Based in New York City, Ensemble Signal, described by the New York Times as "one of the most vital groups of its kind," has championed a wide range of contemporary works through performance, commissioning, recording, and education. Often it works directly with the composers whose works they perform; these have included Steve Reich, Helmut Lachenmann, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Oliver Knussen, Hilda Paredes, and Charles Wuorinen. Ensemble Signal was formed in 2008, and since that time the group has given more than 150 concerts and premiered more than 20 works. The group was founded by cellist Lauren Radnofsky and conductor Brad Lubman, and they have served as co-artistic directors. Radnofsky has been the group's executive director.

The ensemble's repertoire and performances cover a wide range of music, from minimalism and pop-influenced styles to the iconoclastic European avant-garde. The group is equally at home in concert halls, clubs, and international festivals alike, having performed at the Lincoln Center Festival, the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Tennessee's Big Ears Festival, Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, the Tanglewood Music Festival of Contemporary Music, and the Bang on a Can Marathon, among others.

The Ensemble's recording of Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians appeared in May 2015 on the Harmonia Mundi label and earned the prestigious Diapason d'Or award in France as well as appearing on Billboard magazine's classical crossover chart. It has made nine recordings in all, also appearing on a recording of Philip Glass' Glassworks and Music in Similar Motion on Glass' Orange Mountain Music label. It has been active in educational enterprises at the Eastman School of Music and at the University of Buffalo's Center for 21st-Century Music. In live performance, it often arranges to have the composer present available for discussion of the music on-stage. ~ James Manheim, Rovi