Crash Ensemble is an Irish
new music New music may refer to:
Musical styles and movements
Pre-20th century
* Ars nova, musical style in 14th-century France and the Low Countries
* '' Le nuove musiche'', collection of monody by Giulio Caccini
* New German School, music style in late 1 ...
ensemble, which performs a range of contemporary classical music, as well as touring and organising festivals.
History
The group was founded in 1997 by composer
Donnacha Dennehy
Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. According to musicologist Bob Gilmore, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, togeth ...
, conductor and pianist Andrew Synott and clarinettist Michael Seaver; its first principal conductor was
Alan Pierson
Alan Emanuel Pierson (born May 12, 1974, Chicago, Illinois) is an American conductor. His parents are Elaine Pierson and Edward S. Pierson, the latter an engineering professor at Purdue University Calumet. In Chicago Pierson took piano and compo ...
.
It played its first concert in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
in 1997.
Membership
As of 2022, the group consists of 10 instrumentalists and current principal conductor
Ryan McAdams
Ryan Bell McAdams (born March 16, 1982) is an American conductor.
Career
in 2006, he received Fulbright Grantfor Stockholm, Sweden, where he spent the year serving as Apprentice Conductor to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, studying and travel ...
, under the artistic direction of Donnacha Dennehy and Kate Ellis.
Members
In 2022, ''Crash Ensemble'' consisted of the musicians:
*Kate Ellis (cello, artistic director)
*
Ryan McAdams
Ryan Bell McAdams (born March 16, 1982) is an American conductor.
Career
in 2006, he received Fulbright Grantfor Stockholm, Sweden, where he spent the year serving as Apprentice Conductor to the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic, studying and travel ...
(principal conductor)
*
Diamanda Dramm (violin, artist-in-residence)
*Larissa O'Grady (violin)
*Eliza McCarthy (piano, keyboards)
*Andrew Zolinsky (piano, keyboards)
*Susan Doyle (flute)
*Barry O'Halpin (guitar, keyboards)
*Brian Bolger (guitar)
*Lisa Dowdall (viola)
*Alex Petcu (percussion)
*Roddy O'Keeffe (trombone)
*Leonie Bluett (clarinet)
*Malachy Robinson (double bass)
*Caimin Gilmore (double bass)
and further, of:
*
Donnacha Dennehy
Donnacha Dennehy (born 17 August 1970) is an Irish composer and leader of the Crash Ensemble specializing in contemporary classical music. According to musicologist Bob Gilmore, Dennehy's "high profile of his compositions internationally, togeth ...
(artistic partner)
*Ian Dowdall (technical manager and front-of-house engineer)
*Valerie Francis (stage production and monitor engineer)
*Adrian Hart (production manager and electronics)
*Aedín Cosgrove (lighting designer)
*Matt Rafter (concerts manager and administrator)
*Siân Cunningham (CEO)
Approach and performances
The ensemble uses video, lighting and sound amplification as an integral part of its project.
[Crash Ensemble website, Who We Are page](_blank)
/ref>
The ensemble has been particularly associated with totalist (post-minimalist) composers from the US and post-new Hague school composers from the Netherlands, as well as performing much music by Dennehy and other Irish composers and older pieces by the minimalist generation (including Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
, Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
, Louis Andriessen
Louis Joseph Andriessen (; 6 June 1939 – 1 July 2021) was a Dutch composer, pianist and academic teacher. Considered the most influential Dutch composer of his generation, he was a central proponent of The Hague school of composition. Although ...
, Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early life and career
Born on 16 January 1943 in ...
, Roberto Carnevale
Roberto Carnevale (born 15 June 1966) is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.
Biography and career
Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended th ...
, Kevin Volans
Kevin Volans (born 26 July 1949) is a South African born Irish composer and pianist. He studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in Cologne in the 1970s and later became associated with the ''Neue Einfacheit'' (New Simplicity) mo ...
and Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...
).[Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland, 2011](_blank)
/ref> It has given premieres or commissioned work by Nico Muhly
Nico Asher Muhly (; born August 26, 1981) is an American contemporary classical music composer and arranger who has worked and recorded with both classical and pop musicians. A prolific composer, he has composed for many notable symphony orchestras ...
, Valgeir Sigurðsson
Valgeir Sigurðsson (born 18 June 1971) is an Icelandic record producer, mixer, composer, audio engineer and musician.
Biography
Coming from a musical background, Valgeir's fascination with recording technology led to a job in a small recor ...
, Peter Adriaansz, Raymond Deane, Arnold Dreyblatt
Arnold Dreyblatt (born 1953) is an American composer, performance artist and visual artist.
Biography
Arnold Dreyblatt was born in 1953 in New York City. His mother, Lucille Wallenrod (1918–1998), was a painter.
He started his studies at ...
, Stephen Gardner, Michael Gordon, John Godfrey
John Ferguson Godfrey, (born December 19, 1942) is a Canadian educator, journalist and former Member of Parliament.
Background
Godfrey was born in Toronto, Ontario. His father, Senator John Morrow Godfrey (June 28, 1912 – March 8, 2001), ...
, Andrew Hamilton, Jurgen Simpson, Gerhard Stabler, Jennifer Walshe, Ian Wilson, Linda Buckley, Judith Ring and Julie Feeney
Julie Feeney is a singer-songwriter, composer, actress, and record producer from
Galway, Ireland. She produces and orchestrates her own work, composing both instrumental and electronic music, with full orchestrations. She is a three-time nomi ...
.[Crash Ensemble website, Music, Composers](_blank)
/ref>
Crash has performed with many well-known artists from diverse musical backgrounds, such as Iarla Ó Lionáird
Iarla Ó Lionáird (born ) is an Irish singer and record producer. He sings in the traditional Sean-nós singing, sean-nós style. He was a member of the Afro Celt Sound System and is a member of the Irish-American supergroup (music), supergroup ...
, Dawn Upshaw
Dawn Upshaw (born July 17, 1960) is an American soprano. She is the recipient of several Grammy Awards and has released a number of Edison Award-winning discs; she performs both opera and art song, and her repertoire spans Baroque to contempor ...
, Gavin Friday
Gavin Friday (born Fionán Martin Hanvey, 8 October 1959) is an Irish singer and songwriter, composer, actor and painter, best known as a founding member of the post-punk group The Virgin Prunes.
Early life
Friday was born in Dublin and attende ...
, Steve Reich
Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...
, Terry Riley
Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...
, Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars (; born 16 January 1943) is an English composer and double bassist. He has worked in jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, avant-garde, and experimental music.
Early life and career
Born on 16 January 1943 in ...
, Risa Jaroslaw & Dancers, Julie Feeney
Julie Feeney is a singer-songwriter, composer, actress, and record producer from
Galway, Ireland. She produces and orchestrates her own work, composing both instrumental and electronic music, with full orchestrations. She is a three-time nomi ...
, Laura Moody, Niwel Tsumbu, Con Tempo Quartet and Sam Amidon
Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Musical career
In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals.
Amidon's first album of ...
.
Festival work
Since 2002, Crash has been mounting its own contemporary music festivals in Dublin, in a similar manner to the Bang on a Can
Bang on a Can is a multi-faceted contemporary classical music organization based in New York City. It was founded in 1987 by three American composers who remain its artistic directors: Julia Wolfe, David Lang, and Michael Gordon. Called "the cou ...
Festival in New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, including adopting their popular 'marathon' format for their 2006 celebration of Reich and again in 2007 for their 10th year celebration 'Shindig'.[Contemporary Music Centre website, Crash 10th year Shindig](_blank)
/ref>[Crash Ensemble website, Events, Archives, Marathons](_blank)
/ref>
Touring
As well as touring in Ireland, Crash has performed in Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
, Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, the UK, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. They have recorded for New York labels Cantaloupe Music
Cantaloupe Music is a Brooklyn-based record label that produces and releases contemporary classical music and other forms of avant-garde music. The label was founded in 2001 by Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Kenny Savelson. Gordon ...
and Nonesuch Records
Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...
.[Allmusic website, Crash Ensemble discography](_blank)
/ref>
Notes and references
External links
* http://www.crashensemble.com
* https://www.facebook.com/CrashEnsemble
* https://www.twitter.com/CrashEnsemble
* https://www.youtube.com/CrashEnsemble
* http://www.soundcloud.com/CrashEnsemble
* http://www.instagram.com/CrashEnsemble
{{Authority control
Chamber music groups
Irish musical groups
Contemporary classical music ensembles