophony Pop-Up NYC features hundreds of musicians across the city, performing the newly-commissioned works of 103 composers.

Biophony Pop-Up NYC 2022 is presented by Metropolis Ensemble, with additional support from Make Music New York. Biophony is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Cultural Affairs, The Anna-Maria and Stephen Kellen Foundation, The Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, and a constellation of generous donors and foundations.

2021 Pop-Up NYC:
Introducing a new city-wide ritual

july 21—September 17, 2021
Locations across New York City

Our summer series last year included 25 free pop-up events, crowd-sourced by Metropolis artists across Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn and culminated with the inaugural festival at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Over four weeks, 148 musicians performed before hundreds of neighbors in three city boroughs and twelve neighborhoods.

Creating a new body of work

Our composers have been commissioned by Metropolis Ensemble (2021+2022) and Brooklyn Botanic Garden (2022) to create an ever-expanding repository of music for non-specified instruments. Each work is a flexible, open-score piece…as a result, no two outdoor performances will ever sound alike!

Making a Deep NYC Impact

Metropolis Ensemble is a small nonprofit organization using out-of-the-box digital solutions to drive efficiency at every step in this collective crowd-sourced project.

Over the next three years, Metropolis will commission a new annual batch of new works, ensuring that this ritual will be continually fresh, yet similar in vibe every year. This living repository of flexible, new music is a reflection of our community’s creativity and our city’s enduring love of the arts.

Make a contribution to support the arts in New York City.

Dynamic Accessibility

• Programming priority on high to medium need locations.

• Provides flexible opportunities for musicians to perform at locally-relevant locations across the city.

• Offers to neighborhoods citywide free access to public fine arts performances.

• Unites neighbors and artists together, bringing new music to new places.

Audiences

Support our artists

Metropolis Ensemble is on a mission to empower outstanding performers and composers through the creation of new work, during and beyond the pandemic. Make a sustaining gift today »

attend our events

Each performance and listener-experience of Biophony will be unique… so you can choose your own musical adventure! We encourage you to explore each location and say hello to the performers. Join our mailing list »

Share with friends

Music is better when we’re together! Help us spread the word about Biophony.

Musicians

ask to participate

This is your moment to create your own opportunity, bring together your fellow musicians, and bring new music to new places throughout New York City! Request to join the Biophony team.

Get Organized

Once you’re approved to join a Biophony event, you can create your own novel groupings (3-6 players), select one of our available locations (in collaboration with NYC DOT), and choose from any number of commissioned Biophony works to intermix and play.

As you prepare, consider the surroundings of your location and the listener participants who will be present.

What to Expect

Once you arrive at your location, the Metropolis staff will greet you, set up signs, and document your event with photos and videos. From there, your pod can perform for anyone passing by. Questions? Contact us »

Composers

ask to participate

Each of our digital projects provide opportunities for our artists to do what they do best: make and share new music with music lovers everywhere. Request to join the Biophony team.

Join our Expanding Cohort of Composers and creators

Since 2021, Metropolis Ensemble (also with Brooklyn Botanic Garden) has commissioned 103 new works for flexible, outdoor performance!

We encourage composers to use creative prompts, loops, graphic scores, games, cells — invent your own novel system to achieve your open score.

Write us if you wish to be considered for next season’s new batch of commissions! Contact us today »