AESOP'S SOUND FABLES
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About
In the Summer of 2023, Mike Nowotarski was looking for ways of making his instrumental guitar music more engaging for live performance. After seeing a Mime troupe perform with a live musician on synth, he began dreaming up ways of putting on interdisciplinary performances. This led to an ongoing fascination with Charlie Chaplin and ana piece of music that functioned as a score to part of his film City Lights.
After some positive feedback, including from a stranger at an Open Mic Night who said, "your music would be perfect for a Pixar Movie," he decided to put together an ensemble for a semi-improvised live score of a feature film from the silent era. He settled on Salomé, an adaptation of an Oscar Wilde play that was shocking at the time for its graphic violence and sexuality.
Longtime friend and collaborator Fox Indigo joined the ensemble on cello and bassoonist Rosalie Avery answered an ad online for a woodwind player. Electronic musician Mason Mann also joined for the performance. The show was hosted by Purgatory and sold out a few hours before the show. Based on that success we decided as a group to continue with the project and would put on more screenings of feature silent films in the public domain, primarily in the Bushwick/Ridgewood area.
Following a sold-out run of the Cabinet of Dr. Caligari in October, the group began to branch out into other mediums. We co-wrote and performed an original score to MOON, a semi-improvised opera in a made up language by Devon Turchan. We also partnered with a local non-profit, Friends of Transmitter Park to put on a free concert in Transmitter Park that functioned as a live score to a Brooklyn sunset.
In April of 2025, we put on our first iteration of Strange Animations, an hour long program of short animated films that allowed the group to explore more traditional song-structures. Mike Nowotarski took the project on a northeast tour, using the semi-improvised format to collaborate with musicians around the region. This Spring the group had the opportunity to expand the ensemble, welcoming guest collaborators Emre Tetik and Mike Hernandez for shows.
This summer, we presented our newest iteration of Strange Animation and our first collaboration with contemporary filmmakers. Filmmaker Mostafa Ebrahim acted as curator, connecting us with local animators and breathing new life into the project.
Aesop's Sound Fables also participates in community outreach through the belief that artists function best in an ecosystem of support. We publish a zine which functions as a physical newsletter listing both our upcoming shows and highlighting the work of local artists that we admire.
We also host a series of concerts and readings called Soup Shows out of an apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.We cook a vegan soup for each show which is available for free to all attendees. We pass a hat for donations during the show, 100% of which go to the performers.
In July of 2025, we were officially recognized a non-for-profit organization by the IRS and we are excited about the future to come.