Modney

Modney is a foremost interpreter of adventurous contemporary music and has cultivated a holistic artistic practice as a violinist, composer, solo improviser, bandleader, writer, and collaborator. Modney’s most recent recording is a double-album of solo, chamber, and large ensemble compositions, Ascending Primes (Pyroclastic Records, 2024). Modney’s debut solo record, Engage (New Focus), was lauded by The New York Times as “…a highlight of 2018…one of the most intriguing programs of the year…radical in its execution.” The triple-disc album features music written for Modney by Kate Soper, Eric Wubbels, Taylor Brook, and Sam Pluta alongside groundbreaking interpretations of works by Anthony Braxton and J.S. Bach. The third disc is devoted to Modney’s own solo works “…where [he] pushes the boundaries of his instrument and his body without any kind of treatments, alternate tunings, or editing… powerful testimony to sound-seeking by one of today’s most intrepid experimentalists.”

In 2022, Modney released a followup album of quartet compositions, Near To Each (Carrier Records), featuring Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone), Cory Smythe (piano), Mariel Roberts (cello), and Modney on violin. The album was lauded by KLANG as “wonderfully composed…remarkably performed…a quartet that is playing individually and collectively at the height of its powers.”

Modney has received awards from The Shifting Foundation and Millay Arts. Modney is the violinist and Executive Director of the composer-performer collective Wet Ink Ensemble, and a member of the International Contemporary Ensemble