 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(August 2014) |
| Ensemble Modern | |
|---|---|
| Ensemble for contemporary music | |
 Ensemble Modern in Hamburg, 2010 | |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Location | Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany |
| Website | www |
Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of contemporary composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries.
Ensemble Modern was founded in 1980 by members of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. From the beginning, the ensemble chose to organize itself democratically. There is no artistic director or chief conductor; instead, all projects, productions and financial matters are decided and supported by the musicians directly. [1] [2] Currently, the ensemble combines 19 soloists from different backgrounds: Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. [3]
Since 1985, Ensemble Modern has been based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. They offer a subscription series at the Alte Oper Frankfurt, host regular opera productions in cooperation with the Oper Frankfurt. Since 1993, the Opera has held the "Happy New Ears" workshop series in which composers are invited to present and discuss their works. [4] The programmatic scope of the ensemble includes music theatre, chamber music, orchestral music, as well as dance and video projects. Over the years, Ensemble Modern has had significant collaborations with many composers, including John Adams, George Benjamin, Hans Zender, Péter Eötvös, Heiner Goebbels, Friedrich Goldmann, Hans Werner Henze, Mauricio Kagel, Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Steve Reich, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Frank Zappa.
Each year, Ensemble Modern gives approximately 100 concerts and an average of 70 new works, including about 20 premieres. The ensemble was declared a "Leuchtturm" or "Beacon" of contemporary culture in Germany by the German Federal Cultural Foundation in 2003. Various tours have taken the group to Africa, Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea, South America, Taiwan, Russia and the United States. It is regularly represented at major festivals, including inter alia, the Salzburg Festival, Klangspuren in Schwaz, the Berliner Festspiele, the Lucerne Festival, the Festival d'Automne à Paris and the Festival Ars Musica in Brussels.
In 2003, the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) was founded. The Academy, in conjunction with the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts (HfMDK), offers a one-year master's degree to composers, conductors, instrumentalists, and sound engineers. Additionally, IEMA provides scholarships, master classes, and various outreach programs. [5]
Members of the Ensemble Modern are: [3]
Their current chief manager is Christian Fausch. [6]
Former members include Ingo Metzmacher (piano), [7] Peter Rundel (violin) and Franck Ollu (horn), [8] now prominent conductors.
Ensemble Modern is credited on over 170 recordings. [9] Notable examples include:
Awards for the Ensemble Modern include: [10]
Heiner Goebbels is a German composer, conductor and professor at Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen and artistic director of the International Festival of the Arts Ruhrtriennale 2012–14. His composition Stifters Dinge (2007) received five votes in a 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, and writers for The Guardian ranked his composition Hashirigaki (2000) the ninth greatest classical composition of the same period.
Zoltán Kocsis was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer.
Kim Kashkashian is an American violist. She has spent her career in the U.S. and Europe and collaborated with many major contemporary composers. In 2013 she won a Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. She is recognized as one of the world's top violists.
The Yellow Shark is an album of orchestral music by American musician Frank Zappa. Released in November 1993, it was the last album Zappa released in his lifetime, almost exactly a month before he died of the cancer from which he had suffered for several years. It features live recordings from the Ensemble Modern's 1992 performances of Zappa's compositions. In the album's notes, Zappa describes The Yellow Shark as one of the most fulfilling projects of his career, and as the best representation of his orchestral works.
Péter Eötvös was a Hungarian composer, conductor and academic teacher.
The Knabenchor Hannover is a boys choir founded in 1950 by Heinz Hennig, who served as conductor until the end of 2001. Since 2002, the conductor has been Jörg Breiding.
Ulf Håkan Hardenberger is a Swedish trumpeter, conductor, and professor at the Malmö Academy of Music.
Ingo Metzmacher is a German conductor and artistic director of the festival KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen in Hanover.
Amadinda Percussion Group is a percussion ensemble that was formed in Budapest in 1984 by four musicians, who had just graduated from the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music.
Zsigmond Szathmáry is a Hungarian organist, pianist, composer, and conductor.
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.
Pascal Pons, born on 9 November 1968 in Nice, is a French percussionist.
The Ensemble Musikfabrik is an ensemble for contemporary classical music located in Cologne. Their official name is Ensemble Musikfabrik Landesensemble NRW e.V..
Márta Fábián is a Hungarian cimbalom player and soloist.
Ensemble Recherche is a German contemporary classical music ensemble with nine fixed members. Founded in Freiburg im Breisgau in 1985, the ensemble has premiered more than 1,000 works, dozens of which have since come to be recognised as masterworks of contemporary repertoire.
Michele Marelli is an Italian clarinet and basset horn soloist.
Jonathan Stockhammer is an American conductor based in Germany.
Kevin John Edusei is a German conductor. He previously held positions as Chief Conductor at Munich Symphony Orchestra and Konzert Theater Bern.
Konstantía Gourzí is a Greek composer and conductor. She is professor of ensemble conducting and new music at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich.
The Kairos Quartet is a Berlin-based string quartet founded in 1996.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
