SOUP & SOUND

Joseph Daley’s Ritual Ensemble: Joseph Daley, Warren Smith, Bill Cole, Scott Robinson, Althea SullyCole, Craig Harris. Photo by Scott Friedlander.

SOUP & SOUND is a performance series that has presented over 140 events including concerts, readings, and talks, and during the pandemic has produced 20 commissioned videos. We present world-class musicians, well-known and obscure, in a variety of genres, as well as writers, dancers, artists working with visual media, and, occasionally, teenage artists.

From 2009 to 2019 Soup & Sound took place in Andrew Drury’s house in Brooklyn. Drury made a large pot of soup for each performance. Musicians were paid from audience donations. Audience members and performers would often contribute their own food and drinks. Soup & Sound is part concert, part potluck, part party.

The dignified yet casual setting, passionate listeners, Steinway grand piano, great sounding room, and excellent food and drink creates an atmosphere where both audiences and performers are comfortable and has drawn inspired similar endeavors in Oregon, Nebraska, Argentina, and in Helsinki where a Soup & Sound inspired series ran for five years. The appeal of Soup & Sound has led to partnerships with Lincoln Center and the Wrocław, Poland based Jazztopad festival.

Sara Schoenbeck, Michel Doneda, Andrew Drury

Paul Harding reads poetry

Tomeka Reid

Pheeroan akLaff playing Ed Blackwell’s drums at Soup & Sound on Ed Blackwell’s 90th birthday

Sameer Gupta tabla, Rohan Misra sarangi

Shahana Hanif reading

Tatsuya Nakatani

Lee Mixashawn Rozie

MORE INFO ABOUT SOUP & SOUND

Agustí Fernandez, Andrew Drury, Jane Rigler

Rich Halley, Matthew Shipp, Michael Bisio, Newman Taylor Baker

To celebrate our 10th year, in 2019 we sought and received funding for the first time. There were many musicians we would have liked to present at Soup & Sound but because the only compensation for the performers came from donations at the door we chose not to invite artists to play here.

Receiving funding allowed us to guarantee fees to performers for the first time, which in turn enabled us to invite artists—some of whom we would have liked to have presented many years earlier—for the first time.

With the world-wide shutdown of performances in March 2020 all our performances were cancelled, but by the end of the year we were able to convert funding intended for live performances to commission twelve artists to make videos. This also impelled us to form the Soup & Sound Online video platform which at present features over 20 high quality videos, created for Soup & Sound.

In Fall, 2021 we returned to presenting live music, but now largely in outdoor locations in neighborhoods all around Brooklyn. This has allowed us to both reach new audiences, particularly in historically marginalized neighborhoods, and to strengthen our involvement in environmental sustainability. It has clarified the connection between our history as a provider of soup (and social and aesthetic) nourishment, to our participation in systems of food production and distribution.

With the installation of solar panels on top of the house, and acquisition of a battery we use solar generated electricity for most Soup & Sound events.